Following the introduction of Spitfire ML295 in the last Sortie, which is the historic aircraft that The Few watch will be made from, here I will introduce the squadron that these pilots flew with and will uncover some incredible new research about the squadron’s most successful pilot. The Spitfire Squadron A squadron of Spitfires was generally …
The Spitfire that The Few watch is being built from has been moved into a more public part of the Biggin Hill Heritage Hangar, in South East England, where it is being restored. This has meant some keen-eyed visitors have already spotted the Spitfire and published some photographs and details on social media. Therefore, slightly …
As we discussed in the last Sortie, the Spitfire produced some of the world’s top fighter ace pilots. In this Sortie we’re going to take a look at the role the Spitfire played operationally and the types of missions that pilots could be expected to undertake. The types and frequency of the missions the Spitfire …
As we discussed in the last Sortie, in 1941 the Spitfire Mark 9 was intended to be a stop-gap design to combat the threat from the German Fw190. It proved to be so successful however, that it continued to be produced until the end of the war in Europe. In this Sortie, we will take …
It is now exactly 10 years since since I decided to become a watchmaker. I had a bit of nostalgia reading through my old article on making the decision. After a long time training and gaining experience, I am now where I set out to be; making watches in Britain. Hopefully you’ve been reading my …
After the success of the Mark 5 Spitfire in Malta, which we looked at in the last Sortie, the Spitfire went on to prove itself again and again in other theatres of war; from the deserts of North Africa, to the jungles of South East Asia, to the frozen tundra of the Russian winter. Going …
As we discussed in the last Sortie about the Legend of the Spitfire, which you can read here, the Spitfire is recognised worldwide as a fighter capable of turning the tide of a battle. Part of this legacy is that after its famous success in the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire found itself in high …
During the Battle of Britain, which we discussed in the last Sortie, Hurricanes made up around 2 of every 3 fighter aircraft, and also claimed a higher proportion of the “kills”. The performance difference between the Spitfire Mk1 and the Hurricane was marginal. Pilots of each aircraft also tended to believe the plane they were …
In this Sortie we’re going to take a look at the Spitfire’s most famous undertaking; the Battle of Britain. By the start of July 1940, Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Norway had all been defeated by the relentless Nazi war machine. In less than a year since war had broken out, Britain, …
In this Sortie we’re going to take a look at the Spitfire in combat, and the experiences that led up to its greatest challenge; the Battle of Britain. If you missed the last Sortie, about the birth of the Spitfire, you can read that here. My wife’s grandfather, Clifford Page, was an aircraft engineer with …
