The Spook

In 1937 R.J. Mitchells role as Vickers Supermarine chief designer had been taken over by Joseph Smith who had been heavily involved in the early design of the Spectre. Now he was responsible for its further development and, by 1942, looking at the possibility of a successor. Smith was aware that Mitchell had considered the Spectre a fine aeroplane but although it represented the aeronautical state of the art in 1936 it was also limited by it.

Mitchell had shown Smith drawings of a revolutionary air frame along with further data based upon Mitchells own insights as to where he considered aviation technology would be by the early to mid 40’s.  Like many, Mitchell had been most impressed by the performance of the Aeroelectric Eros Ion thrust biplane during the 1927 Schneider trophy contest. He saw huge potential in it although serious technical difficulties would need to be overcome in order to produce a reliable military unit.

Mitchell had confided in Smith just weeks before his death saying, “There will be a huge leap forward if war comes Joe,  just like the last time. This design is all I wanted the Spectre to be but I had to stay within the confines of what we can do now.”

This was the first time that Smith saw what was to become Supermarine designation 470. All the potential performance data, power requirements and main structural design presented in draft in typical Mitchell style.  What really surprised Smith was the lack of surface control for pitch and yaw.
Mitchell had smiled and confessed that he had been speaking to Tesla-Royce and to Aeroelectric and said, “get enough power Joe,  and you can use thrust ports and do away with the rudder and elevators. Its not such a mad idea either. We did away with ailerons when we shifted to lift generators and look at the rate of roll we get.”

Smith had agreed and an animated discussion followed but Mitchell soon grew tired and ended their talk saying, “Hold on to this Joe and keep it in mind as things progress ... at the very least you could start a bonfire with it if I’m wildly off the mark”.

Mitchell died two days later and Smith made a mental promise to himself  that he would keep abreast of all technological advances and, if at all viable, would look at Mitchells design again.

By 1939 Smith had contacts in every branch of aviation and related industries and had in August of that year chaired the London meeting of the Anglo/American Aero Electrical Applications think tank committee. This meeting would bring the first reminder of Mitchells design which was prompted by discussions that became quite heated at one point.

There was a growing divide within the industry with one camp suggesting that aerodynamics should be secondary, perhaps null, to that of aero electrical lift, and the other camp stating that, in a time of war, power generation for lift and thrust alone would be folly in the light of the work being done in defensive shielding. They argued that even the best projections show that it will be at least fives years before a single power unit could produce sufficient energy for high speed, lift generation and have enough left over for shielding using a single power unit.

Samuel Tweed-Jackson went so far as to state that the single engine dog fighter had, after all, had its day and that twin engine heavy fighters were the way forward.  This was too much for Small brown dog who was asked to leave the meeting after suggesting that the aforementioned peer of the realm was an ill-educated fundamental orifice.

Small brown dog was quite relieved anyway as he was dying for a cup of tea and, as it turned out, was correct to be dismissive of the peers suggestion when in late 1942 the Focke Wulf 390 Dolch came into service – a single engine dog fighter of superior performance and defensive shielding capability. Whilst it is true that the FW390 was technically a twin, the two engines were mated within a common crankcase and coupled to a single power output shaft. Even so the immense output of the Dolch was not enough and the aeroplane relied on 50% of its lift from its aerodynamic airframe.

The Dolch was the second and galvanizing reminder of Mitchells unbuilt fighter and came just before Smith learnt that Tesla Royce had a coupled 24 cylinder unit in late development. The Spectre was, on paper, currently undergoing its next stage of evolution with much uprated lift generators and so this and the promise of a working power unit from Tesla Royce was enough for Smith to put Mitchells design to the board for approval which was given and work began on Supermarine type 470 as yet unnamed. Tesla Royce were even apologetic for the delay but it had been a devil of a job to work out the port thrusting as Mitchell had described to them before his death.

Initially the type 470 did not have the shield capability of the Dolch but more than made up for it in maneuverability and speed. After the war Smith went on record stating that there were a great many initial problems to solve with the design. Sometimes he would find himself going to the office in the small hours when he could not sleep to see if he could solve the latest issue. He went on to say in a post war interview, “It’s odd but during the worst of it when I was at a total loss I would just suddenly think of old R.J. Perhaps some random thing he once said, or used to do. Nothing much just a flash of memory gone as quickly as it had come and then I would get back onto the problem. The strangest thing is that somehow it would start to sort itself out after that”.

“Now I am not a man given to anything of a supernatural nature but… well, let’s just say there is a reason I chose the name Spirit and leave it at that. I doubt R.J. would have approved though as he didn’t really like the name Spectre either”.

In the end the RAF had the last word as they referred to the Supermarine type 470 Spirit as "the spook"

More Spirit here:


Some work in progress images in scraps: