One of the few planes that was in production from the start till the finish of WWII was the Spitifire. Though the late war variants had little in common with the initial production types in terms of parts commonality, the Spitfire of 1945 was still as recognizable as a Spit as that of 1939.

Probably the biggest boost to the aircraft was the adoption of the Griffon engine, a power plant that significantly boosted the power available to the airframe and made for a very potent low level aircraft. Still handicapped by lack of range, the Griffon Spitfire was found to be most useful for home defense and short range air to air and ground attack missions. Able to do well against most of what the Luftwaffe, with its 'wunder weapons' but poorly trained pilots, even late in the war men flying the Griffon Spitfire were able to score an impressive number of victories. They were also extremely useful in fighting the V-1 threat of the mid-late 1944 time frame. Its exceptional acceleration and high speed enabled the Griffon Sptifire to catch and destroy these pesky cruise missiles.

Once the Allies had started taking a significant amount of territory on the continent, it allowed Griffon Spit units to move to within closer range of enemy bases and this helped to increase the number of encounters with enemy planes. After the war in Europe was over, the Griffon spitfire was moved to the Middle East and the Pacific where it was active in Palestine and in Malaya, where the type saw its final actions.

As you might expect, there are a LOT of stories in this one. One of the things that make the Aces series so popular are the 'I was there' stories. When you add these great tales with quality period photos and a superb section of color profiles, you end up with a book that tells a rather complete story of the Griffon Spit and those men who flew it.

Overall, this is a superb book and one that Spitfire fans and modelers alike will find invaluable. As with all Osprey titles, one that I can highly recommend and one you can purchase with confidence.

April 2008

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