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The Spitfire was the plane that nobody wanted.

It was turned down by the British Government, by industry and even
by the Royal Air Force, when the design was first presented to them.



It survived only because of the conviction of its great designer R.J. Mitchell

to become by far the most famous, the most inspirational, the most

successful warplane of its generation; the very symbol and image of

British pride and power, as the killer fighter of the decisive air battle of

World War 2, the Battle of Britain. The Supermarine Spifire was the only

allied airplane that was kept in production throughout the entire duration

of the war, appearing in over 40 different versions, and flying in every

theatre of the war. With hitherto unseen footage, this programme tells the

entire story of this remarkable airplane, from its inception, to its great

triumphs in battle.

BRITAIN and the BRITISH and the WORLD owes him so much for the

courage which he displayed, in the face of the knowledge that he would

soon die of cancer. The marvel of ALL that was R.J. Mitchell, can no doubt

be attributed, to a MIND that was presented with the additional implacable

enemy - TIME - but none the less a MIND whose characteristics included... 

The INSIGHT for getting to the ESSENCE of the PROBLEM

The UNDERSTANDING of the need to THINK THINGS THROUGH

The FOCUS of ATTENTION to DETAIL


The
ABILITY to formulate a SOLUTION based on an IDEA


The COMMITMENT to being PREPARED to TAKE RISKS


The COMMUNICATION skills to INSPIRE a TEAM to COMPLETE the TASK

.

Views: 164

Comment by Michael Grove on March 5, 2015 at 11:37

Airshow display of the dual seat Supermarine Spitfire TR.9After the Second World War a number

of Mark IX Spitfires were converted to this dual control configuration to be used as training aircraft. 

Copyright © 2011 Historical Aviation Film Unit 

This video material may not be reproduced in any form (except as an embedded video

on any other website), without the written permission of the Historical Aviation Film Unit.



Comment by Michael Grove on October 20, 2016 at 8:56


 Even the rector of All Saints Church in Borehamwood, who was responsible for my confirmation
 into the Church of England [CofE] and very supportive of my interest in becoming a pilot, had
 been a fighter-pilot during WWII.
 

Comment by Michael Grove on November 19, 2018 at 12:36

 

 History of the Supermarine Spitfire

 The FootageDirect archive includes historical and contemporary footage

 covering a wide range of subjects from corporate images to war footage,

 public domain movies and film trailers to industry archive and modern.

 www.footagedirect.com

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