Aeroplane Heaven Spitfire - The Early Years - Prototype and Mk1

On the morning of the 5th of March, 1936, at Eastleigh aerodrome in England, the big V12 Rolls-Royce Merlin of Spitfire prototype K5054 roared as Capt. Joseph "Mutt" Summers opened the throttle of Reginald Mitchell’s inspired design and took off into a 35-degree crosswind.

The prototype airframe was unpainted save for a coat of yellow/green primer on parts of the fuselage and wings. There was a simple curved plexiglass windscreen and flat-topped canopy. The airframe was fitted with a basic tailskid and carried no armament or radio equipment.

The aircraft appeared at the Hendon Air pageant in June, dressed overall in a blue/grey gloss finish, sporting a set of folding wheel spats and oleo covers. It was around this time that the wings were first fitted with the famous eight-gun package of Browning 030 machine guns that were to be the nemesis of so many enemy aircraft in the dogfights of the Battle of Britain.

By the time the first production Spitfires were being delivered to RAF squadrons, K5054, now finished in the new camouflage scheme designed for all RAF fighters, fell victim to an accidental crash on the 4th September 1939 and was written off.

The first production Spitfires were delivered to 19 Squadron RAF in early 1938. These early models were powered by the RR Merlin II, developing 1020 hp and turning a fixed-pitch wooden two-blade Watts propeller.

These airframes had no armour protection for the pilot, simple single-pane Perspex windscreens, and the flat top canopy of the prototype. The landing gear was manually operated by a long, "wand"-like lever used to pump the hydraulic system. Nervous or novice pilots inevitably wrapped their knuckles on the cockpit side as they furiously pumped the lever. This resulted in a condition known as "Spitfire knuckle".

Eight Browning machine guns were fitted in the wings and aligned to converge on a single fixed point ahead of the aircraft. This created a murderous concentration of fire, and little would survive a direct hit from a skilful Spitfire pilot. Some more experienced pilots had the guns of their machines trained to converge at less than 200 yards to be sure of a "kill".

In the months leading up to the fall of France, Supermarine designers and engineers were using the priceless pilots’ reports and experiences to further develop the Spitfire design. Thankfully, in time for the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire had evolved considerably into a potent and sophisticated fighting machine.

Compatibility information:

The Supermarine Spitfire Early years for MSFS2020 has been built with the SDK as shipped with version 1.38.20 (post World update VI) of the Microsoft Flight Simulator.

FS2024 Compatibility information:

YOU ARE BUYING Supermarine Spitfire The Early Years for MSFS2020. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PACKAGE AS A NATIVE MSFS2024 PACKAGE! Both models have been flown and tested in MSFS2024 and work well. For this reason (ONLY), we can say that this package is MSFS2024 COMPATIBLE. However, unique MSFS2024 features like Careers, Squashy tires, and missions capability are NOT AVAILABLE to you.