The Spitfire Mk.II is a British monoplane interceptor fighter which was in production from 1939. It was an upgraded version of the Mk.Ia with a more powerful Merlin XII engine, increasing HP from 1030 to 1175, and various alterations to the flight surfaces as well as additional internal upgrades. Visually the Mk.II was almost identical to the improved Mk.I’s, but ongoing changes by the design team at Supermarine meant for a new Mark to be released.

The Mk.II Spitfires were the first to roll off production lines at the brand-new Castle Bromwich plant in early 1940. Due to increased bombing by German forces during the latter days of 1940 the factories in Southampton were rendered useless and full production of the Spitfire moved to Castle Bromwich.  It was here that a grand total of 13,000 aircraft were built throughout the conflict with a staggering 21,000+ built during its service, far greater numbers than any other British aircraft and in many more variants than any other British produced airplane. Spitfire Mk.IIa numbered 750 while a MK.IIb numbered 170. The ‘b’ differed only very slightly by using the B wing configuration.

There was very little difference in performance, but the improved type was well received by pilots. It is interesting to note that there were no training models for the Spitfire at this time so the transition from biplane to monoplane in many squadrons was not as easy as it was thought. Pilots who were used to flying biplanes with fixed landing gear had to readjust to the retractable landing gear of the new monoplanes and had to get familiar with new aiming techniques, not to mention the drastically increased speed which these machines could achieve. Hurricane pilots had been operating their modern aircraft for over a year before the outbreak of war so were familiar with the far better machines. Many accidents and near misses happened with the failure to lower the wheels on landing. Taxiing for take off was also hit and miss due to the lack of frontal visibility. However, once the pilots were experienced enough the Spitfire became a lethal weapon in the right hands.

Only 920 Mk.II Spitfires were produced before the next stage of the remarkable aircraft’s forever changing modifications.

There are a small number of Mk.II Spitfires in the world with an airworthy one, P7352, which still flies with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.