By: Warren Gray

Copyright © 2024

“A hairy beast to fly, and took some getting used to…

Even with full aileron, elevator, and rudder, this

brute of a fighter took off slightly sideways.”

— RAF pilot Don Healy, No. 17 Squadron.

In 2020, I wrote a manuscript entitled Alpine Thunder, a historical novel about two American OSS secret agents, an Army major and a civilian woman, scouting the Bavarian Alps of Nazi Germany during the last 30 days of World War Two, with tactical air support available from a pair of Canadian-piloted Spitfire Mk. XIVE photo-reconnaissance fighters. These were exceptionally fast and powerful aircraft, but quite difficult to handle, even under the best of circumstances.

The Supermarine Spitfire fighter was originally introduced in 1938, just in time for World War Two, and it became world-famous during the Battle of Britain, from July to October 1940, as Nazi Germany unsuccessfully attempted to invade the United Kingdom. After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire superseded the Hawker Hurricane as the principal aircraft of RAF Fighter Command, and it operated in several roles, including interceptor, photo-reconnaissance, and fighter-bomber.

The Spitfire was a sleek, lightweight, highly maneuverable fighter, initially powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine producing 1,030 horsepower, and armed with eight .303-caliber, Browing machine guns. Its semi-elliptical wing design was very thin, to reduce drag, and it had detachable wingtips, for applying longer-tip versions, as desired, or eliminating the tips altogether. There were 24 variants, or marks, of the Spitfire produced during the war, with many sub-variants.

On January 6, 1944, the Spitfire Mk. XIV (Mk. 14) entered operational service, featuring a Rolls-Royce Griffon 65 V-12 engine with two-stage supercharger (generating 21 psi of boost pressure), producing a staggering 2,050 horsepower, and driving a revolutionary, five-bladed Jablo-Rotol R19/5F5/1 wooden (or Duralumin/aluminum, at the very end of the war) propeller that was 10.5 feet in diameter. This was the very first aircraft in the world to utilize a five-blade prop, to gain extra thrust from a very powerful engine, a configuration that remains innovative, even today.

For Spitfire pilots transitioning from early, Merlin-powered models, flying the Mk. XIV was a real challenge. Not only did it have literally double the horsepower, with extra thrust from the five-blade propeller, but the propeller on Griffon-powered models rotated counterclockwise when viewed from the cockpit, the opposite of Merlin-engine propellers, so the Mk. XIV had very powerful steering torque, with a gut-wrenching yaw toward the right, especially when full throttle was required for takeoff.

The Mk. XIV was built as a fighter, but was also developed for fighter-reconnaissance (FR) duty to replace the effective, but ageing, Mustang Mk. IAs in the tactical reconnaissance role. Because the extra-powerful Griffon engine consumed more fuel, a 34-gallon, auxiliary fuel tank was installed within the rear fuselage to extend the aircraft’s range to 610 miles on internal fuel.

The Mk. XIV was mostly produced with the structural, E-wing design, with 3.5- feet shorter, “clipped wings,” in which the tips were replaced by wooden fairings. This reduced the stress-induced wrinkling of the aluminum skin panels. The E-wing provided a faster roll rate, improved maneuverability, and better low-altitude performance, but that also made the fighters somewhat less stable. They were nicknamed Tiefflug Teufeln (“Low-Level Devils”) by German pilots because of their superior flight characteristics at a very low altitude.

Since the early, .303-caliber machine guns, firing ball ammunition, had proven insufficient for bringing down larger enemy aircraft, such as bombers, the Mk. XIV mounted twin Hispano Mk. II 20x110mm cannon with 120 rounds per gun, each firing at 12 rounds per second, and a pair of Browning M2 heavy machine guns in .50 BMG chambering, with 250 rounds per gun, also firing at about 12 to 13 rounds per second.

The supercharged engine, high-thrust propeller, and special, 150-octane, aviation fuel made the new Spitfire brutally powerful and extremely fast, at 446 miles per hour (417 mph at sea level), certainly one of the very fastest fighters in the world at low altitude, slightly faster than even America’s best, P-51D/K Mustang fighters.

Wing Commander Peter Brothers, a combat veteran of the Battle of Britain, stated that, “It was truly an impressive machine, being able to climb almost vertically. It gave many Luftwaffe pilots the shock of their lives when, having thought they had bounced you from a superior height, they were astonished to find the Mk. XIV climbing up to tackle them head-on, throttle wide open!”

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XIVE fighter at RAF Duxford, England. Alan Wilson, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Flight Lieutenant Ian Ponsford, a Distinguished Flying Cross recipient who was credited with seven enemy aircraft destroyed, one probable, and three damaged while flying Spitfire XIVs with No. 130 Squadron, recalled that, “The Spitfire XIV was the most-marvelous aeroplane at that time, and I consider it to have been the best operational fighter of them all, as it could out-climb virtually anything.

“It could be a bit tricky on takeoff, if one opened the throttle too quickly, as you just couldn’t hold it straight because the torque was so great from the enormous power developed from the Griffon engine. One big advantage that we had over the Germans was that we ran our aircraft on advanced fuels, which gave us more power.”

In fact, the 150-octane, aviation fuel allowed the supercharger boost level to be increased from 21 psi to 25 psi. Remember, this was 80 years ago! Today, my turbocharged SUV generates 17 to 18 psi, which is considered quite a lot of boost, by comparison, making the vehicle 40-percent more powerful than non-turbocharged models.

Spitfire Mk. XIVEs (14 “E” for E-wing) supported the massive Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, and spent the next two months attacking remote-controlled, pulsejet-powered V-1 “buzz-bomb” flying bombs launched from Occupied France toward England. The new Spitfires destroyed more than 300 of these deadly, cruising, V-1 “wonder weapons.”

V-1 flying bomb at RAF Duxford, 2013. Photo by author

More than 430 Mk. XIVs (of 957 built) were either converted or constructed as photo-reconnaissance variants, known as the Spitfire FR Mk. XIVE. Just behind each cockpit were plexiglass camera ports on the left and right sides, with barely enough room between them for a single, 20-pound, F24 camera, which could be pre-aimed obliquely in either direction, although the left side was preferred, because the cockpit door and camera controls were both on the left side of the cockpit. Since the pilot normally held the control stick with his right hand, the left hand was free to operate the throttle and camera controls.

The F24 Mk. 1 motorized, high-resolution, day/night camera featured an eight-inch, Dallmeyer Pentac lens with an aperture of f/2.9, and a shutter speed preset at 1/500th of a second for high-speed, low-level photography, with a Type 35 control box and motor drive. It could take up to 250, five-by-five-inch, black-and-white photographs at a rate of about five frames per second.

Spitfire XIVE recon fighter of 414 (RCAF) Squadron, Wunstorf, Germany, April 1945.
(Note empty camera port on right side, below and behind the canopy.) Photo credit: RCAF official photo

Two of the most successful Spitfire Mk. XIVE photo-reconnaissance units were 414 Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron (“Black Knights”) and 430 Fighter Reconnaissance Squadron (“City of Sudbury”) of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Their aircraft were camouflaged in an effective pattern of Dark Green and Ocean Gray over Medium Sea Gray undersurfaces, usually with matte-black noses, and British/Canadian (Type C-1), high-visibility markings on the wings.

Near the end of the war, on May 2, 1945, Flight Lieutenant Douglas I. “Doug” Hall of the Black Knights wrote the following combat report: “I was on a Tac/R (recon) mission…I sighted one Fw 190 flying north at 50 feet, at 100 plus m.p.h….and rapidly closed on his tail. I opened fire at 250 yds….and closed to 100 yds. I saw strikes on the fuselage and the e/a (enemy aircraft) went straight in.

“There was another Fw 190 immediately in line, and I opened fire at 200 yds., closing to 100 yds. I saw strikes on the e/a, which broke to port began to pour black smoke and broke into flame…over Neustadt Glewe Aerodrome.”

Later that same day, Canadian Squadron Leader James Bernard “Jim” Prendergast, a very recent recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, commanding 414 FRS, attacked and shot down two German Fw 190A-8 Würger (“Shrike”) fighters near Wismar Port on the northern German coast. He reported: “I was…on a Tac/R mission…I opened fire with a three-second burst of .5 M.G. and cannon. Pieces fell off, and the e/a rolled on its back and disappeared into a cloud, going straight down with a large amount of black smoke streaming from it.

“The other e/a had crossed beneath me…I made an astern attack, and when at 300 yards, opened fire with .5 MG and cannon using about a five-second burst and breaking off at 150 yards, owing to pieces of the e/a hitting my aircraft…A large number of strikes were seen, and just before the e/a hit the ground, it burst into flames…I claim two Fw 190s destroyed.”

Spitfire Mk. XIVs were also able to shoot down the high-speed German Me 262 jet fighters, including one very serious encounter on February 21, 1945, by three Belgian Spitfire pilots from No. 350 Squadron near Rheine, Germany, on an armed reconnaissance mission, when nine Spitfires encountered 20 or more Me 262s near Hopsten airfield. Flight Lieutenant J. Lavigne wrote that, “I opened fire with all armament from 200 yards, closing to 100 yards…I saw a big explosion in the right wing root and…It was smoking badly and dived into the circuit south of the aerodrome. I claim this aircraft as destroyed.”

On April 14, Squadron Leader John B. Shepherd of No. 41 Squadron, an ace with 18 aerial victories already, was on an armed-reconnaissance sortie near Bremen, when he engaged a Messerschmitt Bf 110 Destroyer twin-engine fighter towing an Me 163B Komet rocket-powered fighter. One burst sent the Bf 110 into an uncontrollable dive, and the rocket fighter, which had broken loose, failed to regain control, and also dived into the ground. Shepherd earned the Distinguished Flying Cross for this bold action.

RAF fighter pilot mannequin, RAF Duxford. Photo by author

On April 25, 1945, British Flight Lieutenant Cowell of No. 41 Squadron wrote: “I observed two Me 262s flying in line abreast…and turned in sharply after them…they opened up and dived for the deck. I followed them, doing 440 mph in the dive and 400 mph on the deck…heading straight for Lubeck…was able to make a 60° beam attack…I observed strikes in the cockpit area and between the starboard nacelle and the fuselage, and a large sheet of flame issued from this point.

“The pilot of the e/a then landed his machine on the grass beside the runway… and volumes of white smoke issued from it. The other machine landed on the runway…dragging its starboard wing tip on the ground…I claim one Me 262 probably destroyed, and one Me 262 damaged.”

By this time, the photo-reconnaissance Mustang IAs (1942 to 1944) and Spitfire XIVEs (1945) of 414 Squadron alone had destroyed 29 enemy aircraft in air-to-air combat and damaged at least 11 more. On low-level “Rhubarb” ground-attack missions, they had destroyed 76 locomotive trains, 13 naval vessels, 30 electrical towers (high-tension pylons), and scores of other ground targets.

Today, there are at least 54 surviving, flyable Spitfires worldwide, including at least two Mk. XIVEs. One (NH749) is owned by the Southern California Air Wing of the Commemorative Air Force in Camarillo, California, and the other (MV268) is operated by Warbird Aviation at RAF Duxford, England, the home of the Imperial War Museum.

Spitfire XIVE flown at RAF Duxford, 2017, in the markings of British Group Captain James E. “Johnnie” Johnson, 34 kills, who flew the FR Mk. XIV in 1945, and commanded Canadian squadrons. Photo credit: Warbird Aviation

On June 14, 2020, Dario Leone wrote for The Aviation Geek Club that, “The Spitfire Mk. XIV…was the best piston-engined fighter of WWII in Europe…faster than any other piston-engine aircraft, bar the (Focke-Wulf) Ta 152 (472 mph, with GM-1 nitrous-oxide boost), its maneuverability was outstanding, it could perform exceptionally at any altitude, and its rate of climb was stupendous…in a straight fight, it was simply very hard to beat…After the war, former Luftwaffe General of Fighters and Me 262 (jet) pilot Adolf Galland said: ‘The best thing about the Spitfire XIV was that there were so few of them.’”

In conclusion, the Spitfire Mk. XIVE was a modern marvel in its time, a brutally powerful, highly maneuverable fighter aircraft that was virtually unbeatable at low altitudes, but relentlessly overpowered, fast, and twitchy to control, compared to earlier models. It was amazingly successful in the photo-reconnaissance role, yet able to shoot down even several Me 262A German jet fighters, and was truly “a hairy beast to fly.”

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Author at the Imperial War Museum, RAF Duxford. Photo credit: Melody Gray

Warren Gray is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with experience in joint special operations and counterterrorism. He served in Europe (traveled twice to England, including RAF Duxford) and the Middle East, earned Air Force and Navy parachutist wings, four college degrees, including a Master of Aeronautical Science degree, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Intelligence Operations Specialist Course, and the USAF Combat Targeting School. He is currently a published author and historian.