![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Picture1.png?resize=500%2C297\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell, who developed his expertise designing seaplanes to race in the Schneider Trophy competition. Mitchell never got to see how important his contribution was because he died of cancer in 1937 at the age of 42. Fast and manoeuvrable, the Mark V had a top speed of 369mph and could climb 20,000 feet in seven-and-a-half minutes, with a flight ceiling of 36,500 feet. All this was a tribute to the genius and ingenuity of the plane\u2019s developers.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, the humble split pea played a key role in the development of such an effective fighter. Flush riveting was used on the prototype Spitfire to ensure the smoothest possible surfaces and aerodynamic performance. However this proved difficult, expensive and time consuming in production. Thinking outside the box, engineers went to a local grocery and bought several bags of dried split peas and glued them on every flush rivet head to test the likely impact of using round head rivets. Unfortunately this reduced the Spitfire\u2019s speed by around 22mph. Not giving up, they progressively scraped off the split peas to determine which flush rivets were most effective and where on the plane was it best to deploy them. The results were applied to production planes and with the various flush and round head rivets strategically placed, the speed and manoeuvrability of the planes was maximised.<\/p>\n
Pilots were in many ways more important than the Spitfire planes. With the average life expectancy of a pilot at only four weeks and an urgent demand for new recruits, the RAF was forced to cut the training time from six months to just two weeks. Some recruits saw action with as little as nine hours experience. They included pilots of other nationalities, including Polish and Canadians. There were even a handful of American pilots, most notably Billy Fiske, a 29-year-old sportsman who had previously won a gold medal for bob sledding at the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n
The bravery of these pilots is legendary. Having lost both his legs early on in his RAF career, Douglas Bader re-trained, flying Spitfires and Hurricanes at RAF Duxford and re-entered the fray. One advantage that Bader had over his fellow fighter pilots in training was courtesy of his amputations. The high g-force experienced by pilots throughout combat often caused them to pass out as the blood was forced to drain from their brains and into their legs. Bader\u2019s dual amputation meant that he didn\u2019t lose as much blood to his lower extremities, allowing him to maintain blood pressure and stay conscious for longer. Promoted to wing commander he was credited with 22 aerial victories, over 10 shared and another 11 confirmed damaged enemy planes. Shot down over the French coast, he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Colditz until it was liberated in April 1945. He had been treated as something of a celebrity by his captors.<\/p>\n
The Battle of Britain lasted from I July to 31 October. Other planes and factors, of course, played important roles in the battle. The development of radar for example, enabled the RAF to know when to scramble their pilots and get the Spitfires into the sky to defend London and the south east. However the contribution of the Spitfires and their pilots to our liberty cannot be overstated. Winston Churchill famously encapsulated this when he said \u2018Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.\u2019<\/p>\n
By the time it ended, 544 Fighter Command pilots had been killed in the Battle, many flying Spitfires. 808 Spitfires took part with 326 lost and 589 damaged. The official Luftwaffe losses for the Battle totalled 2071. Spitfires saw action all over the world and continued in service after the Second World War.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHEN SEPTEMBER AND THE HUMBLE SPLIT PEA SAVED BRITAIN September 1940 is arguably the most significant month in British history; when the tide turned in the Battle of Britain and Hitler\u2019s plans to invade Britain during the Second World War were thwarted. The RAF victory over the Luftwaffe was famously ensured by our Spitfire planes and brave fighter pilots. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-3Ni","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15901,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15901","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":0},"title":"When The Battle of Britain Came To Wenvoe","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"WHEN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN CAME TO WENVOE September brings the 85th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. While the events are mostly associated with the southeast of England, the Vale of Glamorgan played an important part in the victory over the Luftwaffe. The Vale villages, including Wenvoe, also found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Spitfire.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4202,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4202","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":1},"title":"A GREAT LITTLE PLANE","author":"Alan Williams","date":"27th January 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As the Royal Air Force celebrates its Centenary a series of tributes have appeared, saluting the planes which made the service great\u2013 the Lancaster, the Hurricane and the renowned Spitfire which was named the single greatest weapon of the Second World War, claimed by those who flew her to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Information"","block_context":{"text":"Information","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=24"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10311,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10311","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":2},"title":"A record -7 Green Flags!!","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th September 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Wenvoe Wildlife Group A record for Wales and for Britain 7 Green Flags!! A record for us as a village, for Wales and for Britain. Previously we have achieved 6 Green Flag awards, judged and managed by Keep Wales Tidy but the addition of the Bee Loud Glade made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Picture4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15983,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15983","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":3},"title":"A Fierce Asian Carnivore","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th August 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A Fierce Asian Carnivore They are all over the media and all over Wenvoe! Think of a Channel Island and a fierce Asian carnivore. If you haven't guessed it, it is the Jersey Tiger - a type of day-flying moth. They have been seen recently on Walston Road, in Clos\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Jersey-Tiger-Moth-rotated.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1722,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=1722","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":4},"title":"The Harlequin Ladybird,","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th November 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 November in the parish saw an invasion although you might not have noticed it. The Harlequin Ladybird, which only arrived in Britain in 2004, is now well-established over most of Britain, even having been spotted as far north as the Shetlands. Less common in Scotland and North and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Nature Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Nature Notes","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=49"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4379,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=4379","url_meta":{"origin":14588,"position":5},"title":"Spring Activity Report","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th March 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 By the time you read this the Upper Orchid Field should have been cut. We are delighted to be working in conjunction with a local contractor and by ensuring that the field is not only cut but the vegetation removed this will help the wildflowers to flourish. It will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Wildlife Group"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Wildlife Group","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=48"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14588"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14760,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14588\/revisions\/14760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}