A love story

The pilots called it ‘the Spit’, ‘my personal swallow’, ‘a real lady’, or, simply, ‘the fabulous Spitfire’. It was not a perfect machine. Due to its long nose, forward visibility during take-off was poor; it was freezing cold in the cockpit, and so small that the pilot did not have room to wear a bulky flight suit. He had to make do with chamois leather gloves and wool socks. Yet all who flew it marvelled at its grace and power, and it was equally adored by those on the ground. As Leo McKinstry notes, in his thorough and engaging new account of the invention and development of this most glamorous machine, when in 1940 Spitfire funds were established throughout the country, ‘It is the only time in British history that vast numbers of citizens have voluntarily, even enthusiastically, donated money directly to the government.’ The history of the Spitfire is above all a love story.