The Spitfire is one of the most legendary fighters on the planet its sheer engineering and the pilots behind it
help prevent Germany from owning the world
but what you would normally get in a video like this is some great stories about what the fighter was and maybe some
statistical facts on it
But today we look at some different facts that you might have never heard of about the UK's
Great and legendary spit fighter. How's it going? Everybody? Welcome to
FTD facts the channel where we look at people cultures militaries and history
from all around the world
My name is Dave Walpole and as always I'm always excited to be doing a video on a cool topic
But this one is a little special for me because I love the Spitfire
I think it's a beautifully made aircraft and it's just got a lot of history behind it
And it's just something that when I think of it
I think of honor valor and glory and of course if you like military content
You want to keep an eye out for our playlists in this video?
They'll be in the boxes or in the description box below
We got some cool stuff that I think you guys will enjoy
now firstly one thing that I found out that was really interesting is that
Most of us think that the Spitfire was a bit of a bomber and a fighter being capable of carrying bombs underneath its wings
But here's the thing. This Spitfire itself wasn't just a bomber
It was also kind of a mobile bar or at least it delivered beer to soldiers in Europe
That's right
Basically the story is that after the Battle of d-day the fighter became a little bit of a delivery plane for beer
Volunteers were organized under a bit of a black market by strapping beer kegs underneath to the fighter
They even went as far as to use old fuel jettison tanks
Obviously after washing them out and I think the kind of nice part about this is when that plane got really really high it would
Chill that beer so perfectly so the soldiers, you know could have some on their arm in our time now
Did you know that most German aces actually revered the spit fighter as a matter of fact a lot of them were like man
I kind of wish I had one myself
Most of them commonly thought that the Spitfire was superior to their own planes even the Messerschmitt 109s ace pilot
Adolf Galland famously responded I should like an outfit of Spitfires
Many others cited how they almost came close to being gunned down to buy these aircraft and because of that they were extraordinarily
deadly to the Germans
So one thing with the Spitfire that not a lot of people know about is that when it first came out it had a lot
of accident reports
the reason for this was because it was one of the first planes especially in a fighter setting that had a
retractable landing gear and in the early days
Even experienced pilots generally forgot to lower their landing gear when approaching for a landing
contrary to what most people believe the Spitfire didn't actually shoot down most of the German planes during the Battle of Britain this however
Was given to the Hawker hurricane, which was somewhat a competitor to the Spitfire
competitor and the fact that there was a lot of Hawker
Hurricanes and they did their fair share throughout the war as well
Now the original designer of the plane RJ Mitchell began designs for this aircraft in 1931
Obviously changes went through but the interesting thing is RJ
Mitchell never saw how great his fighter would be as he passed away on June 11
1937 due to cancer and it wasn't until August 8
1938 that the plane entered service for the Allied forces of the
22,000 planes that were built for the war a little over 54 of them are still around today in flying condition
This also includes the famous C fire
Which most people don't know that the Spitfire did have an aircraft?
Carrier version and that was the C fire in today's world
If you have a pilot license
You can learn to fly one of these in Kent at the bolt B Flight Academy, and it's kind of expensive to do so
So you got to have a lot of money another unknown or more or less uncommon fact is that in?
1940 Germany had managed to take out two of the large factories in Southampton producing the Spitfires
Fortunately though Britain had a back-up plan and this one's really cool
they had small warehouses showrooms small sheds hotels backyards garages and
volunteers which were mostly women that became at major locations and
Contributors to building the Spitfires for the war as a matter of fact of these small occations and the ladies behind the construction
They made approximately
2,000 planes which was about 10% of all the planes that were made during the war
During World War two the biggest flying ace who flew a Spitfire was known as Johnny Johnson who was an RAF pilot
Who claimed 34 individual victories or downed aircraft not including shared victories?
he was also the second highest Allied scoring ace throughout the entire war and lastly did you know that the Spitfire was the only
Propeller plane that came extremely close to breaking the sound barrier
The Spitfire was capable of going naturally over 400 miles per hour, but during the mid 1940s
They modified this Spitfire to test what happens to planes going near the speed of sound and on April 27th
1944 Squadron Leader
Anthony F Martindale flew his mark 11 Spitfire high into the sky then put the craft in a nosedive
Which reached speeds of mach 0.92 the fastest any piston aircraft
Had ever gone and the results of this
Well, they found that the Spitfire was not made to be able to withstand these speeds
Because the propeller actually flew off Anthony also blacked out and the wings ended up being bent back from its original position
because of the force of pressure and wind
Fortunately though however Anthony did survive I was a wolf that's of sheer miracle
Anyways guys that and girls I guess you could say if there are a few watching this video, but it's mostly guys
Yeah, anyways, my name is Dave Walpole. Thank you guys for tuning in and learning about the Spitfire man. It's just a great aircraft
I love it
Hope you guys like this video and don't forget to check out our cool playlists that I've put in the description box below and in
The cards and they'll be at the end of the video that you guys can check out
Feel free to leave a comment for a future FTD facts video because I love learning with you guys and taking your suggestions
But you guys have yourself a fantastic one, and I'll see you later. Bye
All right, so here's those playlists that I was telling you guys all about once again
Don't feel afraid to leave a comment down there
And if you like this stuff give it a big thumbs up or just hit that subscribe button in that bound vacation
There's a lot of things that you could do. All right. I'll see you later. Bye