The Supermarine Spitfire
Part 2 Griffon- Powered including Seafires
A Complete Guide to the Famous Fighter

by Richard A. Franks

Valiant Wings Publishing
Airframe and Miniature No.13

Reviewed by Graham Carter

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272 glossy A4 pages are well-bound in a soft card cover with a bespoke rendition by Jerry Boucher of a MkXIVe flown by Sq. Ldr. Douglas Benham of 41Sqn clashing with an FW190D9 from 1/JG26 on 23rd January 1945.

The book follows the familiar and very well received pattern for this series of books, well suited to the needs of the modeller, aviation historian and technophile. It begins with a preface of 33 pages which traces the development of the Griffon powered Spitfires through to the later Seafires and includes the Spiteful and Seafangs. One error I picked up was the reference on pages 18 and 19 to a Seafire MkXVIII  - there was no such critter! The photos are of  Mk XVIIs. Also covered here is a brief rundown of the users of these aeroplanes, both in wartime and afterwards.

This is followed by a more detailed treatment of the airframe variations mark by mark, accompanied by photos and small side profiles by Wojciech Sankowski, covering:

1. Evolution MkXII to 24

2. Evolution Seafire XV to FR47

3. Spiteful and Seafang, and ending with a

4. lovely selection of Camouflage and Markings covering the whole gamut of schemes, stencil locations and overseas users. These are in full colour and many are illustrated with B&W photos. Profiles are by Richard Caruana.

23 pages are then devoted to a detailed description and evaluation of a variety of kits of the Spitfire/Seafire in the major scales that are readily available. Each kit is examined in some detail, pointing out the positive and negative aspects of each, along with a description of parts and decals. 

Libor Jekl and Steve Evans then present their detailed builds of the Fujimi MkXIVe and Xtrakit/Special Hobby FMk22 in 1/72, and the Airfix MkXIV and Special Hobby Seafire MkXV in 1/48. Those of us familiar with the work of these two will know that they are quality builds and contain many hints and tips for the prospective builder.

Chapter 7 is a 25-page coverage of all the development variations of each version using the familiar annotated isometric drawings by Juraj Jankovic. I find this every useful when checking the required modifications when building my models and the book is worth getting just for these.

Chapter 8 is the largest at 84 pages and is an In Detail section covering in photos ( modern and contemporary), workshop drawings, official published material and annotations almost all the airframe details. It is broken up into sections such as Cockpit, Undercarriage, Engine and cowlings, Wings, Weapons, and Fuselage panels. This is excellent material and it is reproduced clearly and to a good size for my ageing eyes. 

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The final sections are a number of Appendices.  Appendix I is a listing of all the kits produced but not necessarily available in the range of scales from 1/144 to 1/24. Appendix II covers accessories produced by  huge number of manufacturers , again by scale. Appendix III covers decals sheets while IV is a bibliography of publications, books, periodicals, official publications, etc. It is mind-blowing to note that these appendices fill twelve pages of closely-typed entries - such is the popularity of this iconic Supermarine aircraft. A fold out set of 1/48 complete the package.

Here you have everything you have wanted to know about the Griffon-engined Spitfire family all in one publication. Highly recommended to the Spitfire fanatic, the modeller and the aviation historian or technophile and an excellent follow-up to Volume 1 on Merlin-engined Spitfires and early Seafires. Together they constitute a 500-odd page ‘magnum opus’. Well done Valiant Wings.

Thanks to Valiant Wings Publishing for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2020 by Graham Carter
This Page Created on 25 February, 2020
Last updated 26 February, 2020

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