Histoire & Collections
Supermarine Spitfire Mk I – II –V Volume 1

by Phil Listemann

Reviewed by Alistair Bowie

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Always an evocative subject but one that never seems to tire to me – the Supermarine Spitfire. Continuing in their range of Planes and Pilots H&C know give us the first volume devoted to the Supermarine Spitfire. This one covers the earlier marks up to the Mk V which gives great scope of schemes in all theatres of the second world war.

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These titles are like the Osprey Aircraft of the Aces range and provide a brief history of numerous individual aircraft, background material and superb Colour Side Profiles and full profiles of the more common official schemes. These are backed up by photos and a descriptive text giving a brief history of the individual aircraft. The middle of the book gives operational and developmental history of the various Marks of Spitfire covering the Mk 1, II, III and the Mk V. The book is broken down into the following chapters and is a very enjoyable read:

• The Mk 1 Spitfire
• The Mk II Spitfire
• The Mk III Spitfire
• The Mk V Spitfire
• The Battle of Britain
• The Fight Continues
• The Contribution of the Dominions
• The Contribution made by foreign units
• In other Skies – overseas operations
• Export Spitfires
• Squadrons Which Flew the Spitfire

The colour plates are of excellent quality and each is backed by an informative paragraph of the AC history and colour schemes. There are three blocks of colour plates with the Mk 1 covering 28 Aircraft (including the prototype); the Mk II covering 28 Aircraft and finally the Mk V having 121 aircraft. A wide variety of schemes from all theatres and users provide a visual feast for the Spitfire afflicted. The last plate section discusses the Major official schemes of A through to F with plan plates of only underside schemes.

I cannot profess to be an expert on the ins and outs of Spitfire colour schemes but from research the author appears to know his stuff and I was pleasantly surprised to see that he keeps an open mind on the more obscure and controversial schemes such as Malta Spitfires.

The historical chapters are an excellent read and cover a lot of useful information regarding operations and the development of the Aircraft and its employment. This title appears to be aimed at the modeller and many attractive schemes are within its pages which is timely with Airfix’s new found love for the Spitfire upon us. I would recommend this title to anyone with an interest in the spitfire without reservation and will be seeking the companion title on the Hawker Hurricane.

As this is Volume 1, I look forward to future volumes presumably on later Mark Spitfires due in November.

Thanks to Casemate UK for the sample.

Review Copyright © 2014 by Alistair Bowie
This Page Created on 30 September, 2014
Last updated 30 September, 2014

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