Designed before the Mk. IX, but following it into service because its radical design changes would have meant production delays when time was of the essence, the Spitfire Mk. Vlll was in fact a non-pressurised version of the Mk. VII designed for low altitude combat (see SQUADRONS! No. 6). At the outset it was the designated successor to the Mk. V, the replacement of which was planned from 1943 onwards but when it became available the Mk. IX had recently entered service with Fighter Command and appeared to have a bright future. Therefore, the RAF decided to retain the Mk. VIII for overseas theatres – the Mediterranean, Far East and the Pacific – where the replacement of the Spitfire Mk. V had become a necessity.
It was in the Mediterranean that the Mk. VIII first entered service at the end of spring 1943. In the Med, and more precisely in Italy, the Spitfire Mk VIII was initially introduced in small number in various Spitfire units, at the time flying the Mk V variant but also some Mk IXs. Only five maybe six squadrons can be seen as having exclusively flown the Mk VIII and sometimes for a rather short time, the Mk IX having arrived in the region in large numbers from 1944 onwards. Of the five or six squadrons previously mentioned, three were not British, No 1 Squadron SAAF, No 417 (RCAF) Squadron and No 451 (RAAF) Squadron, of which only the Canadian squadron used the Mk VIII for a long time, almost until the end of the war.
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