My Favourite Spitfire #3 the Mk.XIV
Instead of the dainty archetypal Merlin Spitfires, I have always preferred the Griffon powered variants and my favourite is probably the Mk XIV. I love the brutish quality it has when compared to earlier marks with that long, long nose topped off with a five-bladed propeller, the most aesthetically pleasing number of blades. I like its relative obscurity: no Battle of Britain, no Douglas Bader. I love that it was available as a FROG kit complete with a V-1 for it to chase. Like nearly all the most successful Spitfire variants, it was an ad-hoc lash-up, a 2035 hp Griffon 65 bolted onto a barely modified Mk VIII airframe with a potentially dangerous swing on take-off replacing the totally innocuous handling of the Merlin Spitfires.
It was an outstanding aircraft. First combat occurred on 7 March 1944, three months before the showoff P-51D, an aircraft offering 600 less horsepower than the Spitfire and unable to best it it in any performance parameter with the sole exception (critically) of range. In RAF comparative trials against a Mustang III, Tempest V, Me 109G and Fw 190, the Mk XIV possessed “the best all-round performance of any present-day fighter”. But the main appeal for me remains aesthetic, I prefer the high-back non-bubble canopy version coupled with the clipped wingtips that seem almost crude in their abruptness. The whole thing exudes a murderous sense of purpose when compared to the early marks, and finally made the Spitfire look like what it is: a weapon.
— Edward Ward
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I’ve always wondered, did those clipped wingtips improve speed? Improve or hurt maneuverability?
Also, how did pilots feel about the Griffon vs the Merlin?
It’s my understanding that the clipped wingtips improved the roll rate. The later-mark Japanese Zeroes had this done as well.
Murderous looking?
I refer you to the Beaufighter…
Aesthetically pleasing?
I refer you to the Mosquito..
Iconic?
Well, it’s a Spit .. but not this one.
Interesting choice though..
very well put, Mr. Ward. this bluntness of purpose is why i tend to like russian planes 🙂