Misplaced Pages

#395604

120-645: The airport was constructed in the 1950s and was an interceptor aircraft facility for the Soviet Air Force . It initially operated the Sukhoi Su-9 (Fishpot) in the 1960s and 1970s. The regiment replaced it in 1978 with the MiG-23M (Flogger-B). In the 1990s, the Turkmen Air Force took over operation of the military base. Until 2011, the airfield had the main runway 16/34. The airfield

240-569: A boxcar . Similarly, their pilots were given less training in combat maneuvers, and more in radio-directed pursuit. The Soviets' main interceptor was initially the Su-9 , which was followed by the Su-15 and the MiG-25 "Foxbat". The auxiliary Tu-128 , an area range interceptor, was notably the heaviest fighter aircraft ever to see service in the world. The latest and most advanced interceptor aircraft in

360-485: A brief period of time they fared rapid development in both speed, range, and altitude. At the end of the 1960s, a nuclear attack became unstoppable with the introduction of ballistic missiles capable of approaching from outside the atmosphere at speeds as high as 3 to 4 miles per second (5 to 7 km/s). The doctrine of mutually assured destruction replaced the trend of defense strengthening, making interceptors less strategically logical. The utility of interceptors waned as

480-868: A bus service from airport to Türkmenbaşy city and Türkmenbaşy District . 40°03′N 53°00′E  /  40.050°N 53.000°E  / 40.050; 53.000 Interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft , or simply interceptor , is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft . Aircraft that are capable of being or are employed as both "standard" air superiority fighters and as interceptors are sometimes known as fighter-interceptors . There are two general classes of interceptor: light fighters , designed for high performance over short range; and heavy fighters , which are intended to operate over longer ranges , in contested airspace and adverse meteorological conditions . While

600-462: A chosen aspect of performance. A "point defense interceptor" is of a lightweight design, intended to spend most of its time on the ground located at the defended target, and able to launch on demand, climb to altitude, manoeuvre and then attack the bomber in a very short time, before the bomber can deploy its weapons. At the end of Second World War, the Luftwaffe ' s most critical requirement

720-459: A command centre in the Horse Guards building. The Pup proved to have too low performance to easily intercept Gotha G.IV bombers, and the superior Sopwith Camels supplanted them. The term "interceptor" was in use by 1929. Through the 1930s, bomber aircraft speeds increased so much that conventional interceptor tactics appeared impossible. Visual and acoustic detection from the ground had

840-490: A few aerobatic tests to determine how good or bad she was. The production test was usually quite a brisk affair; the initial circuit lasted less than 10 minutes and the main flight took between 20 and 30 minutes. Then, the aircraft received a final once-over by our ground mechanics, any faults were rectified, and the Spitfire was ready for collection. I loved the Spitfire in all of her many versions, but I have to admit that

960-498: A jig and the eight horizontal tail formers were riveted to them. A combination of 14 longitudinal stringers and four main longerons attached to the frames helped form a light but rigid structure to which sheets of alclad stressed skinning were attached. The fuselage plating was 24, 20, and 18 gauge , decreasing in order of thickness towards the tail, while the fin structure was completed using short longerons from frames 20 to 23, before being covered in 22 gauge plating. The skin of

1080-483: A large penalty for their fuel injection. When the fuel is fed before the supercharger, as on the Merlin, it evaporates and cools the air by 25°C. This cooling enhances the performance of the supercharger, and increases the power of the engine, with a corresponding increase in aircraft speed, particularly at high altitude." However, the early Merlin engine's lack of fuel injection meant that Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike

1200-567: A large, fixed, spatted undercarriage powered by the 600-horsepower (450 kW), evaporatively cooled Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine. It made its first flight in February 1934. Of the seven designs tendered to F7/30, the Gloster Gladiator biplane was accepted for service. The Type 224 was a big disappointment to Mitchell and his design team, who immediately embarked on a series of "cleaned-up" designs, using their experience with

1320-515: A lower attrition rate and a higher victory-to-loss ratio than Hurricanes, most likely due to the Spitfire's higher performance. During the battle, Spitfires generally engaged Luftwaffe fighters—mainly Messerschmitt Bf 109E –series aircraft, which were a close match for them. After the Battle of Britain, the Spitfire superseded the Hurricane as the principal aircraft of RAF Fighter Command , and it

SECTION 10

#1732779879396

1440-507: A maximum rate of 320 per month, making CBAF the largest Spitfire factory in the UK and the largest and most successful plant of its type during the 1939–45 conflict. During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe made concerted efforts to destroy the main manufacturing plants at Woolston and Itchen , near Southampton. The first bombing raid, which missed the factories, came on 23 August 1940. Over

1560-472: A much larger area from attack, depending on greater detection capabilities, both in the aircraft themselves and operating with AWACS, rather than high speed to reach targets. The exemplar of this concept was the Tupolev Tu-28 . The later Panavia Tornado ADV was able to achieve long range in a smaller airframe through the use of more efficient engines. Rather than focusing on acceleration and climb rate,

1680-509: A new four-story terminal building was opened with a capacity of 800 passengers per hour. In addition to this, a new control tower was put into operation. The airport can now take 7 flights simultaneously while providing international standards of service. The total area of the plot on which the new terminal is located, is about 80 hectares. The neighborhood is landscaped, planted and decorated with fountains. There are also indoor and outdoor parking areas for more than three hundred and eighty cars. At

1800-694: A pair of proposals for interceptor aircraft, the first such designation in the US. One proposal was for a single-engine fighter, the other for a twin-engine. Both were required to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,100 m) in six minutes as a defense against bomber attack. Kelsey said later that he used the interceptor designation to sidestep a hard USAAC policy restricting fighters to 500 pounds (230 kg) of armament. He wished for at least 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of armament so that American fighters could dominate their battles against all opponents, fighters included. The two aircraft resulting from these proposals were

1920-589: A piecemeal basis. The British public first saw the Spitfire at the RAF Hendon air display on Saturday 27 June 1936. Although full-scale production was supposed to begin immediately, numerous problems could not be overcome for some time, and the first production Spitfire, K9787 , did not roll off the Woolston , Southampton assembly line until mid-1938. In February 1936, the director of Vickers-Armstrongs, Sir Robert MacLean guaranteed production of five aircraft

2040-510: A range of only a few miles, which meant that an interceptor would have insufficient time to climb to altitude before the bombers reached their targets. Standing combat air patrols were possible but only at great cost. The conclusion at the time was that " the bomber will always get through ". The invention of radar made possible early, long-range detection of aircraft on the order of 100 miles (160 km), both day and night and in all weather. A typical bomber might take twenty minutes to cross

2160-567: A result, the Spitfire's performance and capabilities improved over the course of its service life. During the Battle of Britain (July–October 1940), the more numerous Hurricane flew more sorties resisting the Luftwaffe , but the Spitfire captured the public's imagination as the main RAF fighter, in part because the Spitfire was generally a better fighter aircraft than the Hurricane. Spitfire units had

2280-446: A similar fashion to a leaf spring ; two of these booms were linked together by an alloy web, creating a lightweight and very strong main spar. The undercarriage legs were attached to pivot points built into the inner, rear section of the main spar, and retracted outwards and slightly backwards into wells in the non-load-carrying wing structure. The resultant narrow undercarriage track was considered an acceptable compromise as this reduced

2400-619: A step and roughly doubled operational altitudes. Although radars also improved in performance, the gap between offense and defense was dramatically reduced. Large attacks could so confuse the defense's ability to communicate with pilots that the classic method of manual ground controlled interception was increasingly seen as inadequate. In the United States, this led to the introduction of the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment to computerize this task, while in

2520-419: A total of 2,360 Spitfires and Seafires, more than 10% of total production. Henshaw wrote about flight testing Spitfires: After a thorough preflight check, I would take off, and once at circuit height, I would trim the aircraft and try to get her to fly straight and level with hands off the stick ... Once the trim was satisfactory, I would take the Spitfire up in a full-throttle climb at 2,850 rpm to

SECTION 20

#1732779879396

2640-453: A very high fuel consumption. This led fighter prototypes emphasizing acceleration and operational ceiling, with a sacrifice on the loiter time, essentially limiting them to point defense role. Such were the mixed jet/rocket power Republic XF-91 or Saunders Roe SR.53 . The Soviet and Western trials with zero-length launch were also related. None of these found practical use. Designs that depended solely on jet engines achieved more success with

2760-563: A week, beginning 15 months after an order was placed. On 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 aircraft. Full-scale production of the Spitfire began at Supermarine's facility in Woolston, but the order clearly could not be completed in the 15 months promised. Supermarine was a small company, already busy building Walrus and Stranraer flying boats, and Vickers was busy building Wellington bombers. The initial solution

2880-409: A wing shape from an aircraft designed for an entirely different purpose." The elliptical wing was decided upon quite early on. Aerodynamically it was the best for our purpose because the induced drag caused in producing lift, was lowest when this shape was used: the ellipse was ... theoretically a perfection ... To reduce drag we wanted the lowest possible thickness-to-chord, consistent with

3000-448: Is compromise, and an improvement at one end of the performance envelope is rarely achieved without a deterioration somewhere else. When the last Spitfire rolled out in February 1948, a total of 20,351 examples of all variants had been built, including two-seat trainers , with some Spitfires remaining in service well into the 1950s. The Spitfire was the only British fighter aircraft to be in continuous production before, during, and after

3120-446: Is that interceptors often look very impressive on paper, typically outrunning, outclimbing and outgunning slower fighter designs. However, pure interceptors fare poorly in fighter-to-fighter combat against the same "less capable" designs due to limited maneuverability especially at low altitudes and speeds. In the spectrum of various interceptors, one design approach especially shows sacrifices necessary to achieve decisive benefit in

3240-645: The Convair F-106 Delta Dart , Sukhoi Su-15 , and English Electric Lightning . Through the 1960s and 1970s, the rapid improvements in design led to most air-superiority and multirole fighters , such as the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle , having the performance to take on the point defense interception role, and the strategic threat moved from bombers to intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Dedicated interceptor designs became increasingly rare, with

3360-601: The F-104 Starfighter (initial A version) and the English Electric Lightning . The role of crewed point defense designs was reassigned to uncrewed interceptors— surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)—which first reached an adequate level in 1954–1957. SAM advancements ended the concept of massed high-altitude bomber operations, in favor of penetrators (and later cruise missiles ) flying a combination of techniques colloquially known as "flying below

3480-627: The F-86D and F-89 Scorpion . In the late 1940s ADC started a project to build a much more advanced interceptor under the 1954 interceptor effort, which eventually delivered the F-106 Delta Dart after a lengthy development process. Further replacements were studied, notably the NR-349 proposal during the 1960s, but came to nothing as the USSR strengthened their strategic force with ICBMs. Hence,

3600-554: The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , which was the only rocket-powered, crewed military aircraft to see combat. To a lesser degree, the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 , which had heavy armament specifically intended for anti-bomber missions, was also a specialized day interceptor. Night fighters and bomber destroyers are interceptors of the heavy type, although initially they were rarely referred to as such. In

3720-486: The NACA 2200 series , which had been adapted to create a thickness-to-chord ratio of 13% at the root, reducing to 9.4% at the tip. A dihedral of 6° was adopted to give increased lateral stability. A wing feature that contributed greatly to its success was an innovative spar boom design, made up of five square tubes that fitted into each other. As the wing thinned out along its span, the tubes were progressively cut away in

Türkmenbaşy International Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

3840-641: The Schneider Trophy seaplanes as a starting point. This led to the Type 300, with retractable undercarriage and a wingspan reduced by 6 ft (1.8 m). This design was submitted to the Air Ministry in July 1934, but was not accepted. It then went through a series of changes, including the incorporation of an enclosed cockpit, oxygen-breathing apparatus, smaller and thinner wings, and the newly developed, more powerful Rolls-Royce PV XII V-12 engine , which

3960-412: The aerodrome , and the installation of the most modern machine tools then available began two months after work started on the site. Although Morris Motors, under Lord Nuffield (an expert in mass motor-vehicle construction), managed and equipped the factory, it was funded by the government. By the beginning of 1939, the factory's original estimated cost of £2,000,000 had more than doubled, and even as

4080-408: The angle of incidence decreasing from +2° at its root to -½° at its tip. This caused the wing roots to stall before the tips, reducing tip-stall that could otherwise have resulted in a wing drop, often leading to a spin. As the wing roots started to stall, the separating air stream started to buffet (vibrate) the aircraft, warning the pilot, allowing even relatively inexperienced pilots to fly it to

4200-579: The shadow factory plan , to boost British aircraft production capacity under the leadership of Herbert Austin . He was given the task of building nine new factories, and to supplement the British car-manufacturing industry by either adding to overall capacity or increasing the potential for reorganisation to produce aircraft and their engines. In 1938, construction began on the Castle Bromwich Aircraft Factory (CBAF), next to

4320-456: The Air Ministry put forward a plan that its production be stopped after the initial order for 310, after which Supermarine would build Bristol Beaufighters . The managements of Supermarine and Vickers were able to convince the Air Ministry that production problems could be overcome, and a further order was placed for 200 Spitfires on 24 March 1938. The two orders covered the K, L, and N prefix serial numbers. The first production Spitfire came off

4440-604: The Air Ministry released specification F7/30 , calling for a modern fighter capable of a flying speed of 250 mph (400 km/h) to replace the Gloster Gauntlet biplane. R. J. Mitchell designed the Supermarine Type 224 to fill this role in competition with the Blackburn F.3 and Westland F.7/30 and privately funded designs from Gloster. The 224 was an open-cockpit monoplane with bulky gull wings and

4560-726: The Castle Bromwich plant to his ministry. Beaverbrook immediately sent in experienced management staff and workers from Supermarine, and gave control of the factory to Vickers-Armstrongs. Although resolving the problems took time, in June 1940, 10 Mk IIs were built; 23 rolled out in July, 37 in August, and 56 in September. By the time production ended at Castle Bromwich in June 1945, a total of 12,129 Spitfires (921 Mk IIs, 4,489 Mk Vs, 5,665 Mk IXs, and 1,054 Mk XVIs ) had been built, at

4680-476: The F-106 ended up serving as the primary USAF interceptor into the 1980s. As the F-106 was retired, intercept missions were assigned to the contemporary F-15 and F-16 fighters, among their other roles. The F-16, however, was originally designed for air superiority while evolving into a versatile multirole fighter. The F-15, with its Mach 2.5 maximum speed enabling it to intercept the fastest enemy aircraft (namely

4800-552: The Goshawk led to the adoption of a cooling system which used 100% glycol . The radiators were housed in a new radiator-duct designed by Fredrick Meredith of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough, Hampshire . This used the cooling air to generate thrust , greatly reducing the net drag produced by the radiators. In turn, the leading-edge structure lost its function as a condenser, but it

4920-750: The McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom as its primary interceptor from the mid-1970s, with the air defence variant (ADV) of the Panavia Tornado being introduced in the 1980s. The Tornado was eventually replaced with a multirole design, the Eurofighter Typhoon . The Shenyang J-8 is a high-speed, high-altitude Chinese-built single-seat interceptor. Initially designed in the early 1960s to counter US-built B-58 Hustler bombers, F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers and Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance planes, it still retains

Türkmenbaşy International Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-669: The MiG-25 Foxbat), is also not a pure interceptor as it has exceptional agility for dogfighting based upon the lessons learned from Vietnam; the F-15E Strike Eagle variant adds air interdiction while retaining the interception and air-to-air combat of other F-15s. Presently, the F-22 is the USA's latest combat aircraft that serves in part as an interceptor due to its Mach 2+ speed as well as supercruise capabilities, however it

5160-471: The Rolls-Royce Merlin engine at £2,000, followed by the wings at £1,800 a pair, guns and undercarriage, both at £800 each, and the propeller at £350. In 1935, the Air Ministry approached Morris Motors Limited to ask how quickly their Cowley plant could be turned to aircraft production. In 1936, this informal request for major manufacturing facilities was replaced by a formal scheme, known as

5280-730: The Second World War. In the mid-1930s, aviation design teams worldwide began developing a new generation of fighter aircraft. The French Dewoitine D.520 and the German Messerschmitt Bf 109 , for example, were designed to take advantage of new techniques of monocoque construction, and the availability of new, high-powered, liquid-cooled, in-line aero engines. They also had refinements such as retractable undercarriages, fully enclosed cockpits, and low-drag, all-metal wings. These advances had been introduced on civil airliners years before, but were slow to be adopted by

5400-556: The Southampton area. To this end, the British government requisitioned the likes of Vincent's Garage in Station Square, Reading , which later specialised in manufacturing Spitfire fuselages, and Anna Valley Motors, Salisbury , which was to become the sole producer of the wing leading-edge fuel tanks for photo-reconnaissance Spitfires. A purpose-built works, specialising in manufacturing fuselages and installing engines,

5520-673: The Soviet (now Russian) inventory is the MiG-31 "Foxhound". Improving on some of the flaws on the proceeding MiG-25, the MiG-31 has better low altitude and low speed performance, in addition to carrying an internal cannon. Russia, despite merging the PVO into the VVS, continues to maintain its dedicated MiG-31 interceptor fleet. In 1937, USAAC lieutenants Gordon P. Saville and Benjamin S. Kelsey devised

5640-589: The Spitfire's development through many variants , from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined Mk 24, using several wing configurations and guns. The original airframe was designed to be powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine producing 1,030  hp (768 kW). It was strong enough and adaptable enough to use increasingly powerful Merlins, and in later marks, Rolls-Royce Griffon engines producing up to 2,340 hp (1,745 kW). As

5760-496: The Spitfire's distinctive elliptical wing (designed by Beverley Shenstone ) with innovative sunken rivets to have the thinnest possible cross-section, achieving a potential top speed greater than that of several contemporary fighter aircraft, 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. Smith oversaw

5880-414: The UK it led to enormously powerful radars to improve detection time. The introduction of the first useful surface to air missiles in the 1950s obviated the need for fast reaction time interceptors as the missile could launch almost instantly. Air forces increasingly turned to much larger interceptor designs, with enough fuel for longer endurance, leaving the point-defense role to the missiles. This led to

6000-559: The UK over the North Sea , and Germany did not have any single-engine fighters with the range to accompany them. To carry out the mission of home defence, the design was intended to allow the Spitfire to climb quickly to intercept enemy bombers. The Spitfire's airframe was complex. The streamlined, semi-monocoque , duralumin-skinned fuselage had a number of compound curves built up over a skeleton of 19 formers , also known as frames. These started from frame number one, immediately behind

6120-599: The abandonment of a number of short-range designs like the Avro Arrow and Convair F-102 in favor of much larger and longer-ranged designs like the North American F-108 and MiG-25 . In the 1950s and 1960’s during the Cold War , a strong interceptor force was crucial for the opposing superpowers as it was the best means to defend against an unexpected nuclear attack by strategic bombers . Hence, for

SECTION 50

#1732779879396

6240-470: The ability to 'sprint' at Mach 2+ speeds, and later versions can carry medium-range PL-12/SD-10 MRAAM missiles for interception purposes. The PLAAF/PLANAF currently still operates approximately 300 or so J-8s of various configurations. Several other countries also introduced interceptor designs, although in the 1950s–1960s several planned interceptors never came to fruition, with the expectation that missiles would replace bombers. The Argentine FMA I.Ae. 37

6360-458: The aircraft themselves. They were first to introduce all-weather avionics , assuring successful operations during night, rain, snow, or fog. Countries that were strategically dependent on surface fleet, most notably US and UK, maintained also fleet defense fighters , such as the F-14 Tomcat . During the Cold War , an entire military service, not just an arm of the pre-existing air force,

6480-542: The altered aerodynamics, culminating in those of the Mk 22/24 series, which were 25% larger in area than those of the Mk I. As the Spitfire gained more power and was able to manoeuvre at higher speeds, the possibility that pilots would encounter aileron reversal increased, and the Supermarine design team set about redesigning the wings to counter this. The original wing design had a theoretical aileron reversal speed of 580 mph (500 kn; 930 km/h), which

6600-423: The assembly line in mid-1938 and was flown by Jeffrey Quill on 15 May 1938, almost 24 months after the initial order. The final cost of the first 310 aircraft, after delays and increased programme costs, came to £1,870,242 or £1,533 more per aircraft than originally estimated. A production aircraft cost about £9,500. The most expensive components were the hand-fabricated and finished fuselage at roughly £2,500, then

6720-454: The bending loads on the main-spar during landing. Ahead of the spar, the thick-skinned leading edge of the wing formed a strong and rigid, D-shaped box, which took most of the wing loads. At the time the wing was designed, this D-shaped leading edge was intended to house steam condensers for the evaporative cooling system intended for the PV-XII. Constant problems with the evaporative system in

6840-697: The bombing raids. Rocket-boosted variants of both of Germany's jet fighters; the Me 262 in its "C" subtype series, all nicknamed "home protector" ( Heimatschützer , in four differing formats) and the planned He 162 E subtype, using one of the same BMW 003R turbojet/rocket "mixed-power" engine as the Me 262C-2b Heimatschützer II , but were never produced in quantity. In the initial stage of Cold War , bombers were expected to attack flying higher and faster, even at transonic speeds. Initial transonic and supersonic fighters had modest internal fuel tanks in their slim fuselages, but

6960-402: The company in the Southampton area. Quill devised the standard testing procedures, which with variations for specific aircraft designs operated from 1938. Alex Henshaw , chief test pilot at Castle Bromwich from 1940, was placed in charge of testing all Spitfires built at that factory. He co-ordinated a team of 25 pilots and assessed all Spitfire developments. Between 1940 and 1946, Henshaw flew

7080-631: The defending fighters. The Me 163 required an airbase, however, which were soon under constant attack. Following the Emergency Fighter Program , the Germans developed even odder designs, such as the Bachem Ba 349 Natter , which launched vertically and thus eliminated the need for an airbase. In general all these initial German designs proved difficult to operate, often becoming death traps for their pilots, and had little effect on

7200-458: The design emphasis is on range and missile carrying capacity, which together translate into combat endurance, look-down/shoot-down radars good enough to detect and track fast moving interdictors against ground clutter , and the capability to provide guidance to air-to-air missiles (AAM) against these targets. High speed and acceleration was put into long-range and medium-range AAMs, and agility into short range dog fighting AAMs, rather than into

7320-464: The detection zone of early radar systems, time enough for interceptor fighters to start up, climb to altitude and engage the bombers. Ground controlled interception required constant contact between the interceptor and the ground until the bombers became visible to the pilots and nationwide networks like the Dowding system were built in the late 1930s to coordinate these efforts. During World War II

SECTION 60

#1732779879396

7440-540: The early Cold War era the combination of jet -powered bombers and nuclear weapons created air force demand for highly capable interceptors; it is in regards to this period that the term is perhaps most recognized and used. Cold War-era interceptors became increasingly distinct from their air superiority counterparts, with the former often sacrificing range, endurance, and maneuverability for speed, rate of climb , and armament dedicated to attacking large strategic bombers . Examples of classic interceptors of this era include

7560-405: The effectiveness of interceptor aircraft meant that bombers often needed to be escorted by long range fighter aircraft. Many aircraft were able to be fitted with Aircraft interception radar , further facilitating the interception of enemy aircraft. The introduction of jet power increased flight speeds from around 300 miles per hour (500 km/h) to around 600 miles per hour (1,000 km/h) in

7680-405: The end of each main wing assembly. When the Spitfire took on a role as a high-altitude fighter (Marks VI and VII and some early Mk VIIIs), the standard wing tips were replaced by extended, "pointed" tips which increased the wingspan from 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m) to 40 ft 2 in (12.24 m). The other wing-tip variation, used by several Spitfire variants, was the "clipped" wing;

7800-563: The event of a war between the Soviet Union and NATO. With the advent of low flying cruise-missiles and high-altitude AA-missiles the flight profile was changed, but regained the interceptor profile with the final version J 35J. Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II . It

7920-407: The external fuel lines were detached. However, keeping QRA aircraft at this state of readiness was physically and mentally draining to the pilots and was expensive in terms of fuel. As an alternative, longer-range designs with extended loiter times were considered. These area defense interceptors or area defense fighters were in general larger designs intended to stay on lengthy patrol and protect

8040-513: The fabric covering of the ailerons "ballooned" at high speeds, adversely affecting the aerodynamics. Replacing the fabric covering with light alloy dramatically improved the ailerons at high speed. During the Battle of Britain, pilots found the Spitfire's ailerons were far too heavy at high speeds, severely restricting lateral manoeuvres such as rolls and high-speed turns, which were still a feature of air-to-air combat. The Spitfire had detachable wing tips which were secured by two mounting points at

8160-451: The facilities for meetings and conferences. In addition to the main terminal there is also an international cargo terminal and a freight transportation service equipped with automated handling. Passengers can get to the airport by car either from Türkmenbaşy or along the highway from the Avaza resort. There is a free parking in front of the airport. Turkmenawtoulaglary Agency operates

8280-567: The final approach and for landing, and the pilot was to retract them before taxiing. The ellipse also served as the design basis for the Spitfire's fin and tailplane assembly, once again exploiting the shape's favourable aerodynamic characteristics. Both the elevators and rudder were shaped so that their centre of mass was shifted forward, reducing control-surface flutter. The longer noses and greater propeller-wash resulting from larger engines in later models necessitated increasingly larger vertical, and later, horizontal tail surfaces to compensate for

8400-434: The first Spitfires were being built in June 1940, the factory was still incomplete, and suffering from personnel problems. The Spitfire's stressed-skin construction required precision engineering skills and techniques that were beyond the capabilities of the local labour force, and some time was required to retrain them. Difficulties arose with management, who ignored Supermarine's tooling and drawings in favour of their own, and

8520-474: The focal points for these workshops: Southampton's Eastleigh Airport; Salisbury and the High Post and Chattis Hill aerodromes; Trowbridge and RAF Keevil ; and Reading's Henley and Aldermaston aerodromes. Completed Spitfires were delivered to the airfields on Commer " Queen Mary " low-loader trailers, there to be fully assembled, tested, then passed on to the RAF. An experimental factory at Newbury

8640-428: The four main fuselage longerons to the rest of the airframe. Behind the bulkhead were five U-shaped half-frames which accommodated the fuel tanks and cockpit. The rear fuselage started at the 11th frame, to which the pilot's seat and (later) armour plating were attached, and ended at the 19th, which was mounted at a slight forward angle just forward of the fin. Each of these nine frames was oval, reducing in size towards

8760-497: The fuel tankage dropped to 75 gallons from 94. On 5 March 1936, the prototype ( K5054 ) , fitted with a fine-pitch propeller to give more power for takeoff, took off on its first flight from Eastleigh Aerodrome (later Southampton Airport). At the controls was Captain Joseph "Mutt" Summers , chief test pilot for Vickers, who is quoted as saying, "don't touch anything" on landing. This eight-minute flight came four months after

8880-477: The fuselage, wings, and tailplane was secured by dome-headed rivets, and in critical areas such as the wing forward of the main spar where an uninterrupted airflow was required, with flush rivets. From February 1943 flush riveting was used on the fuselage, affecting all Spitfire variants. In some areas, such as at the rear of the wing and the lower tailplane skins, the top was riveted and the bottom fixed by brass screws which tapped into strips of spruce bolted to

9000-653: The interceptor role until it received upgrades in the 1990s for ground attack. Both the fighter and the Phoenix missile were retired in 2006. The British Royal Air Force operated a supersonic day fighter, the English Electric Lightning , alongside the Gloster Javelin in the subsonic night/all-weather role . Efforts to replace the Javelin with a supersonic design under Operational Requirement F.155 came to naught. The UK operated its own, highly adapted version of

9120-546: The interceptor role. Day interceptors have been used in a defensive role since World War I , and are perhaps best known from major actions like the Battle of Britain , when the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane were part of a successful defensive strategy. However, dramatic improvements in both ground-based and airborne radar gave greater flexibility to existing fighters and few later designs were conceived as dedicated day interceptors. Exceptions include

9240-646: The later marks, although they were faster than the earlier ones, were also much heavier, so did not handle so well. You did not have such positive control over them. One test of manoeuvrability was to throw her into a flick-roll and see how many times she rolled. With the Mark II or the Mark V one got two-and-a-half flick-rolls, but the Mark IX was heavier and you got only one-and-a-half. With the later and still heavier versions, one got even less. The essence of aircraft design

9360-571: The limits of its performance. This washout was first featured in the wing of the Type 224, and became a consistent feature in subsequent designs leading to the Spitfire. The complex wing design, especially the precision required to manufacture the vital spar and leading-edge structures, caused some major delays in the production of the Spitfire at first. The problems increased when the work was put out to subcontractors, most of whom had never dealt with metal-structured, high-speed aircraft. By June 1939, most of these problems had been resolved, and production

9480-466: The lower ribs. The removable wing tips were made up of duralumin-skinned spruce formers. At first, the ailerons, elevators, and rudder were fabric-covered, but once combat experience showed that fabric-covered ailerons were impossible to use at high speeds a light alloy replaced the fabric, enhancing control throughout the speed range. In 1934, Mitchell and the design staff decided to use a semi-elliptical wing shape to solve two conflicting requirements;

9600-451: The maiden flight of the contemporary Hurricane. K5054 was fitted with a new propeller, and Summers flew the aircraft on 10 March 1936; during this flight, the undercarriage was retracted for the first time. After the fourth flight, a new engine was fitted, and Summers left the test flying to his assistants, Jeffrey Quill and George Pickering. They soon discovered that the Spitfire was a very capable aircraft, but not perfect. The rudder

9720-536: The main spar, preventing the wings from twisting. Mitchell has sometimes been accused of copying the wing shape of the Günter brothers -designed Heinkel He 70 , which first flew in 1932, but as Beverley Shenstone , the aerodynamicist on Mitchell's team, explained: "Our wing was much thinner and had quite a different section to that of the Heinkel. In any case, it would have been simply asking for trouble to have copied

9840-457: The military, who favoured the biplane's simplicity and manoeuvrability. Mitchell's design aims were to create a well-balanced, high-performance fighter aircraft capable of fully exploiting the power of the Merlin engine, while being relatively easy to fly. At the time, with France as an ally , and Germany thought to be the most likely future opponent, no enemy fighters were expected to appear over Great Britain. German bombers would have to fly to

9960-403: The necessary strength. But near the root the wing had to be thick enough to accommodate the retracted undercarriages and the guns ... Mitchell was an intensely practical man ... The ellipse was simply the shape that allowed us the thinnest possible wing with room inside to carry the necessary structure and the things we wanted to cram in. And it looked nice. The wing section used was from

10080-562: The new wing could give an increase in speed of 55 mph (48 kn; 89 km/h) over the Spitfire Mk 21. The new wing was initially fitted to a Spitfire Mk XIV. Later, a new fuselage was designed, with the new fighter becoming the Supermarine Spiteful . The Rolls Royce engine's designers deliberately chose a carburettor for the Merlin engine: Sir Stanley Hooker explained in his autobiography that "the Germans paid

10200-439: The next month, other raids were mounted, until, on 26 September 1940, both factories were destroyed, with 92 people killed and a large number injured. Most of the casualties were experienced aircraft-production workers. Fortunately for the future of the Spitfire, many of the production jigs and machine tools had already been relocated by 20 September, and steps were being taken to disperse production to small facilities throughout

10320-668: The only widely used examples designed after the 1960s being the Panavia Tornado ADV , Mikoyan MiG-25 , Mikoyan MiG-31 , and the Shenyang J-8 . The first interceptor squadrons were formed during World War I to defend London against attacks by Zeppelins and later against fixed-wing long-range bombers . Early units generally used aircraft withdrawn from front-line service, notably the Sopwith Pup . They were told about their target's location before take-off from

10440-572: The opening of the International Airport of Türkmenbaşy it was visited by President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov . In the immediate vicinity of the main body of the terminal there is a facility to receive VIP-persons. It is used for VIP charter and business aviation, as well as to receive special flights and departure of delegations of the Government of Turkmenistan and guests of city of Türkmenbaşy. The building has all

10560-436: The overall mission time, there were few ways to reduce this. During the Cold War in times of heightened tensions, quick reaction alert (QRA) aircraft were kept piloted, fully fueled and armed, with the engines running at idle on the runway ready to take off. The aircraft being kept topped up with fuel via hoses from underground fuel tanks. If a possible intruder was identified, the aircraft would be ready to take off as soon as

10680-399: The propeller unit, to the tail unit attachment frame. The first four frames supported the glycol header tank and engine cowlings. Frame five, to which the engine bearers were secured, supported the weight of the engine and its accessories. This was a strengthened double frame which also incorporated the fireproof bulkhead, and in later versions of the Spitfire, the oil tank. This frame also tied

10800-514: The prototype for the RAF. He had been given orders to fly the aircraft and then to make his report to the Air Ministry on landing. Edwardes-Jones' report was positive; his only request was that the Spitfire be equipped with an undercarriage position indicator. A week later, on 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 Spitfires, at a cost of £ 1,395,000. before the A&;AEE had issued any formal report. Interim reports were later issued on

10920-567: The radar". By flying terrain masking low-altitude nap-of-the-earth flight profiles the effective range, and therefore reaction time, of ground-based radar was limited to at best the radar horizon . In the case of ground radar systems this can be countered by placing radar systems on mountain tops to extend the radar horizon, or through placing high performance radars in interceptors or in AWACS aircraft used to direct point defense interceptors. As capabilities continued to improve – especially through

11040-404: The radiator under the starboard wing was halved in size and the intercooler radiator housed alongside. Under the port wing, a new radiator fairing housed a square oil cooler alongside of the other half-radiator unit. The two radiator flaps were now operated automatically by a thermostat . Another wing feature was its washout . The trailing edge of the wing twisted slightly upward along its span,

11160-432: The rated altitude of one or both supercharger blowers. Then I would make a careful check of the power output from the engine, calibrated for height and temperature ... If all appeared satisfactory, I would then put her into a dive at full power and 3,000 rpm, and trim her to fly hands and feet off at 460 mph (740 km/h) IAS (Indicated Air Speed). Personally, I never cleared a Spitfire unless I had carried out

11280-404: The role merged with that of the heavy air superiority fighter . The interceptor mission is, by its nature, a difficult one. Consider the desire to protect a single target from attack by long-range bombers. The bombers have the advantage of being able to select the parameters of the mission – attack vector, speed and altitude. This results in an enormous area from which the attack can originate. In

11400-538: The same time removing bomb carry requirement and reducing fuel capacity. Mitchell foresaw no problem adding the guns and welcomed the reduction which would reduce weight. A specification for an eight gun fighter, F5/34 had come from a recommendation by Squadron Leader Ralph Sorley of the Operational Requirements section at the Air Ministry. In the redesign the change was made from Vickers machine guns to .303 in (7.7 mm) Brownings) , and

11520-450: The second type was exemplified historically by specialized night fighter and all-weather interceptor designs, the integration of mid-air refueling, satellite navigation, on-board radar, and beyond visual range (BVR) missile systems since the 1960s has allowed most frontline fighter designs to fill the roles once reserved for specialized night/all-weather fighters. For daytime operations, conventional light fighters have normally filled

11640-436: The single-engine Bell P-39 Airacobra and the twin-engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning . Both aircraft were successful during World War II in standard fighter roles, not specifically assigned to point defense against bombers. From 1946 to 1980 the United States maintained a dedicated Aerospace Defense Command , consisting primarily of dedicated interceptors. Many post-war designs were of limited performance, including designs like

11760-488: The standard wing tips were replaced by wooden fairings which reduced the span by 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m). The wing tips used spruce formers for most of the internal structure with a light alloy skin attached using brass screws. The light alloy split flaps at the trailing edge of the wing were also pneumatically operated via a finger lever on the instrument panel. Only two positions were available; fully up or fully down (85°). Flaps were normally lowered only during

11880-430: The tail, and incorporated several lightening holes to reduce their weight as much as possible without weakening them. The U-shaped frame 20 was the last frame of the fuselage proper and the frame to which the tail unit was attached. Frames 21, 22 and 23 formed the fin; frame 22 incorporated the tailwheel opening and frame 23 was the rudder post. Before being attached to the main fuselage, the tail unit frames were held in

12000-452: The theoretical aileron reversal speed was increased to 825 mph (717 kn; 1,328 km/h). Alongside the redesigned wing, Supermarine also experimented with the original wing, raising the leading edge by 1 inch (25 mm), with the hope of improving pilot view and reducing drag. This wing was tested on a modified F Mk 21, also called the F Mk 23, (sometimes referred to as "Valiant" rather than "Spitfire"). The increase in performance

12120-486: The time it takes for the bombers to cross the distance from first detection to being on their targets, the interceptor must be able to start, take off, climb to altitude, maneuver for attack and then attack the bomber. A dedicated interceptor aircraft sacrifices the capabilities of the air superiority fighter and multirole fighter (i.e., countering enemy fighter aircraft in air combat manoeuvring ), by tuning its performance for either fast climbs or high speeds. The result

12240-420: The widespread introduction of the jet engine and the adoption of high speed, low level flight profiles, the time available between detection and interception dropped. Most advanced point defence interceptors combined with long-range radars were struggling to keep the reaction time down enough to be effective. Fixed times, like the time needed for the pilot to climb into the cockpit, became an increasing portion of

12360-405: The wing needed to be thin to avoid creating too much drag , but it had to be thick enough to house the retractable undercarriage, armament, and ammunition. An elliptical planform is the most efficient aerodynamic shape for an untwisted wing, leading to the lowest amount of induced drag . The ellipse was skewed so that the centre of pressure, which occurs at the quarter- chord position, aligned with

12480-454: The workforce continually threatened strikes or "slow downs" until their demands for higher wages were met. In spite of promises that the factory would be producing 60 per week starting in April, by May 1940, Castle Bromwich had not yet built its first Spitfire. On 17 May, Minister of Aircraft Production Lord Beaverbrook telephoned Lord Nuffield and manoeuvred him into handing over control of

12600-472: Was a prototype jet fighter developed during the 1950s. It never flew and was cancelled in 1960. The Canadian subsonic Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck served in numbers through 1950s. Its supersonic replacement, the CF-105 Arrow ("Avro Arrow"), was controversially cancelled in 1959. The Swedish Saab 35 Draken was specifically designed for intercepting aircraft passing Swedish airspace at high altitudes in

12720-466: Was built at Star Road, Caversham in Reading. The drawing office in which all Spitfire designs were drafted was moved to Hursley Park , near Winchester . This site also had an aircraft assembly hangar where many prototype and experimental Spitfires were assembled, but since it had no associated aerodrome, no Spitfires ever flew from Hursley. Four towns and their satellite airfields were chosen to be

12840-453: Was capable of receiving aircraft of most types, including An-225, An-124 and Il-76 (with partial load), An-22, Tu-154, Boeing-757 and all lighter ones, as well as helicopters of all types. In 2011, the construction of a new runway 16R/34L was completed, its classification number (PCN) is 70/R/A/X/T, dimensions are 3500 × 45 m (cement concrete). The commissioning of the new runway allows the airport to receive aircraft of all types. In April 2010,

12960-544: Was designated for deployment of interceptors. The aircraft of the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO-S) differed from those of the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) in that they were by no means small or crudely simple, but huge and refined with large, sophisticated radars; they could not take off from grass, only concrete runways; they could not be disassembled and shipped back to a maintenance center in

13080-652: Was designed primarily as a stealth air superiority fighter. In the 1950s, the United States Navy led an unsuccessful F6D Missileer project. Later it launched the development of a large F-111B fleet air defense fighter, but this project was cancelled too. Finally, the role was assigned to the F-14 Tomcat , carrying AIM-54 Phoenix missiles. Like the USAF's F-15, the USN's F-14 was also designed primarily as an air superiority (fighter-to-fighter combat) and F-14s served

13200-465: Was for interceptors as the Commonwealth and American air forces pounded German targets night and day. As the bombing effort grew, notably in early 1944, the Luftwaffe introduced a rocket-powered design, the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet , in the very-short-range interceptor role. The engine allowed about 7 minutes of powered flight, but offered such tremendous performance that they could fly right by

13320-526: Was later adapted to house integral fuel tanks of various sizes — a feature patented by Vickers-Supermarine in 1938. The airflow through the main radiator was controlled by pneumatic exit flaps. In early marks of the Spitfire (Mk I to Mk VI), the single flap was operated manually using a lever to the left of the pilot's seat. When the two-stage Merlin was introduced in the Spitfire Mk IX , the radiators were split to make room for an intercooler radiator;

13440-497: Was later named the "Merlin". In November 1934, Mitchell, with the backing of Supermarine's owner Vickers-Armstrong , started detailed design work on this refined version of the Type 300. On 1 December 1934, the Air Ministry issued contract AM 361140/34, providing £10,000 for the construction of Mitchell's improved Type 300 design. In April 1935 Ralph Sorley spoke to Mitchell about the new specification F10/35 which called for armament of at least six and preferably eight guns while at

13560-488: Was minimal and this experiment was abandoned. Supermarine developed a new laminar-flow wing based on new aerofoil profiles developed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in the United States, with the objective of reducing drag and improving performance. These laminar-flow airfoils were the Supermarine 371-I used at the root and the 371-II used at the tip. Supermarine estimated that

13680-484: Was no longer held up by a lack of wings. All the main flight controls were originally metal structures with fabric covering. Designers and pilots felt that having ailerons which required a degree of effort to move at high speed would avoid unintended aileron reversal, throwing the aircraft around and potentially pulling the wings off. Air combat was also felt to take place at relatively low speeds and high-speed manoeuvring would be physically impossible. Flight tests showed

13800-579: Was oversensitive, and the top speed was just 330 mph (528 km/h), little faster than Sydney Camm 's new Merlin-powered Hurricane. A new and better-shaped, two-bladed, wooden propeller allowed the Spitfire to reach 348 mph (557 km/h) in level flight in mid-May, when Summers flew K5054 to RAF Martlesham Heath and handed the aircraft over to Squadron Leader Anderson of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE). Here, Flight Lieutenant Humphrey Edwardes-Jones took over

13920-451: Was somewhat lower than that of some contemporary fighters. The Royal Aircraft Establishment noted that, at 400 mph (350 kn; 640 km/h) indicated airspeed , roughly 65% of aileron effectiveness was lost due to wing twist. The new wing of the Spitfire F Mk 21 and its successors was designed to help alleviate this problem. Its stiffness was increased by 47%, and a new aileron design using piano hinges and geared trim tabs meant

14040-463: Was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war. The Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts. Around 70 remain airworthy , and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world. The Spitfire was designed as a short-range, 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 developed

14160-445: Was the subject of a Luftwaffe daylight raid, but the bombs missed their target and hit a nearby school. All production aircraft were flight tested before delivery. During the Second World War, Jeffrey Quill was Vickers Supermarine's chief test pilot, in charge of flight testing all aircraft types built by Vickers Supermarine. He oversaw a group of 10 to 12 pilots responsible for testing all developmental and production Spitfires built by

14280-419: Was to subcontract the work. Although outside contractors were supposed to be involved in manufacturing many important Spitfire components, especially the wings, Vickers-Armstrongs (the parent company) was reluctant to see the Spitfire being manufactured by outside concerns, and was slow to release the necessary blueprints and subcomponents. As a result of the delays in getting the Spitfire into full production,

14400-532: Was used in the European , Mediterranean , Pacific , and South-East Asian theatres. Much loved by its pilots, the Spitfire operated in several roles, including interceptor, photo-reconnaissance, fighter-bomber, and trainer, and it continued to do so until the 1950s. The Seafire was an aircraft carrier–based adaptation of the Spitfire, used in the Fleet Air Arm from 1942 until the mid-1950s. In 1931,

#395604