Trumpeter Plastic Model Kit Supermarine Spiteful F.Mk.14 — 1:48

Manufacturer

Trumpeter is a Chinese manufacturer of injection-moulded plastic scale models, produced by Zhongshan-based manufacturing operations. The company has an extensive aircraft catalogue covering subjects from the First World War through the modern era.

Kit 02850 was introduced in 2012 and represents the Supermarine Spiteful F.Mk.14. The tooling contains more than 80 parts and includes photo-etched and transparent components.
Kit contents

The 1:48 kit contains four plastic sprues with more than 80 parts, together with:

Injection-moulded fuselage and wing components

Finely engraved surface and panel detail

Cockpit components

Engine/cowling details

Propeller and spinner

Retractable landing gear

Tail surfaces

Four 20 mm cannon armament

Transparent parts — 7 clear parts

1 photo-etched part

Waterslide decals

Illustrated assembly instructions

The completed model is approximately 216 mm long with a 224 mm wingspan.
History of the full-size aircraft

The Supermarine Spiteful was a British single-seat fighter developed by Supermarine during the Second World War as a high-performance successor to the famous Spitfire.

The Spitfire's original elliptical wing had been highly successful, but by the early 1940s Supermarine engineers were increasingly concerned that its aerodynamic characteristics would eventually limit the aircraft's performance at very high speeds. The Spiteful therefore introduced a completely new laminar-flow wing with a much thinner aerodynamic section.

The new wing was accompanied by a wider-track undercarriage. Unlike the Spitfire, whose main landing gear retracted outward into the wing, the Spiteful's landing gear retracted inward. This considerably improved ground handling.
Development

The first prototype flew in 1944. Although the Spiteful retained the general single-engine, single-seat fighter concept of the Spitfire, it was sufficiently different that it was given its own name.

The aircraft was powered by the powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon engine rather than the Merlin engines used by many earlier Spitfires.

The F.Mk.14 used the Griffon 65/85 family, depending on production configuration. Published specifications give the Griffon 85 installation at approximately 2,375 hp.
Performance

The Spiteful was intended to deliver substantially improved high-speed performance over the Spitfire.

Its combination of:

High-powered Griffon engine

Thin laminar-flow wing

Retractable undercarriage

Streamlined fuselage

Four 20 mm cannon

made it a formidable piston-engined fighter on paper.

The aircraft was armed with four Hispano-Suiza 20 mm cannon, providing considerably more concentrated firepower than the machine-gun armament of early Spitfires.
Production

The timing of the Spiteful proved unfortunate.

By the time the aircraft was ready for production, the jet age had arrived. The RAF was already operating the Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire, while the end of the Second World War removed the immediate requirement for a large new generation of piston-engined fighters.

Only approximately 19–20 Spiteful aircraft were completed, depending on how prototypes and production aircraft are counted. Production took place between approximately 1945 and 1947.

Consequently, the Spiteful never achieved the widespread operational service originally intended for it.
Relationship with the Spitfire

Despite its name and obvious ancestry, the Spiteful was not simply another Spitfire variant.

The most important difference was the wing. The Spitfire used its famous elliptical wing, whereas the Spiteful adopted a new laminar-flow wing designed to reduce drag at high speed.

The landing gear arrangement was also redesigned. The resulting aircraft looked recognisably related to the Spitfire but was essentially a new fighter.

Supermarine also developed the Seafang, a navalised version of the Spiteful concept intended for carrier operations.
Why the Spiteful became obsolete

The Spiteful's development illustrates the rapid technological transition taking place during the final years of the Second World War.

When development began, improving piston-engine fighters was still strategically important. By 1944–45, however, jet propulsion was advancing rapidly.

The Spiteful was therefore overtaken by technology almost as soon as it reached production. A fighter capable of excellent piston-engine performance was competing for resources against aircraft that could potentially fly much faster using turbojets.

The aircraft's short production run was consequently not primarily a reflection of technical failure; rather, the military requirement had changed.
Significance

The Spiteful is historically important as the final major Supermarine fighter derived from the Spitfire lineage.

It represents the endpoint of Supermarine's Griffon-powered piston-fighter development and provides an interesting bridge between the classic Spitfire and the company's later jet aircraft.

For modellers, it is particularly attractive because it combines the familiar Spitfire heritage with a dramatically different wing and landing-gear arrangement.