UN85050 1/72 U.K. SPITFIRE MK IX NORMANDY 1944 The Supermarine Spitfire remains one of the classic fighter aircraft of all time, and certainly one of the most instantly recognizable. In the United Kingdom it has become a part of folklore- the aeroplane that saved the United Kingdom in the Battle of Britain. The fact that reality tells a different story does not diminish the psychological impact it has had over the years. To some degree history has been rewritten by its success. In all, an estimated 22 579 Spitfires served in all spheres of the War and afterwards, and when whenever a visual reconstruction has occurred of such events, they were generally rewritten to some degree around the aircraft available- almost entirely Spitfires. That admitted, there remains the fact that the Spitfire was one of, if not the (line up on your chosen side of THAT argument), most effective fighter of its time. As an act of engineering it was at the cutting edge of technology from the mid 1930’s until nearly 1950, and was extensively developed. It encompasses in one aircraft type most of the major developments of the end of the piston-engined fighter era. For many people it is simply that the Spitfire is synonymous with the most effective aero engine of the War, the Rolls-Royce Merlin. Others simply admire the beautiful lines of the airframe. There is no single link among the admirers of this line of aeroplanes.