The Spitfire was found to have a lower roll rate and airspeed than some of the new German Focke-Wulf Fw190, in response some older Mk V Spitfires had their wings clipped as an interim method of addressing this shortcoming, later Spitfire variants, like the Spitfire Mk LFIXe pictured above, were fitted from new with clipped 'e' type wings for low altitude combat below 25,000 feet and had the low altitude two-stage supercharger and intercooler Merlin 63 engine, the aditional suffix LF was used to denote Low-altitude Fighter and the small letter 'e' at the end of the designation indicated the aircraft was fitted with the clipped 'e' type wing. The aircraft pictured above, MK356, was built at Castle Bromwich in March 1944 and was delivered to Wing Commander J. E. ‘Johnny' Johnson's Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron 443 ‘Hornet' Squadron where it operated from England's South coast Airfields or raids over occupied France. From March 1944 following a belly landing to November 1997 the aircraft was grounded being used initially an instructional airframe and then a 'gate guardian' at RAF Hawkinge and Locking, following a five year restoration MK356 took to the air again in November 1997 and then joined the RAF's Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Supermarine Spitfire Mk LFIXe Clipped Wing Specifications: - Length: 31 ft 3˝ in
- Wingspan: 32 ft 2 in
- Height: 11 ft 9 in
- Empty Weight: 5,610 lbs (2,545 kg)
- Maximum Weight: 7,500 lbs (3,402 kg)
- Engine: Single V-12 Rolls-Royce Merlin 66
- Maximum Speed: 408 mph (657 kph) @ 25,000 ft
- Service Ceiling: 25,000 ft
- Maximum range: 434 miles (698 km)
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