![]() 50 cal Browning machine guns or four 20 mm cannons, as well as a high visibility teardrop canopy. Early models were fitted with the Type C wing although later Mk.XIVs were equipped with the Type E wing housing two 20 mm Hispano cannons and two. The fuselage was strengthened to harness the powerful engine and a five bladed Rotol propeller replaced the earlier four bladed examples. Fitted with a Rolls Royce Griffon 65 with two-stage supercharger producing 2,050 hp, the Mk.XIV immediately corrected many of the performance shortcomings suffered by the Mk.XII. Thus, the Spitfire Mk.XIV entered service as an interim fix. As successful as this new Spitfire was at low altitudes, the Mk.XII's performance was actually inferior to the Merlin engine Mk.IX at medium and high altitudes. By the time the Griffon Spitfire entered service with the RAF in February 1943, subsequent modifications had redesignated the aircraft as the Spitfire Mk.XII. In 1941 the Spitfire Mk.IV was the first Spitfire to be trialed with the new Rolls Royce Griffon engine. The Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV was a single engine, single seat fighter which served with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
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