Supermarine Spitfire

'...I had seen them flying and admitted I had seen few prettier aircraft...'

P. Richey on Spitfire's

'...If only he knew how proud I felt. At last I had flown a Spitfire. How Beautiful the machine seemed to me, and how alive! A masterpiece of harmony and power, even as I saw her know, motionless. Softly, as one might caress a woman's cheek, I ran my hand over the aluminium of her wings, cold and smooth like a mirror, the wings which had borne me...'

P. Clostermann of the Spitfire

'...We now had Spitfire's. It was a whole new kind of flying: we were one with the machine, and, more important, we had new confidence. For the first time we felt we had a plane that could out-perform the Me 109 and FW 190...

J. Goodson of the Spitfire