Supermarine Spiteful

The Supermarine Spiteful was a British Rolls-Royce Griffon-engined fighter aircraft designed during the Second World War as a successor to the Spitfire. It featured an entirely new wing design, intended to improve its critical Mach number and allow safe operations at higher speeds. The new design also allowed the landing gear to be rearranged to a modern inward-retracting design. Other changes included a larger vertical tail to improve the somewhat marginal stability of Spitfires with the Griffon engine, and changes to the mounting of the engine to tilt it down slightly to improve visibility over the nose.

The Spiteful was ready for production as the war was ending, and was passed over in favour of jet-powered designs. The Royal Navy continued development as the Supermarine Seafang as it was not clear jets could safely operate from aircraft carriers, but the success of the de Havilland Sea Vampire led to this project being cancelled in 1945

Only 19 were produced including two prototypes, none of which was service.