Sea Lion

Supermarine Spitfire
Click here to read an extract from the novel featuring this aircraft

Photo is of the Revell 1/48th scale model

Arguably the most famous aircraft used by the RAF, at the time of the Battle of Britain the Spitfire, together with the Hurricane (which greatly outnumbered the "Spit"), played a vital role in preventing the Luftwaffe gain the air superiority which was a prerequisite to invasion.

Reportedly a joy to fly, one drawback was that the carburettor design (as opposed to the fuel-injection used on the Me 109's Daimler Benz engines) meant that the engine could "stutter" in a dive. Hence the "half roll" preceding a dive often seen in film of this aircraft - the roll "threw" petrol into the engine against centrifugal force.