A technicality: Supermarine Spitfire was by no means a from-scratch project. The team already had long experience with cutting-edge-performance, low-wing, all-m

A technicality: Supermarine Spitfire was by no means a from-scratch project. The team already had long experience with cutting-edge-performance, low-wing, all-metal monoplanes: the Supermarine S.4, S.5, S.6 and S.6B [1] planes that raced in the Shneider Trophy [2]. Also, certain key components (engine -- RR Merlin, propeller, avionics, weaponry, sight) and theory (the wing profile from NACA) were CotS (if highest-end). It's main opponent -- the Bf109 -- had racing heritage as well, in form of Bf108. Supermarine's racing planes were built on contracts from Royal government, so the company had experience in working for this kind of customer. Curiously enough, one weak point of the Spitfire -- the narrow undercarriage -- was something with which the team had less experience, as the S.4, .5, .6, .6B were all floatplanes. So yes, innovation all the way, but built upon solid experience (cue the proverbial shoulders of giants ;-) ) ---- [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_S.6B http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_S.6B [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Trophy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schneider_Trophy