Supermarine Spiteful
Supermarine · United Kingdom · first flew 1944 · fighter
The Supermarine Spiteful was a piston fighter developed late in World War II featuring a new laminar-flow wing intended to overcome the Spitfire's handling limitations at high speed. It arrived too late to see wartime service and was overtaken by jets.
Recognition (WEFT)
| W — Wings | Low-mounted, tapered |
|---|---|
| E — Engines | 1 × piston, nose-mounted |
| F — Fuselage | Deeper, squarer fuselage cross-section than Spitfire |
| T — Tail | Conventional |
WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.
Spot it by:
- Laminar-flow straight-tapered wing replacing the Spitfire's ellipse
- Griffon engine with five-blade contra-rotating propeller
- Deeper, squarer fuselage cross-section than Spitfire
Looks like a late Spitfire at a glance but has a distinctly straighter, broader-chord tapered wing without the Spitfire's elliptical leading edge, and a heavier, more angular fuselage profile.
Specifications
- The Supermarine Spiteful has a length of 9.93 m (33 ft).
- It has a wingspan of 11.07 m (36 ft).
- Its maximum speed is 765 km/h (475 mph).
- Typical crew: 1.
Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.
History
Developed from the Spitfire Mk 21 fuselage mated to an all-new straight-tapered laminar-flow wing, the Spiteful flew in 1944 but the RAF lost interest as jet aircraft matured. Only 17 production aircraft were completed. The Spiteful's wing and fuselage designs fed directly into the naval Seafang and influenced jet-age design thinking.
Variants
The Spiteful F.14 was the primary variant; the F.16 used the Griffon 101 engine. The navalized Seafang shared the Spiteful's wing but added folding and an arrester hook.
Where you'll see it
Never entered operational RAF service; the small production batch was used for trials only.
Related aircraft
- Supermarine Seafire Mk XV
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI
- Supermarine Spitfire PR Mk XIX
- Supermarine Seafire Mk III
- Arado E.580
- Bell XP-77
- Blohm & Voss BV 155
- Curtiss SC Seahawk
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