This year is the 70th anniversary of the first flight at Southamp- ton of K5054, the prototype Supermarine Spitfire. It would never have entered the head of its designer R.J. Mitchell, aged 42 and dying of cancer, that his brainchild (‘a mere fabrication of aluminium alloy, steel, rubber, Perspex, and a few other things’) would become a national icon, or that some 22,000 Spitfires would eventually be built.

This is an elegant and meticulously researched account of the development and history of the world’s most famous fighter aircraft, and of those who designed, built, maintained and flew it. It is a book not only for aviation enthusiasts but also for anyone interested in 20th-century military history, in technical genius or indeed in the heroic and inventive nature of mankind.

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