Spitfire. The best fighter of the Royal Air Force. Kotelnikov V.

For the British, this Supermarine fighter is the same symbol of victory as the T-34 tank for us. The real “star hour” of Spitfire came during the battle for Britain when the fate of the country was decided.

The fierce air battle lasted from July until the end of October 1940 - the cities burned, the Royal Air Force lost more aircraft than the plants working in several shifts, the prime minister Churchill even slept in the bunker of the fighter command headquarters. Both sides suffered terrifying losses, but the Germans broke the first. Blitzkrieg Luftwaffe failed. And the main merit in this is fighters, the best of which was Spitfire. In the ranks of the Royal Air Force, Poles, Czechs, Dutch, Belgians, Norwegians, Greeks and Russian emigrants flew on it, and the car itself fought on all fronts of the Second World War. On Spitfires fought over the Kuban, intercepted German high -altitude scouts over Moscow, conducted reconnaissance as part of the Northern Fleet aviation (Soviet pilots appreciated the aircraft highly: high -speed, maneuverable, very simple and pleasant in piloting). After the war, the Spitfire scattered around the world - from Argentina to Burma, taking part in many local conflicts.

This book of a famous domestic aviation historian is the best study on the legendary fighter today. The reader is waiting for an exhaustive story about its creation, design, all modifications and combat use.

The publication is richly illustrated by many rare photographs.