The Vickers Supermarine Spitfire is one of the most iconic aircraft in the history of aviation. It represented continuing technological progress in the study of aviation, as well as being the focus of many propaganda issues by the British government and press. In the 1930s the idea of ​​flight was still a new and very unknown theoretical and physical process. Much like the space race of the 1960s or the Hadron Collider of today, airplanes seemed to capture the imagination of many people, young and old. Of these, however, only the Spitfire still captures the imagination of so many people today. The creation of the Supermarine Spitfire I was far from an easy process. As an aircraft which represented the pinnacle of British Aviation's technological progress at that time, when it was first presented as an idea to the Air Ministry it was rejected in favor of one of the more reliable and older biplane designs (Glancey, p. 32, 2006). RJ Mitchell, one of the principal designers of the Spitfire until his death in 1937, the first design of what would become the Spitfire was the Supermarine Type 224. The Air Ministry rejected this design and the designers turned to another aircraft which had already been under development, incorporating ideas from the failed Type 224. This aircraft was the Supermarine 300. It was this aircraft which, after many improvements in design, weapons and engine type, would become known as the Spitfire I. The shape and The Spitfire's design is what made it instantly recognizable to the public. Its single-wing elliptical design represented an incredible advance in aviation technology (Quill, Cox, 1986). It wasn't the first plane to use a single wing instead of two, like the old bi......middle of paper......le'. They were reliable, adaptable, fast, strong and, above all, popular. The pilots who flew them supported them throughout the war (Glancey, 2006), and although they changed and adapted as the war years stretched on and technologies advanced, they still had the same spirit. The spirit that led men to sacrifice their lives in defense of a nation. Facing a tyrant who controlled all the land around them. Land only a few miles away. Britain was a bastion of freedom and hope, and although those early years represent the darkest in the memories of those who remember them, the Spitfire was a bright light at the end of the tunnel. That's why I love this plane. I think that's why everyone loves this plane. Because it is evidence of a time when we as a nation were on the brink, and this plane is the physical representation of what brought us back..