Help looking for book(s) on Supermarine Spitfire

There are two books on the Spitfire which I long since wish I had stolen/borrowed-and-not-returned from their respective libraries. In neither case can I definitely remember the title or the author (Grr). I am reasonably sure at least one of them was NOT written by Alfred Price, and neither of them is Morgan and Shacklady's massive tome (which I own).


The first of them I recall reading when I was at school, which puts it pre-1988, and from the look of the dust jacket a lot earlier. It featured detailed histories of all the marks that were built, a list of all the Merlin and Griffon engines ever used in Spits/Spitefuls, quite a lot of performance figures (on a per-mark basis), and was characterised by the last part of the book containing 1:72 scale three-views of every mark built. I'm pretty sure the author was an FRAeS, and this is the one I'm pretty sure was NOT written by Alfred Price.


The second may or may not have been an Alfred Price book. I read it in the Manchester Public Library in 1995, which fixes the latest possible publication date. This also gave a mark by mark development precis, and also included - for each mark - a representative set of performance figures which included time-to-height and maximum level speed (TAS) at various altitudes.


There may also be a third Spitfire book that went into great detail on performance figures - I distinctly remember a table which quoted the prototype MkIII, fitted with a Merlin 60 engine, as hitting 427mph at best full-throttle height (around 27,500ft IIRC). It may or may not be the first of the books I mentioned above.


Does anyone recognise these?

Hi Pathology,


can you tell me what is the author names ?.

My two cents...

Hi Pathology,


nothing more interested than MDF books about Supermarine Spitfire,two parts contain
all variants.

Pathology and Justo: That first candidate as suggested by Justo is probably not what Pathology is looking for. I have had the book (Spitfire - A Complete Fighting History) and it definitely does not list all variants and their performance, it is more of a collection of various anecdotes and pilot accounts of the aircraft. Not a bad book, but highly unlikely to be what pathology meant...

I can highly recommend:

Spitfire : The History

by Eric Morgen & Edward Shacklady
Key Book 2000

Expensive but all you ever asked for is there
even the vertical riser concept...

Here's mine. It can be found at Amazon.com under books. -SP

lark said:

I can highly recommend:

Spitfire : The History

by Eric Morgen & Edward Shacklady
Key Book 2000

Expensive but all you ever asked for is there
even the vertical riser concept...

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Already got it (see my original post).


Further info - one of the two books I am seeking was a hardcover with proper stitched binding and had a blue dust jacket, if that helps.


I have already checked the online catalogues of the libraries I saw these books in, and they are of no help, sadly. Unfortunately both were in the days before Amazon was even a gleam in the Internet's eye (hell, the INTERNET wasn't even a gleam in dial-up BBS's eye), and so of course I didn't take the titles down or photocopy the front covers.


Since I posted this question, ww2aircraftperformance.com and the spitfireperformance site have filled in most of the gaps, but I'd still like to try to find these books and buy them.

hesham said:

Hi Pathology,


nothing more interested than MDF books about Supermarine Spitfire,two parts contain
all variants.

Click to expand...

Don't forget those books.

Maybe this? Found while browsing, no idea what in it.

PaulMM (Overscan) said:

Maybe this? Found while browsing, no idea what in it.

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THAT'S IT!!! THAT'S THE FIRST ONE!!! :-* My inner schoolboy is leaping for joy!


Thank you! ;D B)

Justo Miranda said:

My two cents...

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The second one you've put up is looking familiar. If it's the one I'm thinking of, there will be abbreviated tables in the text with speed and time-to-height data (at least) for all Spitfire marks including the VI and the XIII. We're getting close here.

Supermarine Spitfire in Indian Service

Anyone looking for a more exotic book on the Spitire - can check out this forthcoming title :

Any more details on Singh's book (what does it cover, page count, when to be available, etc.)?

So I got "Spitfire: The Story of a Famous Fighter."


Oddly enough, the cover of mine pronounces it a Harborough rather than a Harleyford publication, even though the frontispiece describes it as first published by Harleyford and one of the pics inside, of a female ATA delivery pilot, still gleefully points out that she became a significant force in the Harleyford company!

Pasoleati said:

Any more details on Singh's book (what does it cover, page count, when to be available, etc.)?

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Both books are being released in first week of Sept - will share the details of publisher etc if there is interest - the Spitfire book looks a whopper

Please, do post the details when the books are available.

Pasoleati said:

Any more details on Singh's book (what does it cover, page count, when to be available, etc.)?

Click to expand...

"Spitfires in the Sun" is a 200 + Pp volume exclusively on the Spitfire in India and particularly the Indian Air Force's Spitfires from their first arrival in the country in October 1942 to the phasing of the last of the Spitfires in September 1957. Book provides Unit histories, data of 200+ Spitfires, Survivor histories, lots of rare b/w and colour pics and 29 original specially commissioned colour profiles.

This book is not only on an iconic fighter but also sets the definitive standard for the Spifire in an exotic air arm - also has nuggets on matching every RAF airframe with IAF assigned numbers and an update on every airframe including photos from museums in Malmo , Netherlands ,US and UK - and the photos,artwork and camo schemes are gorgeous - a work of passion and many years of meticulous research by Vikram Singh

Published by United Services Institute; 1ST edition (2014) - sponsored by the Centre for Armed Forces Historical Research.

if anyone wants a copy do let me know

Any personal accounts?