Quote:
Originally Posted by Soviet Ace
Actually, the Mk IX replaced it and played more of a major roll in Europe for british pilots, than the Mk VIII. and the Mk IX was a much more successful plane than the Mk VIII which was actually more of a foreshadow plane, as the Mk IX was more enjoyed and thought of as better than the Mk VIII. But most of the Mk VIII's were issued in the Pacific, and fought against the Japanese in Australia and Burma etc. And also, the only Spitfire to outclass the Mk IX was the Mk XIV, because of its engine and handling etc.
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Sorry but thats just not true.
The mk IX was produced well before the VII and VIII as a stop gap. The VII was ment to replace the IX in high altitude interception with it's presurised cabin, and the mkVIII was to replace the mkIX as a dogfighter. Both the VII and VIII took alot longer to bring into production than was expected because of the amount of redesign needed both to the airframe and to the production tools of the factory. By the time the VIII was ready for production the airwar over europe was more or less already won and most of the mkIX's were being used as fighter bombers at that time. THAT is why all the VIII's went out to the middle east, far east and pacific.
The Spitfire mkVIII is the definative Merlin engined Spitfire, fully able to handle the extra power granted by the 2 stage supercharger.
The Spitfire mkIX is basically a mkV with a much more powerful engine. Its like a car that has had its engine modified for extra power but the brakes and suspension have been left as standard. Yes it will be fast, but it wont handle as well as a car that was designed to manage that amount of power.