The inside story of an icon with a special place in the affections of a nation.

Designed to be the best fighter in the world the creators of the Spitfire married science, technology and art to create both 'a thing of beauty' and a deadly weapon that changed the course of the war.

'You don't just strap yourself in, you buckle the Spitfire on, like girding on armour...' Squadron Leader William Duncan Smith

The Spitfire is part of popular culture and from the Battle of Britain to the present day it has remained a national celebrity. As a focus of appeals, for scrap aluminium - 'turn your saucepans into Spitfires' - for the 'Spitfire Fund' and 'Wings for Victory Week' the British people had a stake in the Spitfire. Working People contributed through their companies to present Spitfires to the RAF in return for letters from the pilots. After the war, no victory flypast was complete without a Spitfire, and today no air show is over until the roar of the Merlin engine has been heard overhead.

This book, with its wealth of unusual contemporary imagery, modern photography, first-person reminiscence and high production standards is the last word on a subject of enduring appeal.