By Kevin "Hognose" O'Brien
Mike O'Sullivan
remembers Spitfires fondly, and personally. "I had RAAF pilots -
Spitfire pilots - in my family. Not my dad, he was in the Navy. But
my uncles." Mike smiles, like many of us, when he remembers his
earliest interest in aviation. "Yeah, I always wanted to fly. There
were always airplanes around the station. Old surplus airplanes,
not serviceable… Mustangs, Spitfires." Those planes were
destroyed - so much old, irreparable junk, by the standards of the
day - before Mike appreciated what they were, or what they
signified. But they left their mark.
Mike is in the USA to introduce his successful Supermarine
Spitfire kit to the American market. The well-finished
demonstrator, now the property of American dealer Craig Muth, is
approximately 80% scale. Mike always wanted a Spitfire but as his
wealth grew he watched with dismay as Spitfire price tags grew at a
faster rate. Finally he decided that, if he couldn't buy a
Spitfire, he would build one. He wangled a set of production prints
for the Mark IX Spitfire and scaled them down, and built his new
plane according to the original plans. The idea was not to start a
company, but to build a one-off machine. The problem with that idea
is that everybody who saw Mike's original plane wanted one.
Thinking that this might be an opportunity, Mike formed a
company - Supermarine Aircraft Ltd., now based in Brisbane,
Australia - and began to make kits. Remarkably, he has sold 45 of
the kits before even tackling the US. "They are most popular in
Britain, I've sold a lot in Europe and have one flying n Canada,"
Mike said.
The aircraft is available with 8-cylinder Jabiru or 230/240 HP
GM V-6 automotive power. Mike's plane was the first to fly with the
Jabiru; normal teething frustrated both parties, and I get the
impression that he wouldn't recommend trying to shake down an
airframe and an engine at the same time again. A cunningly clever
cold air manifold provides the Jabiru's air cooling, with two
barely noticeable "nostrils" above the prop spinner a rare clue to
how the engine really keeps its cool.
What does the Spitfire handle like? The original was legendary
for its easy handling and harmonious controls. "Any pilot who's
comfortable in a taildragger can fly this," Mike said. But that
doesn't mean it's unlike the original. "I have a very experienced
RAF pilot here, a man who's flown many hours in original Spits. And
he says the handling compares favourably."
But, Mike is asked, what about scale effect? Aero engineers know
that when airplane parts are downsized, because air molecules
aren't, the effect can be disproportionate. "Yeah, I believed that
too, till I built the plane!" He insists that the plane shows no
such deleterious effects of downsizing.
The Spitfire cruises at 160 kt. There is a 2-seat cockpit; the
entry is a bit claustrophobic for the passenger, but hey, it's a
Spitfire, right?
This airplane is not the machine for you if your concerns are
primarily utilitarian: range, load, speed. But it is a Walter Mitty
experience accessible to the ordinary pilot and builder. The
Spitfire is a shape, beautifully shaped by the laws of physics and
the hands of man, that gets under your skin. Halfway through the
interview, Mike and I were trading favourite scenes from
Spitfire-laden movies like Dark Blue World, The Battle of Britain,
and Piece of Cake. To quote Mike (from his website, which he says
is overdue for an update, which it'll get sometime after the show):
"I have invested over $2.5 million over eleven years now and every
penny has been worth it to see Reginald Mitchell's aircraft fly
again."