The Insane Engineering of the Spitfire 

The elevator must be deflected upwards, not downwards 4:07 Anyway great video!

The wing armament was actually seen as a disadvantage because each gun needed to be configured to converge at a particular distance, which reduced overall accuracy. The BF109's nose guns concentrated firepower and improved roll rate by centralising mass.

No interviews, deviations from the topic, no exaggerated narrative. Just physics, statistics, and engineering. If you had a TV show when I was a kid, I would watch it every chance I got. Good job on this one.

I really love how despite being a Spitfire video, it takes time for the 109 too. It's fascinating to see the ingenious and different ways both sides approached various technical challenges.

The sheer imagination of getting into a plane and going into an air battle like this makes my skin shiver. These pilots were absolute madlads.

Wonderful documentary. my father was British and worked on the early warning system for the Battle of Britain. he wanted to fly a spitfire so much but his vision wasn't good enough - he wore glasses., but he was so proud of that plane. He gave me a model version of the plane to assemble one Christmas, and I was so proud of the plane too. God rest his soul.

6:00 I'm pretty sure this is Mustard's iconic narrating, glad to see him voicing over the quote

I was born in 47, and as a small child my parents were still in the habit saving any bits of aluminium foil they came across. It seems that during the war years there was country- wide effort to secure as much aluminium scrap as possible with which to build Spitfires. This is easily one of the best and thorough Spitfire documentaries I've yet seen...

Love the Mustard cameo! Great to see collaboration like this between great channels

That’s “Hydraulics” But really, an insane presentation! Even as a former pilot, I learned a lot in this video

Question: How did the Spitfire work? Answer: Pretty well!

Proud to say my Dad was a member of the RAF - an aircraft fitter - and his job was to help to keep those planes 'fit to fly'. He was a young man in his 20s when he also had that great responsibility in signing off those planes, after being serviced, AS 'fit to fly'. Years later - in middle age - he admitted he would never have the nerve to do that type of job again. But youth is a wonderful thing, and he - and many more like him - did their jobs, and did them well. He was one of the lucky ones to survive the war, live to raise a family, and lead a good life. RIP Dad, and to all the other young men and women who fought during WWII - and the many who did give their lives - may you rest in peace, also, and know that you ALL were from the 'Greatest Generation'. :)

Mounting the guns centerline is beneficial when it comes to aiming and gun convergence. Wing mounted guns are typically set at angle so their shots converge at a certain range, making that range the optimal range. But that also means that outside the optimum aiming is harder and half your shots will always miss. Great video! The Spitfire is just beautiful!

I'm an aeronautical engineering student who loves military aviation history and the technologies involved in it. I've spent my fair amount of time learning about and making models of the Spitfire but it's so awesome to still learn new details of this beautiful bird and see all the information, videos, graphics and 3d models that the Real Engineering team put together. I dearly thank you and salute your work.

Just purchased the Nebula bundle and honestly the entire price is worth it just for the logistics of D-day and the Battle of Britain series’s. Absolutely fantastic content, keep it up

Dude…. You’ve outdone yourself with this video…. Thank you for taking the time to educate us in these matters. As a history major I really appreciate it!

I'm gonna need to see a video on the F-102, F-106, and SAGE It's such a complicated yet fascinating system, while also having a ton of flaws

Hey! I'm sorry but I think you messed up in 4:07. To increase angle of attack and thus, the aircraft's lift, the elevator must be deflected upwards, not downwards. Hope, I'm helping and excellent video! :)

Thank you for this video. My Father in law is Major General Carroll McColpin. He was a Spitfire Ace with the Eagle Squadron. He loved this plane and talked about it often. Look him up online, his story is fascinating. He and his wife are buried at Arlington National Cemetery a True war Hero.

Thanks for using 601 squadron Spits in the CG sequences - my grandfather was a flight sergeant in 601, he knew that Merlin like the back of his hand and I am now the proud owner of his RR Merlin manuals.

As someone who has studied the Spitfire all my adult life and also flown one, can I say that this documentary is of impeccable quality. There are a few misplaced clips of Hurricanes and Hispano Buchons, but that's forgivable. Your explanations of aerodynamic principles are very clear and accurate, and you rightly focus on the key points that made the Spitfire an apex predator: Bev Shenstone's wing design; the power to weight achieved by Rolls Royce engines; and the radiator technology that Supermarine had developed during the Schneider Trophy campaign. I'm really impressed and Nebula has instantly become a trusted brand. I have taken out a sub and look forward to much more.

4:10 - "the pilot will deflect the elevators downward to increase lift". No. You pull on the stick, the elevators deflect upwards to increase the down force on the tail causing the angle of attack to increase, thus increasing lift.

this video is insane man. You are already the best engineering channel on RU-vid and managed to step it up a whole another level. Congrats!

You gotta do the Mosquito now- utilizing unexploited manufacturing resources in the form of woodworking shops, while also taking advantage of the benefits a wood construction could give? It's a perfect blend of engineering and manufacturing knowledge.

To this day, I think the Spitfire is still one of the most beautifully elegant machines ever devised by man. It's amazing to me that engineering decisions based on hard numbers aimed at making a weapon of war as powerful and efficient as possible happened to result in a shape that is so aesthetically pleasing to so many people. It's one for the ages for sure.

5:58 I would recognize that voice anywhere! It was a very welcome surprise to hear Mustard, considering all the aviation videos he does. Keep up the fantastic work, you two!

Great video! One thing I noticed though, at 4.15, you say the elevator goes down. I think it should be up, otherwise the plane would come out of the turn. At a steep bank angle, the elevator effectively functions as the rudder.

Actually in a turn, you increase the deflection of the elevator, not decrease it as stated in the video; that is the rear edge of the elevator move upward. This works to move the tail downward and the nose upward, which increases the angle of attack, and thus increases lift to compensate for the loss of the vertical lift component while banking.

The person saying R.J. Mitchell's statement kind of sounds like Mustard's voice

Truly one of the best pieces of engineering of all times.

The quality and CG in your videos has become top notch, great job 👍

Excellent job of explaining the designs and developments of both planes.

I love how you integrated the tactics of dogfight into each section of the engineering script. Giving us a full understanding of not just how but also why. Top video as always!

The quality of these animations is absolutely staggering! I can’t begin to understand how much time and effort has gone in to them

20:41 I’m not a history buff or even a fan of this material but I was complementing the high quality of the models sets and animations of this video during my viewing. Fantastic video.

Great job! This was a great production, highly informative and no BS.

Nice Mustard cameo/Easter egg at 6:00.

Disappointed that you didn't talk about Beatrice Shilling and how she fixed the spitfire's carburetor problem. Still a great video.

Thank You So Much to Real Engineering Channel for all those informative & enjoyable to watch engineering tutorials!

I've seen and read plenty about the Spitfire but this told me so much more. Brilliant vid. Thanks.

This summer I had the honour of sitting inside the cockpit of one of the Duxford IWM Spitfires. What an amazing machine. ❤

Glad you gave the Spitfire an updated video since the last one 6 years ago! It's very cool to see how far this channel has come since then.

First rate production! One of the best. You did a really great job teaching the non technical watcher.

Wow! What an AMAZINGLY informative and well crafted video! Excellent job putting this together

Thank you for making videos like these. I really love these (especially) WW2 aviation videos! I'm currently studying (and struggling since Online learning) Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. WW2 aviation has always been my passion, for as long as I can remember. So thank you for videos like this, it really keeps me motivated throughout my studies ❤️

The brave men that flew the spitfires, no matter the danger. Long live the free world.

Super video! You might want to mention Miss Shilling orifice - her tweak to the carburettor design that allowed a few seconds negative G in later models.

Amazing video mate! Thanks

Props to the animators on this video! Really nice work on the visuals to help explain everything.

Not only was the Spitfire a very capable aircraft right from the start but it served as an exceptional development platform so that with upgrades it was able to compete both with the BF 109 and the Fw 190 throughout the course of the war.

o7 I can't imagine how brave the Spitfire's pilots were, and how smart the engineer's must've been. Great video!

Another absolutely amazing video with plenty of facts and pure knowledge. Loved it!

The amount of research and hardwork behind both the spitfire and this animated video is amazing in itself 💯

Another thing to note is that an aircrafts turn performance is not solely dependent on it's turn radius, although it is important for many maneuvers of a dogfight (one circle, scissors, etc.). The other crucial component is turn rate, or how many degrees per second the aircraft can complete in a turn. This is important for two circle dogfights, as well as other fights. If you want to learn more, look up one circle vs two circle dogfights!

Another clever innovation in the radiator design was that cool air drawn into the radiator was heated by the radiator core causing it to expand, then when it left the radiator, it was travelling significantly faster than when it entered, thereby creating a small amount of thrust (in effect a jet) which also partially negated the drag created by the radiator. Clever man Mr. Mitchell. we can only imagine what kind of designs he would have come up with if he'd had access to turbojets.

Great video, best explanation of Spitfire wing and cooling systems design I've seen yet. 5:43 Vortex!

Both Nebula series have been a dream to watch! And I love how even though this is a long video, it's only a taste of what those series have.

4:07 - Is that correct? Pushing forward on stick pitches the nose down (elevator deflects down). Wouldn't that decrease lift? You'd gain airspeed but not lift, right?

Just brilliant - thanks for uploading!

When I saw this show up in my recommendations I figured it'd be the same wikipedia history as all the others I've seen on the subject. Because I felt like listening to some low-intensity background noise while playing games on the other monitor, I opened the video... ...and found it's actually an in-depth look into the science and technology involved in designing a WW2 fighter. On one hand, I found a new channel to follow. On the other, I completely forgot about the game I was playing and died while afk. You win some, you lose some :D.

Watching this channel grow is amazing! I'm now studying aerospace engineering and I hope I get to work on a project that turns up on this channel for good reasons!!

The effort you guys put into making the graphics in these videos is crazy. Top notch!

What an awesome video. I had the pleasure of flying the Grace spitfire last year. I learned a lot from this video. Thank you for posting.

Nothing is softer or more flexible than water, yet nothing can resist it.

I love the Mustard cameo. Lol!

Excellent video but there's a typo @7:01 it says "hydrolics" when it's presumably meant to be "hydraulics"

Outstanding video as usual! Only one needs to watch out for that elevator deflection direction. However, this part of the video for the elliptical wing will end up in my classes of Aerodynamics as a "must watch" for my students.

My son got to take a ride in a two seater Spitfire (trainer, I believe) one of only 2 or 3 in existence when he was in elementary school back in 2006/07...I was so jealous but also mesmerized by the complete beauty, the technological magic and the frightening speed of this machine designed to wreac havoc wherever it chose...

I have always loved the content you have had in your videos, but I am especially enjoying the quality as of late. I really appreciated the voiceover by Mustard, too.

The engine cutting out was quickly ameliorated by Miss Shilling's Orifice.

Great video as always!

excellent presentation

Very good presentation, one minor flaw that has already been covered a lot. The saddest part of the whole Spitfire story is the death of RJ Mitchell before he got to see what his plane was truly capable of, perhaps a brief mention of that would be nice.

Absolutely incredible renders and editing!

I'm not an aviator but the technical explanations and graphical illustrations here are outstanding.

Absolutely mesmerizing. Best engineering channel on youtube.

Awesome video. Though there might be a mistake in the discussion on turn performance. The elevator should deflect trailing edge up to increase lift on wing (and drag) instead of up.

Then again, the Hawker Hurricane also did just as much work, so maybe you should do a video on it.

Amazing evolution of the Spitfie airframe from a lightweight short range interceptor to carrier fighter to escort fighter and finally high speed griffon monster. Most people don't realize that the Spitfire internal fuel capacity went from 85 imp gal to 196 Imp gallons on some late production Mk. IX / XVI versions. Some Mk.IX's in 1944 could range from Tangmere and into Germany and back - an amazing accomplishment for an interceptor.

Well worth the time. Lots of relevant facts.

Thanks for your work, in general, but specifically on airplanes. Your videos on the P-47 Thunderbolt and the A-10 Warthog were amazing. This video on the Spitfire is awesome, too. The Spit was the most beautiful fighter of WW2, imho. The P-51 Mustang would be a great analysis for you. The way it was mediocre until is got the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine would be interesting. Thanks for your efforts, from a guy who lacks the math skills but can understand your explanation.

Amazing animations and great commentary. Please keep them coming!

Great to hear so many subtle technical details that made the Spitfire the evocative icon it is. I learned much, thank you. However... The slower, stubbier Hawker Hurricane got a lot more lift from its thicker, draggier wings. Which gave it a greater climb rate than the early Spitfire. Back in 1940, given the same amount of flying time, the Hurricane could get higher than a Spitfire, even though it was flying much more slowly. So... during the Battle of Britain, after scrambling, it was by far the more numerous Hurricanes that climbed higher to tackle the BF109s. The enemy fighter escort usually flew higher than the bombers, ready to dive down and swat any Allied fighters threatening the bombers. Thus the Spitfires mostly only intercepted the bombers (during the Battle of Britain - to repeat this crucial timing detail). Sorry to pop the nostalgia bubble, but the notion that the Spitfire was the dog-fighting hero of the Battle of Britain is simply not correct, even though it was certainly only the Spitfire that had the raw performance to defeat the BF109 in one-on-one combat. It's just that, at that time of the war, there was not that much dogfighting. It was squadrons of interceptors trying to bring down vast armadas of bombers, while watching out for limited fighter escort diving on them from above. Of course, IF the BF109's managed to evade the Hurricanes and dive down to bomber level to protect the bombers and tackle the Spitfires, then yes, there was some dog-fighting. But the primary role of the Spitfire during the Battle of Britain was bomber interception, while the Hurricanes climbed higher to intercept (and keep busy) the German escort fighters. On the other hand, the Hurricane could take vast amounts of battle damage and still remain airborne, which is how it could last long enough to hold it's own against a superior BF109 when taking on the fighter escort higher up. It could absorb all the ammunition from an enemy plane, and still be flying. The size of the guns thus became a major factor in the effectiveness of any fighter at defeating the opposition. The razor-thin margin of victory in that particular conflict would be completely swamped in defeat, if any one link in that complex chain of strategic defense had not worked. Including the absense (or reduced numbers) of either Spitfire or Hurricane, and the priceless early warning from radar that enabled the Allied fighters to scramble, climb to altitude, and be ready and waiting to intercept the incoming enemy aircraft before they even got to their target drop area. Britain was also helped by the BF109 only being able to spend about 10 minutes in the combat zone, before being forced to turn for home by fuel limits. That's that "over their home territory" advantage mentioned. The other curious fact I find astounding, is that the pilot only had about 14 seconds of guns firing at their disposal. All that effort and fuel to maintain the planes, scramble, climb up, and then try to manouvre into a position to score a hit, and they had just 14 seconds of ammunition to do enough damage to the enemy to force their retreat or crash. Squandering bullets meant you could go home as soon as your 14 seconds were fired, whether you hit anything or not. That's a staggering amount of resource being spent, for such tiny margins of actually hitting an enemy plane. Not everyone was an ace... Much easier to hit a ponderous bomber... which a Spitfire did easily, bringing down significant numbers, and ultimately halting the Battle because the Luftwaffe could not afford to sustain the loss rate. Which is why they get so much credit for winning the battle, even if it was for "the wrong reasons". In later war years, long after the battle of Britain was over, the Spitfire continued to evolve with ever more powerful engines while the Hurricane stuck around, but mostly ceased development. Thus it was the Spitfire alone that continued defeating the enemy all the way to 1945, and is another reason why it is this plane that carries the accolade as the Battle Winner.

I had the privilege of getting up close to a present day operational Spitfire a few years ago. The owner of my previous company restored it to full flight over a period of about 10 years. So we spent the day at the hangar where it was located and then just before the provided lunch the pilot flew it and did several rounds over the airfield and the hangar. Spectacular!

Consummate production. Jaw dropping really how good these videos are. Bravo!

You have missed one point when discussing the benefit of the elliptical wing, the lower induced drag does not seem much flying straight, but induced drag varies with the SQUARE of the Lift coefficient so in a 4G turn the induced drag is X 16 times. This fact also impacts the ability to turn tightly, the Me 109 had automatic slats which allowed its wing to achieve much higher lift coefficients in a tight turn, but at the cost of much higher induced drag. This caused Me 109s to loose speed or altitude or both in a tight turn if they tried to keep up with a Spit. Later in the War, the improved Octane rating of the fuel allowed the Merlin to be boosted much more than Nazi engines.

Superb documentary. Thank you!

The layout of the guns in the Bf-109 did have its advantages, since all the guns, especially in the later models from the 'F' onwards, were located in a small frontal area, two above the nose and one through the propellor spinner, the fire was concentrated and meant a shorter burst did more damage.

Great video and great visuals as always! Please note that at 4:11 the elevator should be deflected upward to make the airplane pitch up, increase the angle of attack and, ultimately, produce more lift (and more drag).

superb video, well researched and presented, outstanding animations. As an avid WW2 enthusiast, at 58 I finally understanding why the Spitfirw was so good. And also marvel at the german engineering. subscribed.

The quality of the content on this channel is amazing.

An elliptical taper to the planform does not require that the leading and trailing edges both taper equally - rather it requires the length of the total chord in the spanwise direction to taper elliptically. How the designer chooses to arrange (stack) the airfoils (fwd and aft) in the spanwise direction is totally up to them, and, as was done in the Spitfire, the airfoils are often stacked so the 1/4 chord is straight - yacht designers do this very often too for rudders, to the turning moment is colinear to the rudder shaft. Remember the local amount of lift of proportional to the length of the chord, so (assuming you have no washout and the same airfoil section), all you need to do is taper the total chord length along the span in an elliptical fashion.

Thanks for putting in the research and explaining so many details regarding this incredible aeroplane that nearly all the others just gloss over.

Thanks for such a cool video the visuals were amazing

I learned so much more about Spitfires, than I ever did before. Thanks!

17:00 The armament layout was mixed up in this take. It features a 109 firing 6 guns from its wings, like a Spitfire, instead of the usual machine guns on top of the nose plus nose cannon and/or dual wing cannons.

I love the explanations of the engineering. I got to see a Spitfire flying at an airshow around 1980. It is an incredible aircraft.

Thanks for sharing! Been a big fan of the Spitfire for well over 50 years

gotta pause the video and say wow that intro is amazing!

I think you made a mistake at 4:07, in a turn, one would need to the elevator deflect up, rotate the nose up to pitch the main wing up for more lift, to compensate for the lost lift. Not pitch down as shown in the animation. Pitching down may keep a plane flying in a straight line, even when the plane is rolled to one side (wings are tilted), although that usually also requires rudder input. This is rarely done except when trying to looking for land marks or in an air show.