Airfix 1/48 Supermarine Spitfire Mk.I

This new kit from Airfix of the Supermarine Spitfire has options to build an early Mk.I with 2-bladed propellor, non-blown canopy, unarmoured windscreen. Parts are also included to build a Mk.IIa.

The Supermarine Spitfire was an iconic British single-seat fighter used primarily by the RAF and many Allied countries through the Second World War and into the 1950s. The Spitfire is not only the most famous allied fighter aircraft of that war, but was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production at the outbreak of the war that was still in production at the end of the Second World War.

The Spitfire Mark I and Spitfire Mark II saw service during the Battle and beyond, into 1941. Both of these versions of the Spitfire used eight .303 Browning machine guns. It was relatively common during the Battle of Britain for the German planes to return safely to base with surprisingly high numbers of .303 bullet holes as the Luftwaffe machines were receiving progressively more armour in critical areas. The use of a smaller number of heavier, larger calibre guns would have been far more effective, and this was rectified in later versions of the Spitfire.