Great Britain Fighters

Type: Boulton Paul Defiant Mk 1 two seat fighter.

Max Speed: 304 mph at 17,000 ft.

Climb Rate: 1,900 ft per minute.

Service Ceiling: 30,350 ft.

Range: 465 miles.

Armament: four 0.303 in 7.7 mm machine guns.

Engine: one 1,030-hp (768-kW) Rolls Royce Merlin III inline piston engine.

Photo: Musee de 1' Air

The Defiant was to large and heavy to tangle with nimbler single seat fighters, but prove an adequate interim night fighter and then a most useful target tug.

Type: Fairey firefly IIM single seat fighter.

Max Speed: 223 at 13,125 ft.

Climb Rate: 19,685 in 10 minutes 55 seconds.

Service Ceiling: 30,840 ft.

Range:

Armament: two fixed 0.303 in 7.7 mm machine guns.

Engine: one 480-hp (358-kW) Rolls Royce Kestrel IIS inline piston engine.

Photo: Musee de 1" Air

The Ffirefly II was an orthodox biplane fighter of good performance. Though the 50 or so survivors had been withdrawn from Belgian service before September 1939, many were used operationally in the vain effort to stem Germany's invasion of May 1940, suffering heavy losses in the process.

Type: Fairey Flycatcher Mk I sing seat carrierborne fighter.

Max Speed: 133 mph at 5,000 ft.

Climb Rate: 1,090 ft per minute.

Service Ceiling: 19,000 ft.

Range: 311 miles.

Armament: two 0.303 in 7.7 mm fixed machine guns, and four 20 lb bombs.

Engine: one 400-hp (298-kW) Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial piston engine.

Photo: Musee de 1' Air

Even when fitted with floats the flycatcher Mk i was very agile, and despite its low performance remained very popular with naval fighter pilots until well into the early 1930s

Type: Hawker Tempest Mk V single seat interceptor and
fighter bomber.

Max Speed: 426 at 18,500 ft.

Climb Rate: 15,000 ft in 5 minutes 0 seconds.

Service Ceiling: 36,500 ft.

Range: 740 miles.

Armament: four 20 mm cannon, and up to 2,000 lb of bombs or
rockets.

Engine: one 2,180-hp (1,626-kW) Napier Sabre Mk IIA inline piston engine.

Photo: RAF Museum

The Tempest Mk V was a particularly potent fighter, and late in the Second World War made almost a specialty of catching and destroying Me 262 jet fighters at their point of highest vulnerability as they came into land.

Type: Dewoitine D.560 single seat fighter prototype.

Max Speed: 214 mph at 14,765 ft.

Climb Rate:

Service Ceiling: 33,790 ft.

Range:

Armament: provision for two 0.303 in 7.7 mm machine guns.

Engine: one 690-hp (515-kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs inline piston engine.

Photo: Musee de 1' Air

In an effort to resolve the stability problem, the gull wings was replaced by a parasol wing with a straight center section supported above the fuselage on a cabane arrangement.

Type: Supermarine Spitfire L.F.Mk VB single seat fighter and fighter bomber.

Max Speed: 357 mph at 6,000 ft.

Climb Rate: 4,700 ft per minute.

Service Ceiling: 35,500 ft

Range: 470 miles.

Armament: two 20-mm cannon and four 0.303-in (7.7-mm) machine guns and 500-lb bomb.

Engine: one 1,478-hp (1,102-kW) Rolls Royce Merlin 45M, 50M or 55M piston engine.

Photo: RAF Museum

For improved speed and roll rate at low altitude, Spitfire LF.Mk VBs such as this No 316 Squadron example had clipped wings.