Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII - Star-Spangled Spitfire (III)

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Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk VIII

   Hello everybody. I’d like to suggest the Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII for US aviation in War Thunder. The Mk VIII was another Spitfire employed by the USAAF 31st and 52nd Fighter Groups that had seen action in Sicily and Italy in 1943 before being replaced with the P-51 Mustangs in the spring of 1944. This American Spitfire could have a place in the US nation as a mid-tier alternative to the high-tier American Spitfire LF Mk IXc.

Key Characteristics

  • Low/medium-Altitude, Agile Fighter
  • Reverse Lend-Lease Aircraft
  • Spitfire Mk VIII with with C-type wing
  • Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 optimized for low/medium-altitude performance
  • 2 x 20-mm cannons and 4 x 0.303-cal. machine guns
History

Background

The Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII was designed to be streamlined before the definitive Mk IX and its radical design. The Mk VIII was an unpressurized variant of the VII, retaining a stretched fuselage with reshaped fin, pointed rudder, and longer engine mounts to accommodate a redesigned engine. It had 2 stage superchargers and drove a propeller of four blades. The Merlin Merlin 66 in LF form was most common in the Mk VIII. It incorporated the Vokes Aero-Vee filter in an under-nose fairing. All Mk VIIIs were built for overseas use and fitted with the C-type wing. It was provisioned to have a maximum external bomb load of 1,000 pounds, with one 500-lb bomb attached to the fuselage and two 250-lb bombs attached to the underwing.

The Mk VIII was used almost exclusively overseas in the Mediterranean, with the Desert Air Force and the USAAF, in the South West Pacific area, with the Royal Australian Air Force and RAF, and in the Southeast Asian theater with the RAF. Replacing the earlier inferior Mk V, the Allies began to achieve air superiority with the Mk VIII version to counter the Fw-190s and advanced Bf-109s. The Mk VIII performance was almost similar to the Mk IX but slightly slower. The Mk VIII was the third most numerous operational variant after the Mk IX and Mk V, with 1,658 Mk VIIIs built.

The Sicily Campaign

With the Germans out of North Africa in May 1943, the 31st Fighter Group began to replace their Spitfire Mk VCs with Spitfire Mk IXs and Spitfire Mk VIIIs. Operational again on June 1, 1943, they began to perform fighter sweeps, escort missions, and defensive patrols over heavily fortified Mediterranean Islands between Tunisia and Sicily. The air battle intensified on June 9, and by the time Pantelleria fell on June 11, the 31st FG had shot down 28 enemy aircraft, spanning three days, at less loss. After Pantelleria, June was a slow month for the 31st FG.

The 52nd Fighter Group also received the latest Spitfires to replace their Mk Vs, but they remained on convoy work and had the following quiet months before the invasion of Sicily.

On July 1, 1943, the 31st FG relocated to the forward airfield at Gozo island of Malta to prepare the next Allied objective, Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. The invasion commenced on July 10, 1943, and the 31st FG was tasked with providing coverage of the invasion fleet, where they destroyed seven enemy fighters attacking allied shipping during the invasion. The group moved to Ponte Olivo, Sicily, on July 14. They swept through Agrigento and Palermo before settling in at Termini East on the Northern Coast of Sicily by August 1, 1943. The first six American Spitfire Mk VIIIs saw combat over Palermo, Sicily, on August 8, 1943, when 20 Bf-109s were encountered, of which 3 were shot down. On August 11, the 308th claimed two Fw-190s and a Macchi C.205. There would be additional combat over Italy in late September during the Salerno invasion, and the situation later quieted down.

On July 1, 1943, the 31st FG relocated to the forward airfield at Gozo island of Malta to prepare the next Allied objective, Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. The invasion commenced on July 10, 1943, and the 31st FG was tasked with providing coverage of the invasion fleet, where they destroyed seven enemy fighters attacking allied shipping during the invasion. The group moved to Ponte Olivo, Sicily, on July 14. They swept through Agrigento and Palermo before settling in at Termini East on the Northern Coast of Sicily by August 1, 1943. The first six American Spitfire Mk VIIIs saw combat over Palermo, Sicily, on August 8, 1943, when 20 Bf-109s were encountered, of which 3 were shot down. On August 11, the 308th claimed two Fw-190s and a Macchi C.205. There would be additional combat over Italy in late September during the Salerno invasion, and the situation later quieted down.

The 52nd FG finally became active at the end of July when it moved across the Mediterranean at Bocca Di Falco, near Palermo. They immediately began patrolling the harbor. The 5th Fighter Squadron of the 52nd FG remained in Tunisia and, on August 12, 1943, claimed the last USAAF Spitfire victory in North Africa when an Fw-190 was shot down off Bizerte. The squadron eventually moved to Bo Rizzo, near Trapani, to join with the rest of the 52nd FG’s operations in Sicily. There, the 52nd FG regularly encountered instructions from the enemy over Sicily since the invasion.

However, the Enemy forces had been steadily evacuating across the Straits of Messina to mainland Italy during the first two weeks of August, and the last German troops left Messina on the night of August 16. There was little sign of the Luftwaffe, so things quieted down afterward for the 52nd FG. During September 1943, the 52nd FG did not fly a single combat mission while the British and Commonwealth forces moved into Italy via the Straits of Messina on September 3. The 52nd FG moved to the recently liberated Corisa island at the beginning of December.

On December 7, 1943, a pair of Spitfires of the 52nd FG scrambled and shot down an intruding Me-210, the first victory for the 52nd FG for more than three months. For the remainder in Corsica, they performed fighter-bomber duties involving some diving-bombing attacks off the coast across the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Spitfires of the 52nd FG dive-bombed and attacked railroads, highways, bridges, coastal shipping, and other targets to support Allied operations in Italy.

Into the Mainland Italy

Earlier on September 2, 1943, the 31st FG moved to an airstrip in poor conditions at Milazzo, Sicily, to cover the landings at Salerno on September 9, 1943. There, the Spitfires of the 31st FG shot down 6 German aircraft flying over the landing beaches at Salerno during the first half of September. On September 20, 1943, the 31st FG relocated to Monte Corvino, Italy, just five miles from Salerno, as the landing was secure enough to advance. They flew patrols over the Salerno beaches from there, and, in October 1943, the FG flew bomber escort and infantry support missions to the front, along with continuous patrols that encountered none of the German aircraft. On October 2, 1943, eight American Spitfire Mk VIIIs flew on a patrol and encountered a formation of Fw-190 fighter-bombers from III./SG 4 at 12,000 ft off Pemna Point, on the Italian coast near Termoli. They shot down two Fw-190s. Later, on October 30 and 31, 1943, the Spitfires performed fighter sweeps to Rome, and the German air activity was nearly absent. During the second week of November, the German forces made a push towards Naples, and the German aircraft was seen again. In three days of fighting, the 31st FG shot down 6 German aircraft, and the German forces stalled their advance.

By December 1943, the 31st FG was flying and escorting A-36 Invaders, B-25s, B-26s, and A-20s to the bombing in Southern Italy. These missions took the 31st FG to the Cassino area; it was a hot spot for the Spitfires to combat the German planes. The 31st FG shot down 11 more German aircraft on December 15, 1943. In January 1944, one of the American Spitfire Mk. VIII shot down two Fw-190s intercepting American B-25s escorted by the Spitfires. Most of the 31st FG’s missions consisted mainly of sweeps over allied positions in Italy and escorting bombers attacking German positions. The group relocated to the reinforced landing strip near Naples on January 18, 1944, for its next Allied objective.

Anzio invasion

On January 22, 1944, the Invasion at Anzio began, and the 31st FG was tasked with air cover for the invasion force and beachhead. They flew on continuous patrols over the Anzio beachhead. The invasion had brought the Luftwaffe out in full force, and the 31st FG shot down 18 Fw-190 fighter bombers over the beachhead. That evening, the Spitfires of 52nd FG intercepted 50-60 He-111 torpedo bombers of KG26 bound from Marseilles to attack the invasion fleet off Anzio and force most of the German bombers to drop their torpedoes, while shooting down seven Heinkels and damaging three Ju-88s. The next day, the same FG intercepted six Do-217s equipped with Fritz-X bombs and shot down two, scattering the others.

Both FGs saw a lot of combat over Anzio beachhead for the remainder of January. The 31st FG accounted for 30 German aircraft destroyed, and the 31st and 52nd FGs lost 16 Spitfires in combat during January. The 31st FG continued providing air coverage throughout February, with other air attacks from the Luftwaffe. The 52nd FG also remained active from Corsica, mounting more than a thousand sorties during February, mostly involved ground attack missions with regular encounters of the Luftwaffe.

Later into March 1944, the German counteroffensive to drive the allies off the Anzio beachhead had stalled, and the Luftwaffe threat was greatly reduced compared to the previous month. It had prompted the allies to advance and take Cassino in the middle of March, and the 31st FG provided air cover both in the Anzio and Cassino areas.

On March 11, 1944, the 31st FG received their first P-51B Mustang, and on March 24, the group was taken off from operations to perform full conversion to the Mustang. Most pilots were not too enthusiastic to give up their Spitfires Spitfire Mk VIIIs and IXs for the P-51B Mustangs.

On March 21, 1944, another Spitfire Mk VIII shot down a pair of Bf-109s, and further six Spitfire Mk VIIIs ran into 50+ Fw-190s and Bf-190s over Cassino, where they damaged and shot down more. On March 26, 1944, the 31st FG flew their last Spitfire mission, with four Spitfires Mk. VIII of the 308th FS encountered 20 Fw-190G fighter bombers, where they claimed one destroyed and three probables for the group’s last victories in the Spitfire.

The following month, the 52nd FG followed the 31st FG into the Mustang and on to the new 15th Air Force. They had the last US Spitfire victories, with 3 Bf-109Gs shot down of 6 that attacked the Spitfire IXs of the 52nd FG earlier during a bomber escort to Orvieto, Italy.

Both FGs were fully converted and completed the transition to P-51 during April and May 1944. Afterward, the FGs’ typical mission was drastically changed, and they were tasked to escort heavy bombers on long-range missions into Austria, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Northern Italy, Romania, and Yugoslavia. The 31st and 52nd FGs remained active through the end of the war.

During their time in Spitfires, the 31st FG claimed 194.5 confirmed, 39 probables, and 124 damaged; the 52nd FG claimed 152.33 confirmed, 22 probables, and 71 damaged. Thirteen pilots became aces on the Spitfire. It, thus, concluded with the Mk VIIIs and IXs being the last Spitfires in service with the USAAF during the Mediterranean theater.

Specifications

Supermarine Spitfire LF Mk VIII

General Characteristics

  • Crew: 1 (Pilot)
  • Length: 30 ft (9.1 m)
  • Height: 10 ft (3.048 m)
  • Span: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
  • Wing area: 248.5 sq ft (23.09 sq m)
  • Propeller Type: 4-bladed Rotol constant-speed propeller
  • Powerplant: Rolls-Royce Merlin 66 liquid-cooled piston engine
    → 1,720 bhp @ 5,750 ft (1753 m)
    → 1,595 bhp @ 16,000 ft (4,877 m)
  • Internal Fuel: 122 imp. gal. (555 L)
  • Oil Tankage: 8.5 imp. gal. (38.6 L)
  • Empty Weight: 6,790 lb (3,080 kg)
  • Gross Weight: 7,340 lb (3,329 kg)
  • Max. Takeoff Weight: 7,800 lb (3,538 kg)

Performance

  • Power-to-Weight Ratio: 0.23
  • Sea level Speed: 338 mph (544 km/h)
  • Critical Altitude Speed:
    • 349 mph @ 2,800 ft (602 km/h @ 853 m)
    • 374 mph @ 9,000 ft (602 km/h @ 2,743 m)
    • 371 mph @ 12,000 ft (597 km/h @ 3,658 m)
    • 380 mph @ 14,000 ft (612 km/h @ 4,267 m)
    • 405 mph @ 20,200 ft (652 km/h @ 6,157 m)
  • Wing Loading: 29.5 lb/sq ft (144 kg/sq m)
  • Rate of Climb: 4,610 fpm (23.4 m/s)
  • Service Ceiling: 41,500 ft (12,649 m)
  • Combat Range: 740 miles (1,190 km)
  • Max. Range: 1,265 miles (2,036 km)

Armament

  • Guns:

    • 2 x 20-mm Hispano (60 rpg; 120 rounds)
    • 4 x .303-cal. Browning machine guns (350 rpg; 1,400 rounds)

    OR

    • 4 x 20-mm Hispano (120 rpg; 480 rounds)
      • This increases max. weight by 200 pounds

  • Bombs:

    • 1 x 500-lb bomb
    • 2 x 250-lb bombs

  • Drop Tanks:

    • 1 x 170-gal drop tank
    • 1 x 90-gal drop tank
    • 1 x 70-gal drop tank
Supplemental Data

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Cockpit

American Spitfire Mk VIII Livery Examples -- Illustrations

Images

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Conclusion | Why it should be in the game

   I made this suggestion to request more World War II-era vehicles to add to War Thunder. The Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIII was another Spitfire operated by USAAF fighter groups in Sicily and Italy from 1943 to 1944. The American Spitfire Mk VIII was a successful fighter as the American Spitfire Mk IX in the MTO. I feel this mid-tier Spitfire would be an excellent premium material or tech tree aircraft with MTO camouflage in USAAF markings to represent its operational service with the USAAF. The difference in performance between Mk VIII and IX was minor. Although, the IX was much faster. Still, the Mk VIII is currently not present in War Thunder, so it would be a brand-new Spitfire model to add.

See Also - American Spitfires

Sources

Thank you for taking the time to read my suggestion! 😃

1 Like
2

America severely lacks proper non-jet dogfighters with actually good climbrates. This would make a great TT

1 Like
3

Hmm, now this would make for a neat TT aircraft or even a premium; take my +1!