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

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.

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.

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 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.

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 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

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!

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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! :)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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!

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

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

Nice Mustard cameo/Easter egg at 6:00.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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 ❤️

I like that little Mustard cameo

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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 love the Mustard cameo. Lol!

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?

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.

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

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...

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

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

Great video! This said, while the Spitfire ended up being the main British fighter over WWII, the Battle of Britain was mostly fought by Hurricanes.

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

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

Well done, very enjoyable and informative at the same time.

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

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.

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!!

I was sure how interesting this would be but I really learned a lot. Good job.

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.

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

Just brilliant - thanks for uploading!

This is the best I've seen. In particular, you talk about the advantage the inverted, fuel injected Daimler-Benz Bf109 engine had in neg. G manuvers, compared to float carb. Allied aircraft (Spits...Mustangs). To wit, 109 pilots could push straight over in a dive; Allied aircraft....as you pointed out, had to roll over inverted or the engine would flood.

I think you should read "Secrets of the Spitfire" - the biography of Beverley Shenstone - the senior aerodynamicist working for Mitchell . The elliptical wing was not merely chosen to cover the guns. Apart from the reduction in induced drag, the wing , which was actually 2 semi ellipses with a common major axis on the 25% chord line, had many other benefits apart from providing enough depth to cover the guns and undercarriage.

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.

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

17:05 props to the cameraman who got shot multiple times in order to film the plane

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

Amazing animations and great commentary. Please keep them coming!

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.

Most noticed the wrong elevator in the turn, but I think that also the ailerons have problems too: you use them just to enter into a turn, but they return flat during the turn, otherwise you will continue to increase the bank angle. Flat during the turn, then in the opposite direction to return to straight flight.

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

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

My grandfather , who is 99years old, flew spitfires in the war. I cant wait to show him this video he will love it.

Amazing video mate! Thanks

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.

Absolutely incredible renders and editing!

Thank you for explaining and presentation, appreciate it 👍

Absolutely mesmerizing. Best engineering channel on youtube.

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

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.

I was watching a TV series in the UK called "wheeler dealers " over christmas, where they get old cars, do them up, and sell them on. They had an episode where they milled out and old turbocharger, stuck a new/better fan in, and increased the HP a fair bit. 10% or whatever. It reminded me of a great book I once read called "not much of an Engineer" by the guy who hugely improved the Merlin perfomance by very smart improvements to the Turbo/Super on it. If you like engineering, I recommend it :) It is (to me anyway!) interersting how little changes to a big thing can make such an improvement IF they are the correct changes.

Great video! Note that the air is compressed by the supercharger before it merge with the fuel in order to to increase air density and be able to mix with more fuel, for better output power.

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