Reginald Mitchell's Spitfire was more than a fighter plane. It was, and remains to this day, a national symbol of the British people's will to endure through the uncertain days of Germany's 1940 aerial onslaught. The Spitfire's legacy started with what was learned during the 1930s Schneider Trophy races. Mitchell's company, Supermarine, produced bullet-shaped monoplanes that flew faster than 400 mph. In an age of steel-tube, wood and fabric fighters, Spitfire pilots sat shoulder-deep in a narrow all-metal fuselage, a bubble of clear Perspex over their heads. The elegant elliptical wings not only knifed through the sky with ease, but also carried eight machine guns. The long, aristocratic nose of the Spitfire held its V-12 Merlin engine, designed and manufactured by British icon Rolls-Royce. Of more than 20,000 built, less than 250 Spitfires are still flying.