Hobby Master Archive

The Spitfire Mk. VIII was going to use the larger Merlin engines so the airframe of the earlier Mk. V had to be redesigned. This kept the new mark from entering service until June 1943. The Mk. VIII was produced in 3 versions; the standard fighter F.VIII with the 1,560 hp Merlin 61; the high altitude fighter HF.VIII with the 1,655hp Merlin 70 and the low altitude fighter LF.VIII with the 1,705 hp Merlin 66. The Mk. VIII was going to be the answer to the Fw-190.

The Spitfire Mk VIII was developed from the high altitude Mk VII. The Mk VIII had 3 variants; the HF High Flying, LF Low Flying and the F were the standard version. There were 1,652 Mk VIIIs built with a large number being sent to the Mediterranean, Eastern Front as well as India, Burma and Australia. RAAF Spitfire A-58-602 was built as an HF.VIII for the RAF with serial MV133. It arrived in Australia on October 25, 1944 but didn’t reach 457 Squadron until January 23, 1945 and was flown by Wing Commander H. R. Gibbes who ended the war with 10 ¼ victories and 14 probables.

Specifications For Supermarine Spitfire H.F Mk VIII Role - Fighter Bomber Mk VIIIs Built - 1,658 Crew - 1 Performance Engine - Rolls-Royce Merlin 70 liquid-cooled V-12 piston with 2 speed 2 stage supercharger Horse Power 1,710 hp @ 11,000 ft 1,475 @ 23,250 ft Propeller - 4 x wooden blade Rotol Constant Speed 10 ft 9 ins (3.22 m) in diameter Fuel - Aviation Gasoline 100 Octane Tanks Fuselage Capacity: 90 Imperial Gallons 108 U.S. Gallons (409 Litres) Wing Capacity (2): 30 Imperial Gallons 36 U.S. Gallons (136 Litres)

Speed @ 21,000 ft (6,400 m) - 404 mph (650 km/h) Cruise - 253 mph ( 407 km/h) Climb To 20,000 ft (6,096 m) - 6.7 minutes Service Ceiling - 41,500 ft (12,649 m) Range With drop Tanks - 1,180 miles (1,900 km)

Dimensions Wingspan - 36 ft 10 ins (11.23 m) Length - 31 ft 3.5 ins (9.54 m) Height - 12 ft 7.75 ins (3.86 m)

Weight Empty - 5,800 lbs (2,631 kg) Loaded - 7,767 lbs (3,523 kg)

Armament Wings 2 x 20 mm Hispano cannons 4 x .303 Browning MGs Bombs 1 x 500 lbs (454 kg) or 2 x 250 lbs (227 kg)

1/48 scale pre-finished. Die-cast metal with a minimum of plastic. Professionally painted. All markings pad applied for superb results. Canopy slides open. Comes with a pilot that can be removed. Comes with display stand. Landing gear is fully retractable and can be displayed up or down. Propeller is metal. Extremely sought after by collectors.

Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series HA8303 Spitfire HF.VIII A48-502 pilot Wing Cdr RH Gibbes 457 Sqn, RAAF, 1945