312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron Spitfire VC, AR501

Supermarine Spitfire LF MK. VC, AR501, G-AWII, was built in 1942 by Westland Aircraft of Yeovil, Somerset.

By 1940 the Mark V Spitfire had been developed around a Mark II airframe, strengthened to receive the latest Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 and 46 engines. More were produced than any other variant of the Spitfire.

The Mark V was designed to improve the flying characteristics of the Mark II. Some were designed for ground attack with bombs, machine guns and cannon, and some with all cannon armament.

The Mk. VC had a 'universal wing' enabling it to be armed with three different sets of armaments. The Mk. VC served mainly in overseas theatres, especially in the Middle East. First production models were delivered in late 1941.

This aircraft was built as an F. Mk. VC - a general altitude fighter. It had the universal armament wing and a Rolls Royce Merlin 46 engine, developing a maximum of 1415 horsepower, with an altitude rating of 19000 feet.
Initial going to RAF 8 Maintenance Unit (MU) at Little Rissington (22/6/42), it then went to 6 MU Brize Norton (7/7/42) before issue to 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron at Exeter (19/7/42).
On 15/3/43 AR501 was severely damaged on the ground at RAF Exeter, when a Mosquito collided with her. Repairs to AR501 were completed off site at 67 MU, Taunton and Westlands at Yeovil.
It then went to 33 MU, Lyneham (17/7/43) and 3501 Servicing Unit, Cranfield (6/8/43) before issue to 504 (City of Nottingham) Squadron at Church Stanton (Culmhead), Somerset (18/8/43).
AR501 then went to 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron (10/10/43). The squadron was engaged on bomber escort duties protecting raids across the English Channel against V-1 rocket launch sites.

In post war years it became an instructional airframe at Loughborough College and was acquired by the Shuttleworth Collection in 1961 and was displayed for many years in the clipped wing configuration wearing the 1942-43 livery of No.310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron.

Returned to flight for the Battle of Britain film, a major overhaul was then carried out in the early 1970s. She was airworthy from 1977-2005, then removed from service for another overhaul.

In mid 2000 the elliptical wingtips were refitted when the aircraft took part in the filming of the movie 'Pearl Harbor'.

Between 2005 and 2018 a complete strip down and rebuild to original specification was completed.

Today, Spitfire AR501, appears in the livery that it wore when serving with 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron in 1943.

Why did Spitfires have their wings clipped?

From early 1941 the German Focke Wulf Fw190 appeared in the skies over occupied Europe. Losses soon began to mount and the realisation was that this latest adversary had a significant advantage over the Spitfire with its incredible rate of roll and manoeuvrability.

To increase the roll rate of the Spitfire and improve its fighting qualities, the wingspan needed to be reduced. Fortunately the wingtips were a separate piece constructed from wood with an aluminum skin. They were attached with two bolts and a number of small screws to hold a covering strip where the wing and the tip joined. It was decided to unmount them and fit a simple fairing instead.

A test flight was arranged by the Air Fighting Development Unit at RAF Duxford, comparing a standard wing Spitfire Mk V with the new modified version at various heights up to 25,000 feet. The clipped Spitfire wing made the aircraft 5 mph faster at 10,000 feet and slightly faster at 25,000 feet, but with better acceleration across the board. In a dive, the clipped wing aircraft could pull away from the standard version and in a dogfight, the improved roll rate meant it could shake off the pursuing unmodified Spitfire. Climb performance wasn’t affected much and there was no noticeable change to the take-off and landing performance.

The Spitfire wing is quite large and blocks out a lot of the ground from the pilot’s perspective, which could potentially hide an enemy aircraft, but the removal of the wingtips takes over four feet from each side, improving the downward view considerably. From a combat perspective, a downward view becomes a sideways view at large angles of bank.

Having improved the performance of the Spitfire Mk V, in conjunction with supercharger modifications (although losses were still heavy against the FW190s), the latter stages of the war saw the clipped wing configuration became a very common, almost standard specification on Mk 9 and Mk16 Spitfires, as high altitude sorties became fewer and low altitude missions such as ground strafing became a priority.

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