Mk XVI Spitfire TE330. The old engineering adage - 'If it looks… - Collector's Motor Cars & Aircraft - Bonhams & Goodman (No longer trading)

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Description:

Mk XVI Spitfire TE330. The old engineering adage - 'If it looks right, it most probably is right', describes the Spitfire to perfection. For a 1930's design, even today, it still looks drop dead gorgeous from any angle, from the smooth curves over the nose, to the unique elliptical plan shape of its wings. Always referred to as a 'she', this charismatic lady, the ultimate aviation collectable, a national icon even, was just a war machine - a military vehicle to get the man and his machine guns, cannons, cameras or bombs, on to the target. Arguably as the aircraft was developed its looks became more aggressive, but always in classic proportion. Universally, enthusiasts would rank the Spitfire in the top five of the most desirable aircraft in the world. For most in the Uk and commonwealth it would be the 'number one' by some miles. Reginald Mitchell and his design team at Supermarine embarked on project specification F.37/34, to become the Spitfire, in 1935. The early company background was centered on fairly ponderous flying boats. From the mid 1920's they had pioneered technology in the production of a series of racing seaplanes that culminated in the outright win of the Schneider Trophy for Great Britain in 1931. Lessons learnt coupling the tightest, sleekest airframe to the massive power of the Rolls Royce 'Race rated' engines would later pay huge dividends on the Spitfire design. With the production initially forecast as about 300 units, Mitchell and his team focused on installing eight .303' Browning machine guns in the thinnest wing possible, exceeding the initial contract specifications, to which they snugly married a slender fuselage behind the new Rolls Royce combat rated engine - the Merlin. Fuel would be sufficient to intercept the enemy and return, with little over an hour's duration at combat settings. Range would always be a problem with later marks of Spitfire, demanding greater fuel flow over longer periods, as the allies moved on to the offensive into Europe. Using the technology pioneered on the racing seaplanes, Mitchell utilised the monocoque style of construction, no different from the Boeing and Airbus airliners of today. This technique not only bestowed the Spitfire airframe with initial lightness and grace, but was capable of continuous upgrading and development, amply keeping pace with the output of increasingly powerful engines available from Rolls Royce. The prototype Spitfire first flew from Eastleigh in Hampshire on the 5th March 1936. The chief test pilot, Capt. 'Mutt' Summers, is reported to have said 'don't change anything' after the flight. Obviously over simplistic but a measure as to just how 'right' the design team had got it. Reginald Mitchell died of a serious illness on 11th June 1937, aged just 42 years. The prototype, serial number K5054, was the only Spitfire he would ever see flying. Could he ever have imagined this would be the first of some nearly 23,000' Designed around the anticipated short order run, the design did not lend itself too well to mass production. The manufacture was labour intensive and the inspired wings were particularly complex with not a straight line in the design. One principal benefit of this style of construction was that it could be subcontracted or dispersed widely - cottage industry on a grand scale. With pressing need, barely sufficient Spitfires were produced at Southampton to equip a few squadrons before the war. Though never enough, production numbers built up rapidly in the lull before the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. The Southampton factory was particular vulnerable to German bombers and despite wide dispersal the need for a safer 'shadow' factory had been identified. The Air Ministry set the Nuffield Organisation into motion to build the Spitfire, using 'motor industry' techniques, at a purpose built factory at Castle Bromwich near Birmingham. Joe Smith took over the Chief Designers mantle after the death of Mitchell. To him must go the h

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Motor Vehicles: Aircraft