Supermarine Spiteful

The Supermarine Spiteful was a British, powered by a Rolls- Royce Griffon fighter aircraft manufactured by Supermarine according to the specification F.1/43 the Air Ministry during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire.

Development

The end of 1942 it was feared that the air resistance of the wings of the Spitfire would limit a further increase of speed. To overcome this limit, it was decided that a structure with laminar profile similar to that of North American P -51 to use for the Spitfire. This took into account the latest advances in aerodynamics at high speeds. In order to simplify the manufacturing at the same time, it was decided, in contrast to the previous elliptical wing Spitfire to construct the new and simple straight surfaces. Another change concerned the suspension engspurige the Spitfire, which was replaced in favor of a better ground rolling behavior against a breitspuriges and inward recruiting chassis.

The new wings were mounted on a modified Spitfire XIV with the serial number NN660, to allow a direct comparison to the old elliptical surfaces. The aircraft was flown for the first time on June 30, 1944 by Jeffrey Quill. The behavior at high speeds was much more pleasant than in the unmodified Spitfire XIV, but there was an unwanted stall behavior that was not unbearable though, but not enough to approach the high standard of the designed by Mitchell and elliptical wings.

In the meantime, the opportunity was taken to revise the body of the Spitfire, to improve the pilot's visibility over the nose of the aircraft as well as the directional stability with a larger fin and rudder. This instability occurred since the introduction of more powerful Griffon engine. The unstable behavior worsened further with the introduction of four and later five-blade propeller. The five-blade propeller was installed in the aircraft with the serial number NN664, which was designed according to the specifications F.1/43. The new design included a new fuselage, but without the enlarged tail and was after they significantly differed from the Spitfire, Spiteful renamed.

Production and use

The Spiteful has been given as Spiteful XIV in order (there was no independent numbering, the previous numbers were obtained from the original Spitfire XIV), and it ordered 150 pieces. With the dawn of the jet engine age, the future of combat aircraft was in jet propulsion and the appointment after only a few built Spiteful was canceled. During this time it was still considered uncertain whether jet aircraft could operate from an aircraft carrier, a naval version of the Spiteful was developed according to the specification N.5/45, the Supermarine Seafang.

The Seafang was with folding wingtips, a " spike-like " tail hook and a Griffon 89 or 90 engine fitted, the drive- by an enlarged air intake two counter-rotating three-bladed propeller. The first was a converted Spiteful XV RB520. After the successful use of the de Havilland Sea Vampire from the aircraft carrier HMS Ocean in 1945, but was no longer a need for the Seafang.

After the end of World War II Supermarine began negotiations with the French aircraft manufacturer Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord on the licensed production of the Spiteful in France, due to the technical development and the displacement of piston engines by jet engines, the negotiations were still set.

Series

Spiteful F Mk 14 - made ​​19 pieces

Spiteful F Mk 15-1 piece manufactured, rebuilt to Seafang prototype

Spiteful F Mk 16: - 2 pieces manufactured, conversion of the Mark XIV, Griffon with 3-speed loader

Seafang F.Mk 31 - made ​​8 pieces

Seafang F.Mk 32 - made ​​10 pieces

Jet engine Spiteful

Towards the end of 1943 or early 1944 suggested the aircraft designer Joe Smith that Supermarine should develop a fighter aircraft with jet engine based on the airframe of the Spiteful. When driving a Rolls -Royce engine was provided, which was still being developed, and which later became the Nene was. The proposal was accepted and a new tender for a experimental aircraft was issued by the Air Ministry under the name E.10/44. The aircraft was initially referred to as jet engine Spiteful. The first flight of the prototype with the RAF serial number TS409 took place on 27 July 1946. The draft was in the RAF no encouragement, because the services were only marginally better than that of the Meteor and Vampire. However, the Admiralty had interest in the draft as a naval fighter aircraft and gave a specification of N.5/45. The aircraft was later given the name Attacker and had a brief but successful career in the Fleet Air Arm and the Pakistan Air Force.

Spiteful -tail

The enlarged tail of the Spiteful was also used in the Supermarine Spitfire Mark 22 and 24 and Supermarine Seafire Mark 46 and 47 for use, it was called Spiteful -tail.

Technical data

Spiteful XIV

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 10.03 m
  • Wingspan: 10.67 m
  • Height: 4.08 m
  • Wing area: 19.5 m²
  • Empty weight: 3334 kg
  • Max. Takeoff weight: 4513 kg
  • Powerplant: 1 × V -12 Rolls -Royce Griffon 85
  • Power: 2375 hp ( 1772 kW)
  • Maximum speed: 777 km / h
  • Range: 908 km
  • Service ceiling: 12,800 m
  • Rate of climb: 20.7 m / s
  • Armament: 4 × 20 mm Hispano cannons Hispano-Suiza HS.404
Rolls-Royce Griffon R. J. Mitchell HMS Ocean (R68) Rolls-Royce Nene List of Air Ministry specifications Gloster Meteor Supermarine Attacker Hawker Sea Fury Messerschmitt Me 309 Supermarine S.4 Supermarine S.5 Supermarine S.6 Supermarine S.6B Supermarine Scapa Supermarine Scimitar Supermarine Sea Otter Supermarine Seagull (1921) Supermarine Seagull (1948) Supermarine Southampton Supermarine Stranraer Supermarine Swift Supermarine Walrus
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