Spitfire

British aircraft legendary for being used in World War II.

This single engine, eight-gun monoplane was designed by R J Mitchell in 1936 and went into service with the RAF in August 1938. It was the only British combat aircraft to remain in production throughout the war years, over 20,000 being built, and 19 squadrons were equipped with it in the Battle of Britain in 1940. It was progressively improved, adopting cannon instead of machine guns, and was modified into an attack bomber, photo-reconnaissance aircraft, and, as the Seafire, a naval carrier fighter. The Mark IX of 1944 flew at 655 kph/408 mph, carried cannon and .5 in machine guns, and had a range of 700 km/435 mi.