This book is the first of a series of three volumes devoted to the most famous fighter of the Royal Air Force. This plane, combined with the equally famous Hurricane, gave the British control of the skies against the Luftwaffe. It covers the different versions of the plane from the Spitfire Mk I to the Spitfire Mk V which appeared in February 1941 and was equipped with Rolls-Royce Merlin 45, one of the most powerful engines of the Second World War.