Spitfire Production in Southampton in 1939
The iconic Supermarine Spitfire has deep roots in Southampton, where it was not just designed, but also built by the Supermarine company. Southampton’s role in Spitfire production is a significant part of this aircraft’s heritage, as the town and nearby Eastleigh (where the first prototype was tested) played a crucial role in the aircraft’s development which led to mass production during wartime from the factories at the Woolston Supermarine Works.
On March 5, 1936, the prototype Spitfire (K5054), equipped with a fine-pitch propeller to boost power during its take-off, embarked on its maiden flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome, now known as Southampton Airport. Captain Joseph “Mutt” Summers, chief test pilot, flew the aircraft for the first time.
The British public then got its first glimpse of the Spitfire during the RAF Hendon air display on Saturday, June 27, 1936. Although plans were in place for immediate full-scale production, various challenges delayed the process. Consequently, the first production Spitfire, K9787, did not leave the assembly line in Woolston, Southampton, until mid-1938.
In February 1939, seven months before war broke out, The Illustrated London News carried a front page feature of the Spitfire. What follows is a copy of the text and photos published in the paper that accompanied the front page headline about Spitfire production in Southampton at the Woolston Supermarine Works’ site. Here’s the front page first, followed by text and photos from the remainder of the article about the Spitfire production line featured inside the paper.
London Illustrated News – Saturday, February 4, 1939
THE EIGHT-GUN, SINGLE-SEATER VICKERS-SUPERMARINE “SPITFIRE” – PROBABLY THE WORLD’S FASTEST STANDARD FIGHTER: A TYPE OF MACHINE WHICH IS NOW BEING MASS-PRODUCED FOR THE RAF SEEN ON A TEST FLIGHT.
The Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire, an eight-gun, single-seater, day-and-night monoplane is probably the fastest standard fighting machine in any air force. The first deliveries of this aircraft to RAF squadrons were made last year. The Spitfire has a maximum speed of over 350 mph and was designed by the late R. J. Mitchell, who had the benefit of the experience gained by the Supermarine Company in the design and construction of high-speed seaplanes for the Schneider Trophy contests.
Features of the machine are: a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine; a laterally retracting undercarriage; and split trailing-edge flaps. In the above photograph, Flying Officer J.K. Quill, a Vickers’ test pilot, who recently flew in a Supermarine Spitfire from Le Bourget to Croydon in 41 minutes, is seen trying out a new machine.
Riveting-on the all-metal stressed-skin to the main structure: the fuselage of a Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire single-seater fighter on its cradle at the Supermarine Works, Southampton.
An early stage in the construction ok the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire: the ribs of the world’s fastest fighter of standard type being built.
The mass-production of a day-and-night, single-seater fighter which has a speed in excess of 350 mph: the centre sections of Spitfire fuselages, which are built in three parts, receiving their finishing touches after leaving the cradles.
The fighter aircraft of the RAF play an important part in the arrangements made to protect this country from aerial attack. in the event of an air raid, they would do patrol duty and intercept the hostile bombers before they reached their objective, the searchlight units of the Territorial Army assisting them by picking up the raiders and maintaining contact with them. Sir Kingsley Wood recently stated that between 5,000 and 6,000 of these machines were on order or would be ordered. A large number of Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires, believed to be the fastest military aircraft in the world, are now being constructed.
THE GROWTH OF BRITISH AIRCRAFT OUTPUT: CONSTRUCTING SPITFIRES
A row of nearly completed Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires at The Works: Machines whose prototype appeared at the RAF display at Hendon in 1936, now in mass-production for the fighter squadrons of the air force.
PRODUCING COMPONENT PARTS FOR THE SPITFIRE AT THE SUPERMARINE WORKS AT SOUTHAMPTON: GIRLS DRILLING AND PUNCHING HOLES IN METAL ACCESSORIES, THE SPEED WITH WHICH THE TASK IS CARRIED OUT IN NO WAY AFFECTING THE HIGH STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP ASSOCIATED WITH RAF MACHINES.
The method of construction facilitating the interchangeability of components, not only at the Supermarine Works at Southampton, where the photographs reproduced on these pages were taken, but also by twenty-three firms in co-operation. The supply of these aircraft will be further increased when Lord Nuffield’s new factory at Birmingham is in full production on the order it has received for 1,000 Spitfires. The fuselage of this machine is of the all-metal stressed-skin type and eight Browning machine-guns are mounted in the wings, the tips of which can easily be detached for replacement. In fact, the method of construction facilitates the interchangeability of all components.
SPITFIRES IN PRODUCTION: FINISHING TOUCHES AND A SAFETY DEVICE
A safety device in the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire: Fitting into the cockpit an electric horn which sounds a warning blast should the pilot attempt to land with wheels retracted.
Receiving final touches before being mounted Vickers-Supermarine Spitfires: fully supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin II engines, which develop over 1,000 hp at 16,250 ft.
Putting on the airscrew: almost the last phase of construction in the workshop before the Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire goes on an engine test.
Swinging the compass: a Spitfire on a turn-table which moved round to all points of the compass to correct it for variations set up by the metal in the fuselage – one of the ground tests made before the machine is taken on its trial flight.
On the previous pages we reproduce photographs showing the early stages in the construction of a Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire: here we show the finishing touches being given to the machine and its engine, a fully supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin II with a maximum output of 1,030 hp at 16,250 ft. The exhaust manifolds are of a new ejector type which increase the speed by some 15 mph when the machine is flying at over 300 mph giving a maximum speed of over 350 mph. The machines so far delivered to the RAF have two-bladed wooden airscrews, but, later, variable-pitch airscrews will be fitted, enabling the Spitfire to rise more rapidly from the ground with a shorter run. When the Spitfire has been assembled it is placed on wooden turntable and swung round in a circle, so that the compass can be corrected for variations set up by the metal in the fuselage, and it is then ready for testing.
A test pilot takes the machine up and for thirty minutes performs aerobatics at speeds in excess of 300 mph while he makes notes and calculations on a writing-pad strapped to his knee. It the test is satisfactory the Spitfire is handed over to a waiting RAF pilot, who flies the machine to its squadron. It is expected that a specially developed Spitfire may be used in an attempt on the landplane speed record.
THE VICKERS-SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE IN FLIGHT: A PHOTOGRAPH, TAKEN JUST AFTER THE MACHINE HAD LEFT THE GROUND, SHOWING THE WHEELS BEING RETRACTED LATERALLY AND NOT YET QUITE FLUSH WITH THE WINGS.
The Vickers-Supermarine Spitfire with which many lighter squadrons of the RAF are now being equipped has a laterally retracting undercarriage. On leaving the ground the wheels are drawn up sideways into wells in the wings. The position of the undercarriage is made known to the pilot by means of mechanical indicators and electrical signals. Should he attempt to land with the wheels retracted, an electric horn mounted in the cockpit gives him audible warning of the danger.
In an emergency, however, the Spitfire can be landed on the fuselage, and this was deliberately done with the prototype as an experiment Only slight damage resulted and the structure of the machine remained intact.
