Happy Birthday, Old Girl!

www.bbc.co.uk...



Today marks 80 Years since the first Supermarine Spitfire took to the skies.

Not only a beautiful looking bit of martial art, but a plane that ensured the Luftwaffe wouldn't have control of the skies.

Yes, hurricanes killed the bombers, Spitfires killed the fighters.

Without her, Operation Seealion would have gone ahead and might just have been successful in the summer of 1940.

I'll be raising a glass in honour of this grand old girl later.

Love this clip

originally posted by: woodwardjnr

Love this clip

haha. That is brilliant!

Don't click if you go a bit funny when people swear tough!

a reply to: SprocketUK

Wow.

People forget, or actually some don't know, that technology back then consisted of a #2 pencil, a sharpener that was screwed into the wall, and a wooden slide rule.

Thanks for sharing this under-appreciated piece of history.

a reply to: SprocketUK

Happy Birthday!

80 years later, and they still have not made anything prettier to fly in the sky.

a reply to: SprocketUK

Totally awesome machine. I used to drive a small 'hot' hatchback that was like driving a go-kart - great fun. That's how I imagine the spitfire was like to fly.

When Winkle Brown died the other day, there was audio of his recollections of flying and he remarked how he loved the spitfire. He spoke about how the pilot felt like part of the plane back then - it was symbiotic.

Tear-arseing around in the cockpit of a spitfire must have been as close to growing wings as we can get.

She is definitely the most aesthetically pleasing of all the WWII fighters, as well as being a great performer in battle.

Merlin engine purr, what a sound!!

Good bit of kit from a local boy, always liked to look at the one in the Hanley museum and always proud of those who saved us, remember a year or so ago walking back home and there was a Lancaster bomber at about 20 feet above the roof tops right in front of me...never made me prouder.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I'm damned sorry to hear that.

I think I've read/seen everything he's ever been in.

The Spitfire is the prettiest bit of aviation tech that's ever come along.

Without her, and her older sister,the Hurricane; Europe, and the world might look a tad bit different today...

So, I'll hoist one too, and for the boys that flew her.

Salute!!

a reply to: seagull

The guy is worth a history thread

a reply to: Kandinsky

Absolutely he is.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Kandinsky

Absolutely he is.

Here he is:


Of all the periods in history, that one is the one that has fascinated me since being a little kid. Simpler times maybe??