Supermarine Spitfire
The Spit
“The elliptical wing that defended an island.”
Supermarine (Vickers-Armstrongs) · military
The Spitfire's famous elliptical wing wasn't drawn for beauty — its aerodynamicist said the ellipse was simply the thinnest shape that could still hold the guns and landing gear inside. In the Battle of Britain, Spitfire squadrons posted a better victory-to-loss ratio than any other defender. More than 20,000 were built, and around 60 still fly.
More than 20,000 Spitfires were built, and the design kept evolving through the entire war — production didn't end until 1948.
The elliptical wing — no other shape in the sky like it. Narrow fuselage, narrow-track landing gear, and that unmistakable Merlin sound.
One might be overhead right now.
Bogey turns the The Spit from a dot in the sky into a card in your logbook.
