Aircraft of World War II

It is generally accepted that the Spitfire was not only a great fighter aircraft but was also a symbol of Britain's defiance of the Luftwaffe in the early years of WWII. Britain had been slow to react to German rearmament in the 1930s. Since WWI, the RAF's front-line aircraft were mainly used in the colonial policing role where their (mostly) 1920s technology was not an issue.

However, the political appeasement of Hitler's Germany and subsequent lack of realisation had left the RAF ill-equip...