A superb account from RJ Mitchells first designs, the Schneider trophy, & the outdated nature of pre war RAF planes, tthrough the second world war, in particular the Battle of Britain, to the Korean War & further. Very informative & highly readable. As good as McKinstry's other work on the Lancaster. Has a very Max Hastings like approach to experience of combat which I found riveting reading. If there was one, very mild criticism, it is that it concentrates on the western front too much. Highly recommended ( )

Excellent book about the history of the Spitfire. Reading this book it is amazing that this iconic aircraft was ever built. The descriptions of some of the work rounds and lash ups to solve technical and operational issues are eye openers - i.e a bomb was added to some of the Spitfires and this was dropped by the pilot pulling on a piece of string which, in theory pulled a retaining pin out. In practice, this did not always work, which meant that the pilot has to throw the plane about violently in order to try to shake the bomb loose! ( )

A well packed and interesting book. The great use of quotes and excerpts result very well, putting the individuals of the time speaking, so to say.

I found two errors:

one of "mythical" nature, about the support of Lady Houston to the winning of the last Schneider race. It was not a full patriotic exempt action, she had to pay taxes from her dead husband heritage and was secretly approached by the government in that respect. That sheds a new light about the UK government action in that last race (see http://www.librarything.com/work/369269/book/37725264).

the other one is quite unforgivable, assigning the breaking of the world speed record for aircraft to the Heinkel instead of the Me209.

I very much enjoyed the first 1/3 of the book, about the intricacies of the Spitfire development and initial stages of production. This is very well written and has some myth breaking material. The history of the Spitfire is off course interlinked with WW2 but the author focuses too much attention in WW2 than the Spitfire, in my opinion. Has a portrait of time it is very good and I sure learned a lot about it but I cannot shake the feeling that sometime it was too much attention to the "sideshow" than the main character.

For anyone liking the Spitfire this book is a very good catch. I do recommend it. ( )

Excellent general history of the world's most iconic aeroplane. McKinstry keeps the geeky technical details to a minimum, but gives marvellous pen-portraits of the people involved in the design, production and operation of the Spit. Every stage of the story is told from the human angle, and is fascinating and gripping from start to finish. He is not blind to the faults of the aircraft, and deals fairly with the various controversies encountered. (I had not realised, for example, just what a basket case Supermarine was, and that the continued failure to produce Spits on schedule may have been a major factor in Chamberlain's Munich policy). ( )