Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb

A stopgap

In early 1941 the Luftwaffe’s new Bf 109 F outclassed the Spitfire Mk I and II. Bigger changes were planned as the real answer, but there was no time: the more powerful Merlin 45 went into the existing airframe and the Mk V was born. The Vb had two 20 mm Hispano cannon and four machine guns in the wings, a great step in hitting power over the eight machine guns of the Mk I.

The Merlin’s negative-g cut-out was largely cured in 1941 by a small restrictor that engineer Beatrice Shilling added to the carburettor; pilots called it “Miss Shilling’s orifice”. The problem only went away entirely with the pressure carburettors that came later.

The Fw 190 shock

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, which appeared over the Channel in the autumn of 1941, was faster than the Spitfire Mk V, climbed better and rolled much faster. The RAF suffered under this for about a year; the answer was the Spitfire Mk IX with the two-stage Merlin 61. Some Mk Vs had their wingtips clipped to improve their roll at low level.

From Malta to North Africa

In 1942 Spitfire Mk Vs reached besieged Malta by flying off aircraft carriers. With a large air filter under the nose against the dust, Mk Vs fought in North Africa, Italy and the Far East; some US Army Air Forces groups and the Soviet Union flew Mk Vs too.