This 24.75" x 35" full-color illustrated poster is packed with information on the World War II-era British Spitfire, touted as the world's most famous fighter airplane. The Supermarine Spitfire is often regarded as the most famous British airplane of World War II. Belgians, Free French, Poles, Czechs, Americans, and British Commonwealth countries used the fighter. The Eagle Squadron was one of the best known of these foreign units. Composed of American volunteers, the first Eagle Squadron was officially formed on October 19, 1940. They flew Hurricanes until they could be equipped with Spitfires. When the United States entered the war, there were three squadrons of Eagles. On September 29, 1942, these squadrons became the 334th, 335th, and 336th Squadrons of the 4th Fighter Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force and were re-equipped with American fighter craft. Spitfires took part in operations in the Middle East, North Africa, India, Burma, Australia, and Russia. The neutral governments of Portugal and Turkey were also equipped with Spitfires. When the war ended, the Spitfire was the only airplane that had been in continuous production throughout the war—20,351 had rolled off the assembly lines.
    The Spitfire was the end product of many years of design development at the Supermarine works at Woolston, England. There, Reginald J. Mitchell designed racers to enter in the Schneider Trophy Races, with the British government subsidizing the project. Mitchell designed every British winner after World War I, and on September 13, 1931, his S.6B brought the Schneider Cup permanently home to Britain by winning the third consecutive race.
    Illustrated with color paintings, drawings, black and white photographs and a schematic of the Spitfire, the poster also outline's the aircraft's history, dimensions and performance, color schemes and different models of the Supermarine Spitfire, such as the F.1, the Supermarine F.7/30, the Spitfire PR XIX, Spitfire T.9, Spitfire LFV and Spitfire F.22.
    A must-have poster for aviation buffs and military historians.

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