Good stuff...
He says 25 were lost due to structural failure he uncovered in his research. That is quite a few.
That is only the ones that were lost due to total failure as well as the ones we know about. It does not tell us the number of aircraft which flew home with bent wings or the ones that broke up over enemy territory.
To put that 25 unfortunate Spitfires in perspective:
~2488 Spitfire Mk I and II's were produced
2488/25 = 99.52
So for every 100 Spitfires, one was lost to structural failure.
Now let's compare that to the Beechcraft Bonanza which also had some developmental issues with the V-tail that resulted in structural failure. It is the airplane that forged the "Doctor Killer" reputation.
>17000 Beechcraft Debonair/Bonanza's have been built.
Taking structural failures from 2007 on back we find that 148 airframes have been lost. We have much better records of a peacetime GA aircraft.
http://www.thomaspturner.net/infligh...ups%20NTSB.htm
17,000 / 148 = 114.8
So, For every 115 Beechcraft Debonair/Bonanza's built, ONE has experienced structural failure.
http://www.tsgc.utexas.edu/archive/g...ics/vtail.html
I think the early Mark Spitfire would have had the same reputation in peacetime as the Bonanza due to its high rate of structural failure.
The events of WWII overshadowed the longitudinal instability issue in the early Mark Spitfires.