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On 22 May 1948, over Israel, a unique incident took place in the Spitfire's operational history when three Spitfire users came into conflict. [200] On this date, five Egyptian Mk IXs attacked, by mistake, the RAF base at Ramat David, shared by 32 and 208 Squadrons. They destroyed a number of Mk XVIIIs on the ground, but the surviving Spitfires ...
The missions were specific: Spitfire Mark XVI's with clipped wings, flew in formations of four aircraft (some Mark IX and some Mark XIV were also used occasionally) and dive-bombed the sites, sometimes through breaks in heavy cloud. Each Spitfire carried a 250lb bomb under each wing and a 500lb bomb under the fuselage.
A maximum external bomb load of 1,000 pounds (1 × 500 lb (230 kg) bomb attached to the centre bomb-rack plus a 250 lb (110 kg) bomb under each wing) could be carried. A Mk VIII JF299 was used to experiment with the use of a new cut-back rear fuselage and a " tear-drop" canopy .
The first Spitfire modified to carry bombs was a Malta-based Vc, EP201, which was able to carry one 250 lb (110 kg) bomb under each wing. In a note to the Air Ministry Air Vice Marshal Keith Park wrote "[w]e designed the bomb gear so that there was no loss of performance when the bombs were dropped.
Audio recording of Spitfire fly-past at the 2011 family day at RAF Halton, Buckinghamshire Supermarine Spitfire G-AWGB landing at Biggin Hill Airport, June 2024. The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II.
Experiments with flash bomb photography at night were carried out pre-war, but did not lead to an operational capability until later in the war. [3] In the United States, apart from the case of small army-cooperation observation planes, the emphasis was almost completely on aerial mapping conducted by long-range bombers.
The first test of the aircraft was in intercepting V1 flying bombs and the Mk XIV was the most successful of all Spitfire marks in this role. When 150 octane fuel was introduced in mid-1944 the "boost" of the Griffon engine was able to be increased to +25 lbs (80.7"), allowing the top speed to be increased by about 30 mph (26 kn; 48 km/h) to ...
Stripes were applied to fighters, photo-reconnaissance aircraft, troop carriers, twin-engined medium and light bombers, and some special duty aircraft.They were not painted on four-engined heavy bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force or RAF Bomber Command, as there was little chance of mistaken identity, the Luftwaffe having few such bombers (the Heinkel He 177 and Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor being ...