An illustrated guide to the Supermarine Spitfire, used by the Royal Air Force and Allies in World War II, with an introduction by Air Vice Marshal and flying ace James Edgar Johnson."Men came from every corner of the free world to fly and fight in Spitfires. Men from countries where freedom had a meaning in their minds. A babel of tongues chattered in her cockpit, and all came to love her for her throughbread qualities.Today there are only a handful of Spitfires still flying, and seldom can be heard taht nostalgic whistling call ass she arcs across the sky. But occassionally, after all these years, I am privileged to fly in that familiar cockpit again when the song of her Merlin engine brings back a hundred memories of those valiant years."-Air Vice-Marshal Johnnie Johnson, from the Introduction