Spitfires

[CF-spitboy]

I really dont know what spitfire was the best back then but im thinkin the xvi was. Just because of the wing shape and stuff, but i think they went back to the pointy wings cause they dident like the flat ones. Can someone tell me what spit was probobly the fastest one?

[MerkavaMK4]

Original spitfire model won the fastest aircraft prize in 1923-24 compettition (not sure about years), on the basis of that design spitfire was based and produced.

Its interesting that nobody is mentioning Yak-3, 9 and Mig-1 WW2 fighters

[zb10948]

Its interesting that nobody is mentioning Yak-3, 9 and Mig-1 WW2 fighters

MiG-1 was pulled out in favor of more advanced MiG-3 (which is only MiG-1 upgrade), the first real MiG.

Now i think that MiG-3 is an excellent fighter, one of the best, but they weren't effective as Yaks (Yak-3 was found by everyone as one of the top5 WW2 fighters), because they were scrambled quickly into several different roles they weren't designed for.

[Acheron]

Originally Posted by CF-spitboy

I really dont know what spitfire was the best back then but im thinkin the xvi was. Just because of the wing shape and stuff, but i think they went back to the pointy wings cause they dident like the flat ones. Can someone tell me what spit was probobly the fastest one?

The clipped wingtip version was a Spitfire model adapted to low-level dogfighting. Clipping the wings made turning and rolls more easy on the plane without affecting performance of that the other Spits would get a high alt.

[osuorsa]

I think the F-22/-24 Spitfire or Spitefull were the fastest ones well over 700km/h.

[cee47]

Originally Posted by CF-spitboy

I really dont know what spitfire was the best back then but im thinkin the xvi was. Just because of the wing shape and stuff, but i think they went back to the pointy wings cause they dident like the flat ones. Can someone tell me what spit was probobly the fastest one?

Wikipedia really is an incredible resource. 5 minutes plus my own background knowledge gave me the following info:
The Spitfire had 3 different wing planforms
1. The standard elliptical shape
2. A 'clipped' version for better roll response at low altitude at the expense of high altitude performance (LF).
3. An extended tip version for high altitude operations (eg recon) (HF)
They were further divided into subtypes (A, B, C) depending on the armament fitted.

A Mk Vb Spitfire with 'standard' wing was capable of 378mph (605kph) in level flight.
The later Spiteful and Seafang, with a laminar-flow wing very similar to the P-51 Mustang was able to do 475mph (760kph)

A characteristic of the elliptical planform was to endow the Spitfire with the highest limiting mach number of any aircraft of its era.
During high speed experiments in 1943 a modified Mk XI with the elliptical wing recorded 606mph (975kpm/0.86Mach) in a 45degree dive.
In 1952 after a loss of control from 50,000ft (with recovery at just under 3000ft - scary stuff!) a Spitfire 19 recorded a terminal speed of 690mph/1100kph/0.94Mach, the highest VERIFIED speed ever reached by a propeller-driven aircraft (although there are unverified instances of Mustangs and Thunderbolt going supersonic in a dive).

Sorry to dig up old posts again, but I just thought people would be interested in more comprehensive answers than already posted.