What engine did the Spitfire have?

Many people know that the Supermarine Spitfire had a 27-litre Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. What they might not know, though was that later models of the Spitfire used a 37-litre Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. And almost no-one knows that the Griffon was first run nine...
Was there a two seater Spitfire?

Was there a two seater Spitfire?

The vast majority of Spitfires were single seaters. But some Spitfires carried an unexpected passenger as well as the pilot. How? In 1945 Margaret Ada Horton was a WAAF (Fitter Mechanic Airframes) at RAF Hibaldstow airfield, a satellite airfield to RAF Kirton-in...

Top 19 facts about the Supermarine Spitfire

19 facts about the beautiful Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire was a short-range, high-performance fighter plane designed in the 1930s by Reginald Mitchell, chief designer at the Supermarine Aviation Works in Southampton. 2. Mitchell was diagnosed with bowel cancer...
Can a Spitfire break the Sound Barrier?

Can a Spitfire break the Sound Barrier?

A Spitfire very nearly broke the sound barrier in 1944. In the 1930s a small number of aero-engineers recognized that the piston-engine and propeller were providing diminishing returns. Despite reductions in drag and increases in efficiency provided by slippery...
Who is fossil hunter Mary Anning?

Who is fossil hunter Mary Anning?

Lyme Regis residents called the coiled-up ammonites “snake stones” What did Mary Anning discover? The French naturalist George Cuvier had demonstrated that fossils were the remains of fantastical creatures that no longer roamed the earth, but it was Mary...