2RHPZ
09-15-2005, 11:27 AM
Why have we never honoured man who invented the Spitfire?
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 15/09/2005)
The forgotten hero of the Battle of Britain will be commemorated today at the beginning of a campaign to raise awareness of a man who did as much as any to keep Hitler at bay 65 years ago.
R J Mitchell did not live to see his country threatened with invasion in 1940, but the aeroplane he designed did more than any other to defeat the Nazi assault on our skies.
Piloted by that band of wild spirits immortalised by Sir Winston Churchill as "The Few", Mitchell's Supermarine Spitfire allowed the RAF to defeat the Luftwaffe over southern England in the anxious summer months when a German invasion force massed on the far side of the Channel.
In tandem with the Hawker Hurricane, the Mk I Spitfire shot down enough enemy bombers and fighters to persuade Hitler that he could never win air supremacy over the narrow stretch of sea his army had to cross to defeat Britain.
But unlike the Hurricane's designer, Sidney Camm, knighted in 1953, Mitchell did not receive the public acclamation that many experts believe he deserved.
Telegraph (http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/15/nspit15.xml&site=5)
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 15/09/2005)
The forgotten hero of the Battle of Britain will be commemorated today at the beginning of a campaign to raise awareness of a man who did as much as any to keep Hitler at bay 65 years ago.
R J Mitchell did not live to see his country threatened with invasion in 1940, but the aeroplane he designed did more than any other to defeat the Nazi assault on our skies.
Piloted by that band of wild spirits immortalised by Sir Winston Churchill as "The Few", Mitchell's Supermarine Spitfire allowed the RAF to defeat the Luftwaffe over southern England in the anxious summer months when a German invasion force massed on the far side of the Channel.
In tandem with the Hawker Hurricane, the Mk I Spitfire shot down enough enemy bombers and fighters to persuade Hitler that he could never win air supremacy over the narrow stretch of sea his army had to cross to defeat Britain.
But unlike the Hurricane's designer, Sidney Camm, knighted in 1953, Mitchell did not receive the public acclamation that many experts believe he deserved.
Telegraph (http://portal.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/15/nspit15.xml&site=5)