Kaplan - The Spitfire An Icon Of The Skies

PS853, A PHOTO-RECONNAISSANCE PRXIX SPITFIRE BUILT IN 1945 AT SOUTHAMPTON. IT WAS PURCHASED BY ROLLS-ROYCE IN 1996.

When you look at a Spitfire you see a nation at its finest wrote the American Editor-in-Chief of Flight Journal Budd Davisson. When I look at a Spitfire I see art deco perfection with wings; a mechanical object shaped with fewer compromises than most things made by man. I see something drenched in history, a chariot for The Few.The Spitfire is a work of art, whether or not it was intended to be.The one thing it is not is just another aeroplane.

Another of its admirers once wrote: the Spitfire is as much a British national hero as Wellington, Nelson, or Montgomery. It has become the most recognisable icon of the Second World War for several generations of Britons. From the throaty growl of its Rolls-Royce Merlin or Griffin to its beautifully-tapered elliptical wings, the Spitfire is a true aeronautical thoroughbred. Regarded by many as the saviour of the nation in its darkest hour, the Spitfire is without doubt the most famous combat aircraft ever produced in Britain and probably anywhere else.

In June 1936, Supermarine Aviation Works, Southampton, England, was awarded an order from the British Air Ministry for the production of 310 Spitfire aircraft. It was, by a large margin, the biggest production order the company had ever received. By the end of production in all marks, 22,759 Spitfires and Seafires had been built.The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter that remained in full production from the very first day of the Second World War to the very last day, and it was retained in front-line service with the Royal Air Force until 1951.

An example of the early Spitfires remains airworthy today, the Mk 1a AR213, which was built by Westland at Yeovil, Somerset, in late 1940 and delivered to the Royal Air Force in February 1941. It survives today largely because it was never exposed to the hazards of air combatonly to those of Nos 53 and 57 Operational Training Units. At 57 OTU it was, for a time, the personal aircraft of James Ginger Lacey during his stint there as an instructor. Lacey had been credited with downing more enemy aircraft in the Battle of Britain than any other RAF pilot.

AR213 has passed through a succession of owners since the war years, and has been cared for mostly by Doug and Tony Bianchi of Personal Plane Services at Wycombe Air Park, Buckinghamshire.Tony maintained and flew the Spitfire since the 1970s and has come to know the aeroplane, its strengths and weaknesses, characteristics and quirks, better than anyone in its long history.They have shared many adventures and a few hair-raising moments, and he has long appreciated what may be its most outstanding characteristicas one of the lightest Spitfires ever built.