Spitfghter mark 1 airplane Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Spitfghter mark 1 airplane - Essay Example It continued in these roles until the mid-1950, when production stopped. Until today, the Spitfire continuous to be a favourite aircraft with 53 being airworthy and many more being used as displays in air museums and schools (Zandvoort 1957). The Spitfires design started in 1931 when Mitchell wanted to meet the Air ministry’s new specifications for a modern craft that was capable of 250 mph. The design did not get off to a good start, the first one named Super-marine type 224, had a Rolls-Royce steam-cooled Griffon engine. Accordingly, the engine could only reach a top speed of 230 mph and had bulky gull wings with an open-cockpit. Mitchell and his team were disappointed but not discouraged; they immediately started on their next model designated Type 300. The aircraft went through several modifications, including smaller, thinner and elliptical shaped wings, an enclosed and blister-shaped cockpit, and oxygen-breathing apparatus and a more powerful Rolls-Royce PV-XII V-12 engine. The Air ministry adopted this model and its construction started. The model went into production, as the aircraft was in use over the years the design continuously improved beginning with the Mark I to Mark XIV, until the Spitfire went ou t of production (Axelrod & Kingston 2007). The plane used a semi-elliptical wing, which helped to reduce drag, house a retractable undercarriage while at the same time carried armament and ammunition. The ellipse-shaped and skewed wings ensured that the centre of the pressure aligned with the main spur and which prevented the wings fro twisting. As the aircraft performance Improve and it gained more power, the aileron reversal increased. It meant that there was a need for the design of new wings. The new models helped solve this problem by increasing their stiffness by 47% and the aileron reversals speed improved by the use of geared trim tabs and piano