British Spitfire

This is my latest model... A World War II British
Spitfire fighter...one of the best looking planes
of the war. When Germany invaded Poland it
brought England and France into the war also.
France was overrun by the German war machine,
so it was up to England to stand up to Hitler until
the United States could make up it's mind.
In 1940 Hitler's forces ruled the European
continent and he turned his forces loose on the
British Isles in preparation for an invasion. The
only thing standing between the Luftwaffe and
complete success was the Royal Air Force. With
less than 500 Spitfires and Hurricane aircraft, the
RAF turned back any plans for invasion and made
Hitler turn his forces on the Soviet Union instead.
More on the Spitfire....

By the beginning of World War II in 1939, England had 306 early Mark II Spitfires in service. Air Marshal Hugh Dowding wisely held these aircraft in England during the fighting in France. When the Battle of Britain commenced in the skies of England in August 1940, it was these Spitfires and the Hawker Hurricanes that successfully protected the country from the German Luftwaffe. On August 20, 1940 when Winston Churchill spoke of these gallant pilots he said, Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.

With the introduction of the German Focke Wulf Fw-190 in 1941, English Fighter Command needed an improved version of their current Mark V Spitfire. The installation of the Merlin 61 engine of 1565 horsepower in the basic Mark Vb airframe provided an improved airplane able to counter the threat of this new German fighter. The Spitfire aircrafts were produced with different armaments in the wings and the 'e' wings each had a 20 mm cannon and a 0.5 inch machine gun. A total of 5,665 Mark IX Spitfires were built during the war at an approximate cost of £45,000 ($64,000) each.

As usual, the first photo is a real Spitfire..and the rest are of my latest model.