WHAT AIRPLANE IS THIS?

Supermarine Spiteful F Mk XIV

Sport Aviator readers might remember that the very first Name The Airplane contest photo was of North American Aviation’s A-36 Apache Dive Bomber. That airplane, minus the dive brakes but keeping the revolutionary laminar flow wing that greatly reduced drag, went on to become the P-51A Mustang. The A model Mustang was good, but not great, as it suffered from poor engine performance above 20,000 feet.

It was the British who suggested that North American Aviation mate the Spitfire’s Merlin engine to the Mustang airframe. North American did just that and the P-51B-H series was born. It went on to become what was arguably the best American fighter of WW II.
One of the Mustang’s performance secrets was its laminar flow wing. The Mustang’s airfoil, the upper and lower curves that shape a wing’s cross section, was designed to reduce turbulence as the air flowed over the wing’s top and bottom. The air flowed in smooth layers as it passed near the wing’s surface, reducing drag and increasing the wing’s efficiency. These layers resembled laminations, like plywood, and thus the term “laminar” was used to describe this airfoil design.

To be sure, North American did not invent this concept but the Mustang was the first operational production fighter equipped with the laminar flow wing. In late 1942, North American was working on the ultimate P-51 derivation, the “H” model. While we don’t know for sure, it appears that this wing design was given to the British for test on their famous Spitfire fighter.

The British mated this wing to the Spitfire and the resultant airplane was renamed the Supermarine Spiteful. (British airplanes at the time were named by the government, not the manufacturer. When the Spitfire’s designer, Reginald Mitchell, first learned of the “Spitfire” name for his new fighter his only comment was “Just the bloody stupid name they would give it.” So don ‘t blame Supermarine for the “Spiteful” name.)

The first Spiteful, originally called the Type 371, was just a Spitfire Mk XIV mated with the new wing (photo 1). It was powered by a 2,035 hp Griffon 61 engine. This combination worked very well and a true prototype was commissioned. The wing was kept but a new fuselage was designed around an improved 2,375 hp Griffon 69 engine.

Unfortunately, by the time the new prototype flew, it was January, 1945 and the war was clearly won. Even more damaging to the Spiteful’s future was the growing performance of jet-powered fighters. The British government ordered 188 Spitefuls but only 19 were built before the contract was cancelled. Another 16 Spitefuls were built for the British Navy and named “Seafang” (where did they get these names?)

Of the 35 Spitefuls and Seafangs built, at least 6, and maybe 10, were never even uncreated and flown. That was a shame as it must have been an exciting airplane to fly. The Mk XIV Spiteful had a top speed of 483 mph and could climb to 20,000 ft. in just5 minutes. The Spiteful could reach above 40,000 ft. while its light (9,950 lb.) weight and efficient wing meant it turned extremely tightly.

But the airplane had a range of less than 600 miles. This meant a combat radius, the distance the airplane could fly to a target, fight and return, of less than 250 miles. The new jet fighters then being developed could easily match this combat radius and had superior performance. So what would have been a great fighter, the ultimate Spitfire variant, disappeared. We don’t know if any still exist but we doubt it.

The Clues:
The Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX had the fully elliptical wing, including rounded wingtips, that all early WW II spitfires had. The contest airplane clearly did not have an elliptical wing or round wingtips.

The Hawker Tempest II had a radial (round) engine: The Spiteful’s engine was the water-cooled Griffon which allowed the nose to be streamlined for greater speed.

While the P-51H had a straight wing, the large engine cooling radiator was located in the usual place, on the fuselage bottom behind the wing: While the Spiteful had a wing very similar to the P-51H Mustang, the fuselage was very different. The “H” Mustang kept the engine radiator in the bottom scoop. This scoop actually added about 300 lb. of thrust to the airplane much like a very small jet engine would. The contest airplane had the traditional Spitfire radiators mounted under the wing.

Spiteful is NOT a misprint. There really is such an airplane!: The Spiteful name, like Mr. Mitchell said of the Spitfire, is just so awful that we felt it was necessary to explain that someone would actually give such a “bloody stupid” name to a fine airplane.

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