Product Details

The German Focke-Wulf Fw190 single-seat fighter appeared suddenly and in large numbers in the skies over Northern France during the summer of 1941. Britain scrambled to create an airplane equal to this powerful, agile, high-altitude adversary. The MkVIII Spitfire, a much refined version of the MkV, was only in the early stages of production and it was put on hold. Instead, as a temporary stop-gap, measure beginning in 1942, Vickers fitted Spitfire MkVs with a larger Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, a two-stage supercharger and intercooler and a four-bladed propeller. This stop-gap Spitfire, the MkIX, actually stayed in production through 1944 and was produced in much larger numbers (5,665) than the MkVIII (1,658). There were three versions of the MkIX: THe LF (low-altitude) had a clipped wing; the F was the standard fighter version and the HF (high-altitude) had extended wings and a pressurized cockpit.