First flying in March 1936, The Supermarine Spitfire was a British fighter aircraft developed by the Supermarine Company between 1938-1948. The Spitfire became one of the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War & continues to be a crowd pleaser at airshows across the world.nThe Spitfire was designed as a shortrange, high performance interceptor aircraft by R. J. Mitchell, chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, which operated as a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong from 1928. Mitchell pushed the Spitfires distinctive elliptical wing with cutting edge sunken rivets to have the thinnest possible cross-section, helping give the aircraft a higher top speed than several contemporary fighters, including the Hawker Hurricane. Mitchell continued to refine the design until his death in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith took over as chief designer, overseeing the Spitfire's development through its multitude of variants.nDuring the Battle of Britain, from July to Oct.