On 5 March 1936, a beautiful-looking sleek new monoplane made its first flight from the Super marine works airfield at Eastleigh in Hampshire -attractive as it may have been, this aircraft was designed to be the leading fighter of its time and intended solely for combat. The Spitfire was born. It had been back in late 1931 that Air Ministry Specification F7/30 was formally put out to industry. This called for a new front line RAF fighter armed with four 0.303in machine-guns that could reach a higher speed than the Bristol Bulldog biplane. Supermarine, courtesy of the company's chief designer RJ Mitchell, had recently achieved great success with a series of revolutionary high-speed floatplanes that had set world speed records while taking part in the Schneider Trophy races with the RAF's High Speed Flight. The ideas and technology used was an ideal basis on which to look into the development of this new fighter - the combination of Mitchell's designs such as the successful Supermarine S6B, and the Rolls-Royce engine which powered it, had formed a world-leading partnership in the production of high-speed monoplane aircraft.
No comments:
Post a Comment