Supermarine Spitfire

MK I
The first production Spitfire, the Mark I was powered by a Merlin III giving 1,030 hpand a maximum speed of 367 mph, although in squadron service, with armour plate for pilot protection added, the top speed was more likely to be 345 mph. The first batch had a cylindrical cockpit canopy, later changed for the bulged type. This is the mark that mostly fought in the Battle of Britain, (although some mark II machines were in service by September 1940).

Originally fitted only with wooden two blade fixed pitch propellers, they were later equipped with de Havilland three bladed variable pitch airscrews. Armament was either eight Browning 303 calibre machine guns (mk Ia) or two 20 mm cannons and four machine guns (mk Ib). The cannon version was not produced in great quantity, the early cannon installations were not very satisfactory and prone to the mechanism jamming. The Spitfire I entered service in 1938 with 19 and 66 Squadrons. In all some 1,566 Mk I Spitfires were produced.

During the battle, 19 Squadron received several cannon-armed Spitfires, known as the Mk. IB (the eight-gun versions retroactively becoming the Mk. IA). The cannon’s hitting power was recognised, but jamming was a serious problem. Nevertheless, further cannon-armed Spitfires were issued to 92 Squadron and it was eventually realised that the best mix was an aircraft with two cannon and fourmachine guns.

• Engine: Rolls Royce Merlin III, (1,030 hp)
• Top Speed: 362 mph
• Armament: 8 x .303 MGs
• Loaded Weight: 5,784 lb
• Range: 395 miles Bomb load: X

PR Mk I types – Early reconnaissance Versions

Before the Second World War the conventional wisdom was to use converted bomber types for airborne photo reconnaissance. These bombers retained their defensive armament, which was vital since they were unable to avoid interception. As a result Spitfires were used for reconnaissance throughout the war. The original reconnaissance models were based on the Mk. I as follows:

The PR Mk. IA had two F.24 cameras with 5 inch focal length lenses which could photograph a rectangular area below the aircraft. They were installed in the wing space vacated by the inboard guns and their ammunition containers as a stop-gap measure. It had been envisaged that much larger cameras would be installed in the fuselage immediately behind the pilot, but at the time the engineering capacity required to make this conversion to the Mk. I was not available.

In the PR Mk. IB the camera lenses were upgraded to an 8 inch focal length, giving images up to a third larger in scale. It also had an extra fuel tank in the rear fuselage and was designated a medium range aircraft. The PR Mk. IC carried more fuel still and was the first photo reconnaissance aircraft to reach as far as Kiel. The extra fuel was carried in a tank behind the pilot and a blister tank under the port wing, which was counterbalanced by a camera installation on the starboard wing.

The PR Mk. ID was the backbone of RAF photographic reconnaissance in 1941 and 1942. It carried so much fuel that it was nicknamed “the bowser”. Early production models were very badly balanced and consequently difficult to fly. Despite these difficulties the type quickly proved its worth, photographing such long distance targets as Stettin, Marseilles, Trondheim and Toulon. Later models were better balanced, had the more powerful Merlin 45 engine as used by the Mk. V, and had heated cabins which were a great comfort to pilots on such long flights. A total of 229 Type Ds were built and the type was later re-designated the PR Mk. IV.

The PR Mk. IE was built to address a requirement for oblique close-ups as opposed to high altitude vertical pictures. It is believed that only one Type E was built, N 3117. It carried a single F.24 camera under each wing looking downwards at about 15 degrees below the horizontal. It proved most useful as it was able to photograph targets under weather conditions that would make high altitude photography impossible.

The PR Mk. IF was a “super-long-range” version which entered service in July 1940. It was a useful enough improvement that nearly all existing Type Bs and Type Cs were eventually converted to the Type F standard. Operating from East Anglia it was just able to reach, photograph, and return from Berlin.

The PR Mk. IG performed a similar role as the Type E before it. However the Type G carried the normal 8 gun fighter armament as otherwise the aircraft would have been very vulnerable from enemy fighters. It was designed to photograph its targets from just below the cloud base, wherever that happened to be.

The PR Mk. XI
The PR Mk XI was produced in greater numbers than any other PR variant, with over 470 produced in total. It was based around the Mk IX fuselage, but with the extra fuselage fuel tanks of the standard PR variants as well and wing mounted tanks. It first flew on 21 November 1942, and entered service in the summer of 1943.The PR Mk. XI was an unarmed version of the fighter MK IX, fitted with cameras for oblique and vertical photography. Total producton of the PR XI amounted to 476 aircraft, built between November 1942 an March 1945.

The PR Mk. XII The PR Mk. XIII was an improvement on the earlier PR Type G with the same camera system but a new engine, the Merlin 32, which was specially rated for low-altitude flight. It carried a light armament of four .303 Browning machine guns. The first prototype Mk. XIII was tested in March 1943. Twenty six Mk. XIIIs were converted from either PR Type G, Mk. II or Mk. Vs. They were used for low level reconnaissance in preparation for the Normandy landings.The PR Mk XI used a universal camera installation, which allowed the cameras to be easily swapped. This allowed a much wider variety of cameras to be used. Common variants included two F.52 cameras with a 36in focal length, two F.8s (20in), one F.52 (20in) and two F.24 (14in) combined with one F.24 (14in or 8in) in an oblique position. Some also carried a 5 inch F.24 just behind the wheel well for low to medium level tactical reconnaissance.

Mark II
The mark II was powered by the more powerful MERLIN XII giving 1,175 hp increasing speed by some 10 mph. This may seem only a modest gain – but the Merlin XII used a Glycol/water mixture under pressure for cooling rather than the unpressurised pure Glycol system used on earlier Merlins. The new system removed heat from the engine more efficiently and made possible the later jumps in engine power of later Merlins. Armament was the same as the Mk I with different IIA and IIB versions with machine guns and cannons respectively. Production was 750 mk IIA and 170 mk IIB.Produced at the Castle Bromwich “shadow” factory rather than at the Supermarine works at Southampton, production of the mark II had just got into full swing when the Supermarine works were badly damaged by bombing.

With the end of the Battle of Britain the RAF gained some breathing room over the winter of 1940/41. They took this opportunity to work several additions into the production lines, creating the Type 329 Spitfire Mk. II.

Chief among the changes was the upgraded 1,175 hp (876 kW) Merlin XII engine. The added power boosted top speed by 15 knots (28 km/h), and improved climb rate somewhat. The climb rate would have been improved further if not for the addition of 75 lb (34 kg) of armour plating around the pilot.

The Mk. II was produced both in the IIA eight-gun and IIB cannon armed versions. Deliveries were very rapid, and they quickly replaced all remaining Mk. Is in service, which were then sent to training conversion units. The entire RAF had re-equipped with the new version by April 1941, and a total of 920 were built.

The Mark III was an airframe improvement, strengthening the design overall, adding additional covers and fillets over various openings, and allowing the tail wheel to retract. Combined with the improved Merlin XX engine, it was expected that the Mk. III would gain considerable airspeed and be able to fly at just over 400 knots (740 km/h).

Experimental prototype with 1,280 Merlin XX engine and a retractable tail-wheel, clipped wings, a redesigned front windscreen and a slightly longer fuselage. The Mk III also had extra panels which fully covered the undercarriage when retracted. The Mk III was to be a new better breed of Spitfire.

In the event the easiest way to keep volume production of the Spitfire going without the difficulties of making major changes on the production line was to produce the Mk V instead. In any event production of the Merlin XX engine had to be used for the Hurricane, the powerful engine being the only way to keep the slower, but more easily produced Hawker fighter battle-worthy. The sole Mk III was used as a test aircraft and pioneered the use of the Merlin 61 engine.

The Mark IV was much more radical. Although it was based on a similar airframe to the Mk. III, it also included the new Rolls-Royce Griffon engine with over 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) available. This extra power not only boosted the speed to over 420 knots (780 km/h), but allowed for a much heavier six-cannon armament. The Mk. IV appeared so promising that Mk. III was abandoned in its favour. Plans were made to have the new design reaching squadron service in October, becoming the standard RAF fighter by the start of 1942, but it was not to be. It turned out that the Mk. XII would be the first Griffon powered Spitfire to enter service.

As the Rolls-Royce Griffon began to replace the famous Merlin and speeds went up, it was discovered just how advanced the design of the Spitfire’s wings were: with a safe Mach number of 0.83 and a maximum Mach number of 0.86, the Spitfire’s wing was able to reach higher speeds without Mach-induced flutter than many much newer designs.

The Mark V
At this point the Mk. IV was not going to be ready in time to counter the new Franz. Meanwhile the Griffon was running into very serious production problems and it wasn’t clear if it would ever be ready. As an emergency stop-gap measure was needed as soon as possible: this was the Mk. V.Late in 1940 the Mk. II started meeting a new German aircraft in combat. Essentially a cleaned up version of the Messerschmitt Bf 109E that Spitfires and Hurricanes had bested the year before in the Battle of Britain, the new 109F or Franz (Friedrich) model was superior to the Mk. II Spitfire in many respects. Not only was it able to outperform the Mk. II Spitfire in speed and rate of climb, it also was able to out-turn it above about 18,000ft – something previously unheard of.

Timing played an important part, as over the winter a serious problem in the tail structure of the Franz turned up, and all production was halted. The problem wasn’t solved until the early spring, by which time the Mk. V had already started deliveries.The Mk. V was nothing more than a Mk. II with the newer Merlin 45 series engine. This engine delivered slightly more takeoff power at 1,440 hp (1074 kW), but greatly increased the power available at higher altitudes due to a new two-speed supercharger design. While it was no Mk. IV, the Mk. V was able to hold its own with the 109Fs it was meeting.

The Mark VI
It would turn out that the problems with the Mk. IV’s Griffon engine were as bad as some suspected, and it would be another two years before versions with that engine would enter service. In the meantime the Mk. V proved so useful that it would go on to be the most produced version by far, with 94 Mk. VAs (eight-gun), 3,923 Mk. VBs (cannon) and 2,447 Mk.VCs

At the time that the Mk. V was placed in production there were growing fears that the Luftwaffe were about to start mass producing very high flying bombers such as the Junkers Ju 86, which could fly above the reach of most fighters of the time. It was decided that a new Spitfire variant would be required with improved high altitude performance.

The Mk. VI therefore contained two main refinements. For increased power at high altitudes, where the atmosphere is much thinner, it had a four bladed propeller. To counter the physiological problems encountered by pilots at high altitudes it had a pressurised cabin. It should be noted that the cabin is not like the fully pressurised cabin of a modern air liner; the pressure differential was only 2 pounds per square inch. The effect is to make 37,000 ft seem like 28,000 ft to the pilot, who would still have to wear his oxygen mask. Despite these efforts the Mk. VI did not handle well at high altitude and was unpopular with operational squadrons.

The Mark VII
Like the Mk. VI, the Mk. VII was a high altitude pressurised variant. However it had a number of refinements. It had a new engine, the two-stage Merlin 61, and the airframe was strengthened accordingly to carry the extra burden. It carried extra fuel in two small wings tanks. Most dramatically, Mk. VIIs began to be fitted with the “Lobelle” type hood which opened by sliding backwards, as on non-pressurised versions of the Spitfire. This was a big improvement on the clamp down cockpit of the Mk. VI.

There had been some instances of earlier models breaking up in the air in steep high speed dives. It was thought that this may have been due to aileron flutter. To address this the Mk. VII had its ailerons reduced in span by 8½ inches to reduce the length of aileron outboard from its hinges. (It was later concluded that the break-ups were actually due to longitudinal-instability, resulting from incorrect loading of the aircraft on the squadrons causing the centre of gravity to be outside the safe limits.)

In total 140 Mk VIIs were built, the last of which used the Merlin 71 engine and reportedly had superb high altitude performance with a service ceiling of 45,100 feet.

The Mark VIII
The Mk. VIII was an adaptation of the Mk. VII without the pressurised cabin, and was intended to become the main production model of the Spitfire. In fact by June 1943 it had all but replaced the Mk. IX.

Apart from the lack of pressurisation the Mk. VIII differed from the Mk. VII in few respects. Some early production models had extended wing spans but the majority did not. There were two sub-variants for low altitude and high altitude which were powered respectively by the Merlin 66 and Merlin 70 engines.

A Mk. VIII was used to experiment with the use of a new cut-back rear fuselage and a “tear-drop” canopy. This was intended to aid pilot visibility; many Spitfire pilots who were shot down were done so by enemies who approached in the aircraft’s blind spot, and so they never saw their killers. In trials the new hood design was found to be an enormous improvement to all round visibility, although there were some problems reported opening and closing the hood when the aircraft was travelling at speed and the hood was thought to be too claustrophobic.

The Mark IX
The E Type wing was introduced. It removed the .303 machine guns mounted in the outer wings as most aircraft at that time had armour impenetrable by .303 bullets. The 20 mm Hispano cannon were moved outboard and the more effective .50 calibre Browning heavy machine gun was introduced. The improved armament was more effective for both air-to-air engagements and air-to-ground attacks.In the early months of 1942 there was much pressure to get Spitfires into production using the new Merlin 61 engine. Although the Mk. VII and Mk. VIII variants were to use the new engine, they were not yet ready for production. To solve this problem the Mk. V was fitted with a Merlin 61 engine and the Mk. IX was born. Although the Mk. V’s airframe did not have the strength improvements of the Mk. VII and VIII that were really needed for the more powerful engine, the Mk. IX still proved to have vastly improved performance over the Mk. V. In summer 1944 several major improvements were made to Mk. IXs coming off the production line: They were fitted with the Mark II Gyro Gunsight. This gunsight helped pilots calculate the correct angle of deflection to use when leading their targets. Its introduction doubled the effectiveness of their gunnery and was a major factor in Allied air superiority.

As a result of its over-powerful engine and four bladed propeller, the Mk. IX had a tendency to swing to one side during takeoff. This was solved by fitting a larger rudder, giving the pilot better control during takeoff. The cut-back rear fuselage and bubble canopy, prototyped on a Spitfire Mk. VIII, was incorporated into the model. Extra internal fuel tanks were fitted, as the Spitfire had an embarrassingly short radius of action when operating over enemy territory.

External wing tanks had been used as a temporary measure, but they increased drag and had to be jettisoned before entering combat. The Mk. IX was the most numerous variant of Spitfire produced. In total more than seven thousand were built.

• Engine:Rolls Royce Merlin 61, (1,720 hp)
• Top Speed: 416 mph Armament: 2 x 20mm, 4 x .303 MG
• Loaded Weight: 8,500 lb Range: 450 miles Bomb load: 1000 lb

Mark X and XI
The Mk. XI was a reconnaissance aircraft based on a combination of features from the marks VII, VIII and IX. The cameras were installed in the fuselage behind the cockpit and comprised of two vertical cameras and sometimes an oblique one. The first Mk. XIs were built in November 1942 and lasted until 1944 when they were phased out in favour of the Mk. 19. The Spitfire Mk. X followed the Mk. XI into production and was nearly identical. It had a pressurised cabin and a Lobelle sliding hood, and gave similar performance. Only sixteen Mk. Xs were made, which saw limited service for high altitude reconnaissance.

Mark XII
The Mk. XII was the first Spitfire powered by a Griffon engine to go into service. The first production models started appearing in October 1942 and in total two RAF squadrons were equipped with the model. The Griffon engine gave the aircraft superb low and medium level performance. In fact at low altitude it was one of the fastest aircraft in the world; in one speed trial a prototype Mk. XII (DP845) raced ahead of a Hawker Typhoon and a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190 to the amazement of the dignitaries present. However pilots found it difficult to exploit this advantage in combat as German pilots were reluctant to be drawn into dog fights with Spitfires of any type below 20,000 feet.

The Mk. XIIs speed advantage was only really useful near the end of its front line service in Summer 1944, in which it shot down a respectable number of V-1 Flying Bombs. The Mk. XII variant was retired in September 1944. PR Mk. XIII The PR Mk. XIII was an improvement on the earlier PR Type G with the same camera system but a new engine, the Merlin 32, which was specially rated for low-altitude flight. It carried a light armament of four .303 Browning machine guns. The first prototype Mk. XIII was tested in March 1943. Twenty six Mk. XIIIs were converted from either PR Type G, Mk. II or Mk. Vs. They were used for low level reconnaissance in preparation for the Normandy landings.

Mark XIV
The first test of the aircraft was in intercepting V-I flying bombs, and the Mk. XIV was the most successful of all Spitfire marks in this role. Later it was used by the 2nd Tactical Air Force as their main high altitude air superiority fighter in northern Europe. In total 957 Mk. XIVs were built. After the war second hand Mk. XIVs were exported to a number of foreign air forces; 132 went to the Royal Belgian Air Force, 70 went to the Royal Indian Air Force and 30 of its reconnaissance variant went to the Royal Thai Air Force.The first Griffon powered Spitfires suffered poor high altitude performance due to having only a single stage supercharged engine. By 1943 Rolls-Royce engineers had put together a new Griffon engine – the 61 series – with a two-stage supercharger. In the end it was a slightly modified engine, the 65 series, which was used in the Mk. XIV. The resulting aircraft was as great an improvement over the Mk. IX as the Mk. IX had been over the Mk. V. Although initially based on the Mk. VIII airframe, common improvements made in aircraft produced later included the cut-back fuselage and tear-drop canopies, and the E-Type wing with improved armament.

• Engine: Rolls Royce Griffon 65 (2,050 hp)
• Top Speed: 448 mph
• Armament: 2 x 20mm, 4 x .303 MGs
• Loaded Weight: 10,280 lb
• Range: 403 miles
• Bomb load: 1000 lb

Mk. XV and Mk. 17
The XV and 17 marks were reserved for the naval version, the Seafire, in an effort to reconcile the Spitfire numbering scheme with that of the Seafire.

The Mk. XVI
The Mk. XVI was identical to the Mk. IX in all respects except for the engine, a Merlin 266. The Merlin 266 was a low-altitude version of the Merlin 66 and was built under license in the USA by the Packard Motor Company.

The Mk. XVIII (18) was a refinement of the Mk. XIV. It was identical in most respects including engine (the Griffon 65) and cockpit enhancements, but it carried extra fuel and had a revised, stronger wing structure. Its handling was also nearly identical and so it was not put through any performance tests. Like the Mk. XIV before it there were fighter and fighter reconnaissance variants built.Engine: Packard Merlin 266 Inline Piston Engine rated at 1,720hp

• Armament: 2 x 20mm cannon plus 4 x .303 in Browning Machine guns.
• Dimensions: Wing Span: 32ft 8 in. Length: 31ft 4 in. Wing Area: 244 sq. feet. Weights Empty: 6,700lb. Max Takeoff: 10,280lb. Performance: Max Speed: 405 mph at 22,000ft. Service Ceiling: 43,000ft Max Range: 434 miles.

The Mk. 18 missed the war. It was built up until early 1946 but it was not until January 1947 that an RAF squadron, No. 60 Squadron RAF which operated from RAF Seletar, Singapore, was re-equipped with the variant. Later other squadrons in the Far East and Middle East would receive them. Some 300 Mk. 18s were built but they saw little action apart from some involvement against guerillas in the Malayan Emergency. The Royal Indian Air Force purchased 20 ex-RAF Mk. 18s in 1947.

• Engine: 1 x Rolls-Royce Griffin 65 inline Piston Engine rated at 2,050hp.
• Armament: 2 x 20mm cannon plus 2 x 0.50 in. machine guns, also could carry 1,000lb of bombs.
• Dimensions Wing Span: 36ft 10 in. Length: 33ft 3.25 in. Wing Area: 244 sq. feet. Weights Loaded: 9,320lb
• Performance Max Speed: 442 mph at 18,000ft. Service Ceiling: 41,000ft

Spitfire PR Mk XIX (19)
The first Mk. 19s entered service in May 1944 and by the end of the war the type had virtually replaced the earlier Mk. XI. A total of 225 were built with production ceasing in early 1946, but they were used in front-line RAF service until April 1954. In fact the last time a Mk. 19 was used to perform an operational act was in 1963 when one was used in battle trials against an English Electric Lightning to determine how best a Lightning should engage piston engined aircraft. This information was needed in case RAF Lightnings might have to engage P-51 Mustang in the Indonesian conflict of the time.Note contra-rotating propellor. The Mk. 19 was the last and greatest photographic reconnaissance variant of Spitfire. It combined features of the Mk. XI with the Griffon engine of the Mk. XIV. After the first 25 were produced later aircraft were also fitted with the pressurised cabin of the Mk. X and the fuel capacity was increased to 256 gallons, three and a half times that of the original Spitfire.

Mk. XX
Only two handful of aircraft were ever designated Mk. XX and they were both prototypes for other marks. The first was DP 845. Initially a Mk. IV, it was re-designated a Mk. XX shortly after its maiden flight on 27 November 1941 and was later refitted to be the prototype Mk. XII.

The Mk. IV designation was taken over by the PR Type D. The second Mk. 20, DP 851, initially had a Griffon II engine and made its first flight in August 1942. In December it was refitted with a Griffon 61 and re-designated as a Mk. 21 initial prototype.

F24
Only 70 F24 were completed and most went into store although No. 80 Squadron was fully equipped with the type. These ultimate examples of the Spitfire incorporated all the modifications and improvements developed on earlier marks.The Spitfire F24 was the ultimate developement of the type, but the advent of the jet fighter meant that only small numbers were built and even fewer went into Royal Air Force service. The last major production Sptfire was the F22. The F24 differed only in the smallest of details and in fact some F24 were converted from F22 airframes.

The F24s had a tear-drop canopy for greater visibility and enlarged tail surfaces for better controll. Like many of the later marks, the F24 was fitted with the more powerful Griffon engine which provided a 160km/h (100mph) greater top speed than the early Sptfires and almost twice the rate of climb. The weifht of firepower from its cannon, had tripled over the types´ orginal fit of eight machineguns. It is perhaps a mark of the propaganda value of the Spitfire name that this very different maschine was not re-named.

• Type: Single-seat fighter
• In service: 1946 -1952
• Maximum speed: 730km/h at 7930m (454mph at 26,000ft)
• Engine: One 2050hp Rolls Royce Griffon 61
• Airframe: Metal Skin: Metal Span: 11.3m (37ft 1in) Lenght: 9.9m (32ft 6in)
• Loaded weight: 4170kg (9186lb)
• Armament: Four 20mm Hispano cannon

Naval version
The Supermarine Spitfire was a “United Kingdom single-seat “Fighter aircraft, which was used by the “Royal Air Force and many other “Allies of World War II countries during the “World War II, and into the 1950s.[1] It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production at the outbreak of the Second World War that was still in production at the end of the war.There also was a naval version of the Spitfire called the Seafire. It was especially adapted for operation from aircraft carriers: with an arrester hook, folding wings and other specialised equipment. However, like the Spitfire, the Seafire had a narrow undercarriage track, which meant that it was not well suited to deck operations. Due to the addition of heavy carrier equipment, it suffered from an aft centre-of-gravity position that made low-speed control difficult, and its gradual stall characteristics meant that it was difficult to land accurately on the carrier. These characteristics resulted in a very high accident rate for the Seafire.

Produced by the “Supermarine subsidiary of “Vickers-Armstrongs, the Spitfire was designed by the company’s Chief Designer “R. J. Mitchell, who continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937; the position of chief designer was then filled by his colleague, Joseph Smith. Its “Elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the “Hawker Hurricane and other contemporary designs; it also resulted in a distinctive appearance, enhancing its overall streamlined features. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire saw service during the whole of the Second World War and subsequent years, in most theatres of war, and in many different variants. The Spitfire will always be compared to its main adversary, the “Messerschmitt Bf 109; both were among the finest fighters of their day.

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While certainly not all-inclusive or comprehensive, this list of some of the most significant variants of the Spitfire/Seafire gives some idea of the complexity of the aircraft’s history:

• Mk IB: Four 7.7-mm (0.303-inch) guns and two 20-mm cannon;
• Mk VA/B/C: More powerful Merlin engine, provisions for drop-tanks or bombs, wing and armament changes;
• Mk VII: High-altitude interceptor with pressurized cockpit and retractable tailwheel;
• Mk VIII: Pure fighter with unpressurized cockpit;
• Mk IX: Two-stage Merlin engine mated to Mk V airframe;
• Mk XIV: Griffon 65/66 engine with five-bladed propeller, strengthened fuselage, broad tail, late models had bubble canopy;
• Mk XVI: Packard Merlin engine, many had bubble canopy;
• Seafire Mk IIC: Catapult hooks and strengthened landing gear, Merlin engine, 4-blade propeller;
• Seafire Mk III: Double folding wings and 1,585-hp Merlin 55 engine.

Manual Spitfire IIA and IIB

This shattered windscreen came from Supermarine Spitfire P9341 flown by Sub Lieutenant Arthur Giles Blake, one of the few Fleet Air Arm pilots second to Fighter Command. Flying as a member of 19 Squadron, Blake was in combat on the 9th September 1940. Return fire from Heinkel He 111H-3, 3/KG 1; V4+BL resuted in a bullet coming from behind piecing Blake`s helmet and finally embedding itself in windscreen of his aircraft. Despite his narrow escape Blake was able to see well enough to re-engage and shoot down the German bomber.

Blake began his service flying career on 3 May 1939. He was shot down and killed on Tuesday 29 October 1940 when an unknown Bf 109 oilot attacked his aircraft.