25.05.2012, 16:32
As some people have some questions about the name of the Spitfire, this is what Tony Holmes writes in his book "Spitfire vs Bf109" published by Osprey on page 10 of his magnificent work about both the legendary Spit and the Messerschmitt:
"According to the historian Robert Bungay, Vickers appeared to think of aeroplanes as "bad tempered women". They had previously come up with "Shrew" but Mitchell apparently objected to this denigration of his elegant design and was overheard to remark caustically that is was 'just the sort of silly name they would give it.' The eventual name actually came from Vickers' Chairman, Sir Robert MacLean, who called his daughter "a little Spitfire", and it was approved by the Air Ministry.
I think history is served with this and I hope it may bring all airplane and history lovers to read the book for it tells a lot more about the Spit and the Bf-109 we don't know. By the way, magnificent video, but some of the footage in which a train can be seen blown to pieces... not done by a Spit... sorry
but actually it was a P-47D Thunderbolt pilot who did this.
I surely hope this info was helpfull.
"According to the historian Robert Bungay, Vickers appeared to think of aeroplanes as "bad tempered women". They had previously come up with "Shrew" but Mitchell apparently objected to this denigration of his elegant design and was overheard to remark caustically that is was 'just the sort of silly name they would give it.' The eventual name actually came from Vickers' Chairman, Sir Robert MacLean, who called his daughter "a little Spitfire", and it was approved by the Air Ministry.
I think history is served with this and I hope it may bring all airplane and history lovers to read the book for it tells a lot more about the Spit and the Bf-109 we don't know. By the way, magnificent video, but some of the footage in which a train can be seen blown to pieces... not done by a Spit... sorry
but actually it was a P-47D Thunderbolt pilot who did this. I surely hope this info was helpfull.