The Spitfire Trivia Quiz

Answer: R.J. Mitchell

R.J. Mitchell designed the Spitfire and its predecessors, the Sea Lion II, the S.5, S.6, S.6b. He died in 1937 and the design of his immortal aircraft was taken over by his chief engineer.

Answer: 3

The four aircraft that Mitchell designed prior to the Spitfire where all champion aircraft. The aircraft utilized the revolutionary elliptical wing. The aircraft were extremely fast and manuveurable. The Schneider trophy winners were a series of seaplane races.

Answer: He 70

In reality, Mitchell never had contact with the He 70. He may have been influenced by the design, but he did not copy it. The He 70 was a communication and liaison aircraft for the Luftwaffe. It was made of an unusual magnesium alloy armor, which burst into flames from as little as one rifle shot.

Answer: His daughter's nickname

A "spitfire" was a fiery, ferocious woman or girl with a spectacular temper. It sounds as if MacLean's daughter was hard to handle! Mitchell hated the name ...

Answer: Hawker Hurricane

The No.74 squadron Spitfires jumped an unfortunate pair of Hurricanes during the Battle of Barking Creek. This resulted in the death of one of the young pilots who became the first British pilot fatality in World War II.

Answer: Battle of Dunkirk

Spitfires from England were used over Dunkirk. Even though there where no Spitfires on the ground in France, Luftwaffe personel constantly reported seeing the aircraft. It seemed that the Luftwaffe was terrified of the new fighter. This trend continued throughtout the war, with Luftwaffe crews reporting being downed by Spitfires when they had really downed by other aircraft.

This became known as "Spitfire Snobbery".

Answer: False

The Spitfires were generally seen as the dominant aircraft during the battle. However, the more rugged Hurricanes bore the brunt of the fighting. The Spitfires were usually called out to fight the manuveurable Bf-109 fighter escorts while the Hurricanes tangled with the less manuveurable Bf-110s and bombers. In this role, their superior armor excelled.

Answer: It could dive without having to half-roll first

The Bf-109 used a fuel injectiond engine allowing the pilots to nose directly down into a steep dive. If a Spitfire attempted this maneuver the Merlin engine would begin to splutter for lack of fuel. The pilots of the Spitfires soon learned to half-roll their aircraft first, and then dive. Fuel injection was introduced in 1943.

Answer: The Universal Wing

This was the most important design change of the Spitfire Mk.V. The universal wing could accept all armament configurations, the most widely used being two 20-mm cannons and 4 machine guns. The Mk.V was only an interim type and could not face the newest generation of Luftwaffe fighters.

Answer: Serve in full squadron combat overseas

A group of Mk.V Spitfire's were sent via the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle to the defence of Malta. Because of the dusty conditions, a large filter had to be fitted to the aircraft, increasing drag. The Spitfire Mk.V also served in Africa alongside Hurricane Mk.IIs.

Answer: Mk. IX

The Spitfire Mk.IX had a new engine and incorporated the Universal Wing of the Mk.V and also utilized a fully blown Malcolm hood canopy. It was fully capable of defeating the Fw-190 and all of the then current generation of Luftwaffe fighters.

Answer: Ju-86R

The Ju-86R was a high-altitude version of the Ju-86 bomber. It conducted recon runs from 41,000 feet. This was a higher service ceiling than all the RAF fighters. On September 12, 1942 a stripped down Spitfire battled with one of these bombers flying at 43,000 feet. This was the highest air battle of the war.

Answer: An exposed glycol system

The exposed glycol system enabled ground troops to disable a Spitfire with as little as one good bullet. If the glycol system was hit the Spitfire engine would seize up. This was a major disadvantage during the last two years of World War II, when Spitfires roamed the German skies at low altitudes. So much enemy fire would be thrown up that it was extremely likely that a lucky gunner could disable a Spitfire.

Answer: Speed

The Spitfire pilots where suprised to find that the Japanese aircraft could out-turn them. They utilized swooping tactics where their high speed gave the Spitfire's a huge advantage.

Answer: Arab-Israeli War (1948)

The Arab-Israeli war saw some RAF veterans return to the trusty Spitfire. They fought against Egyptian Spitfires and greatly aided in the Israeli victory.