Supermarine Spiteful

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Supermarine Spiteful
Supermarine Spiteful FXIV
Type: Fighter plane
Design country:

United KingdomUnited Kingdom United Kingdom

Manufacturer:

Super marine

First flight:

June 30, 1944

Number of pieces:

19th

The Supermarine Spiteful was a British, with a Rolls-Royce Griffon powered fighter aircraft from Supermarine according to the specification F.1 / 43 of the Air Ministry during the Second World War as the successor of the Spitfire .

development

In late 1942, it was feared that the aerodynamic drag of the Spitfire's wings would limit any further increase in speed. To overcome this limit, it was decided to use a structure with a laminar profile similar to that of the North American P-51 for the Spitfire. This took into account the latest findings in aerodynamics at high speeds. In order to simplify production, it was decided at the same time to construct the new ones as simple straight surfaces, in contrast to the previous elliptical wings of the Spitfire. Another change concerned the narrow-gauge landing gear of the Spitfire, which was replaced by a broad-gauge and inwardly retracting landing gear in favor of better ground roll behavior.

The new wings were mounted on a modified Spitfire XIV with the serial number NN660 to enable a direct comparison with the old elliptical surfaces. The plane was first flown on June 30, 1944 by Jeffrey Quill. The behavior at high speeds was much more pleasant than in the unmodified Spitfire XIV, but there was an undesirable stall behavior that was not unacceptable, but did not come close to the high standard of the elliptical wings designed by Mitchell .

In the meantime, the opportunity was used to redesign the fuselage of the Spitfire to improve the pilot's view of the aircraft nose and directional stability through a larger tail unit and rudder. This instability has occurred since the introduction of the more powerful Griffon engine. The unstable behavior worsened with the introduction of the four- and later the five-blade propellers. The five-blade propeller was installed in the aircraft with the serial number NN664 , which had been designed according to the specifications F.1 / 43. The new design included a new fuselage, but without the enlarged tail unit, and was renamed the Spiteful after it differed significantly from the Spitfire .

Production and use

Supermarine Spiteful FXIV

The Spiteful was commissioned as the Spiteful XIV (there was no separate numbering, the previous numbers were from the original Spitfire XIV), and 150 pieces were ordered. With the dawn of the jet engine age, the future of fighter aircraft lay in jet propulsion and so the order was canceled after only a few Spitefuls had been built. At that time it was still uncertain whether jet aircraft could operate from an aircraft carrier, so a marine version of the Spiteful, the Supermarine Seafang , was developed according to specification N.5 / 45 .

The Seafang was equipped with foldable wing tips, a "spike-like" catch hook and a Griffon 89 or 90 engine, which propelled two counter-rotating three-blade propellers through an enlarged air inlet. The first was a converted Spiteful XV RB520 . After the successful use of the de Havilland Sea Vampire from the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean in 1945, there was no longer any need for the Seafang.

After the end of the Second World War, Supermarine began negotiations with the French aircraft manufacturer Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord about the license production of the Spiteful in France, but due to technical developments and the displacement of piston engines by jet engines, negotiations were discontinued.

Series

Spiteful F Mk 14 - 19 pieces made

Powerplant: Griffon 85, 2375 hp
Mass: 4478 kg
Top speed: 766 km / h

Spiteful F Mk 15 - 1 piece made, converted to the Seafang prototype

Powerplant: Griffon 89, 2350 hp
Mass: 4590 kg
Top speed: 777 km / h

Spiteful F Mk 16 - 2 pieces made, conversion from the Mark XIV, Griffon with 3-speed charger

Powerplant: Griffon 101, 2420 hp
Mass: 4478 kg
Top speed: 795 km / h

Seafang F.Mk 31 - 8 pieces made

Powerplant: Griffon 61

Seafang F.Mk 32 - 10 pieces made

Powerplant: Griffon 89, 2350 hp

Jet Engine Spiteful

In late 1943 and early 1944, aircraft designer Joe Smith suggested that Supermarine develop a jet fighter jet based on the Spiteful's airframe . A Rolls-Royce engine was planned as the drive, which was still being developed and which later became the Nene . The proposal was accepted and a new tender for an experimental aircraft was issued by the Air Ministry under the designation E.10 / 44 . The aircraft was initially referred to as the jet engine spiteful . The first flight of the prototype with the RAF serial number TS409 took place on July 27, 1946. The draft was not well received by the RAF , as the performance was only slightly better than that of the meteor and the vampire . However, the Admiralty took an interest in the design as a naval fighter aircraft and issued a specification N.5 / 45 . The aircraft was later named Attacker and had a short but successful career with the Fleet Air Arm and the Pakistani Air Force.

Spiteful tail unit

The enlarged tail of the Spiteful was also used on the Supermarine Spitfire Mark 22 and 24 and the Supermarine Seafire Mark 46 and 47; it was called the Spiteful tail .

Technical specifications

Three-sided tear

Spiteful XIV

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 10.03 m
  • Span: 10.67 m
  • Height: 4.08 m
  • Wing area: 19.5 m²
  • Empty weight: 3334 kg
  • Max. Takeoff weight: 4513 kg

See also

literature

  • Robert Humphreys: The Supermarine Spitfire. Part 2: Griffon-Powered (Modellers Datafile 5) . SAM Publications, Bedford, UK 2001, ISBN 0-9533465-4-4 .
  • Eric B. Morgan, Edward Shacklady: Spitfire: The History . Key Publishing, London 1992, ISBN 0-946219-10-9 .
  • Alfred Price: The Spitfire Story . Silverdale Books, London 1995, ISBN 1-85605-702-X .
  • Jeffrey Quill : Spitfire - A Test Pilot's Story. Arrow Books, London 1985, ISBN 0-09-937020-4 .
  • Bruce Robertson: Spitfire-The Story of a Famous Fighter . Model & Allied Publications, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, UK 1960. (3rd, corr. Edition. 1973, ISBN 0-900435-11-9 )

Web links

Commons : Supermarine Spiteful  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files