Spitfire Mark XIVs were on the cutting edge of what could be done with a piston-engined prop fighter. The Griffon in the XIV made over 2,000 horsepower; it could do 445 mph at top speed. That’s double the horsepower, 90 more mph top speed, and double the climb rate of the Mk I Spitfires from the Battle of Britain just four years earlier. They are absolute beasts.
The XIVs are easiest to tell apart from the older Spitfires by the prop...they used an odd-looking five-bladed propeller. It rotated the opposite direction from the Merlin-engined ones, so pilots transitioning to the Griffon-engined fighters had to get used to a lot of torque pulling the opposite direction from what they were used to.
}:-)4
One of the prelimary reports posted on FreeRepublic yesterday suggested that these Spits were Mk II’s. I didn’t think that could be correct for 1945. But Mk XIV’s? Wow!
Then let us make a pledge to stay in good health so us and other Freepers can meet @ Oshkosh in 2 to 5 years to hear a few of these scream in Formation...
Perhaps a stupid question, but here goes: What would stop a well-funded company from bringing Spitfires or Mustangs back into production?
I read that the US is looking at adopting a new prop-driven ground attack aircraft, and is thinking of buying them from Brazil or some other South American country. There would be a market for a brand-new WWII model fighters upgraded with modern radar and technology.
If we did it once, why can’t we do it again?