Adler's picture is of one of the 2 Spitfires modified in the US, and which were later flown back across the Atlantic. Wing drop tanks weren't standard on Spitfires.
Edit. The fuel capacity of these two Spits was: 43 gallon rear tank, 2 16.5 gallon tanks in wing leading edge, 2 62 gallon drop tanks, 85 gallons main tanks. Total 285 gallons. They flew back along the Bangor - Goose Bay - Rejkavijk route (1550 miles for the longest hop)
Here are a couple of pictures of Spitfire Vs taking off from USS Wasp in 1942. They are carrying 90 gallon slipper tanks:
The 90 gallon was the largest of the tanks used routinely, and the smaller 30 gallon tank was much more common. It's fairly hard to see the 90 gallon from most angles, the 30 gallon can only be seen in close up pics from the front or underneath.
There was also a 45 gallon slipper tank, but that was largely replaced by a 50 gallon torpedo tank, which was fairly common on Spitfire IX operations.
Here's a Spitfire XII with slipper tank. Size is either 30 or 45 gallon:
From most angles, and with a less clear image, that tank will be almost impossible to see.
Are you suggesting, saying or affirming the Spitfire could have made an efficient long-range escort?
Depends what range you want.
The best Spitfire for a long range would be the Spitfire VIII or IX or XVI. Those are essentially the same aircraft, all with Merlin 60 series engines. The Spitfire VIII had minor airframe revisions.
Basic fuel load was either 85 or 95 gallons in the main tanks ahead of the cockpit, 0 - 36 gallons in the wing leading edge tanks (not all had them fitted, all the VIIIs did, some later IXs and XVIs did).
To that you could add a 90 gallon drop tank, and 75 gallon rear tank. All these fuel options were fitted to the Spitfire in fairly substantial numbers (ie at least 1,000 Spitfires had wing tanks, at least that many had rear tanks, at least that many had the 95 gallon main tanks, etc)
So, none of these is a fantasy option.
Total fuel load would be 95 gallons main tanks, 28 gallons wing tanks, 75 gallons rear tank, 90 gallons drop tank. Total 288 gallons.
Now the post war Spitfire IX manual notes fuel capacity of up to 255 gallons with the 170 gallon tank, so this would be a bit of an overload. Weight would probably be just over 9,000 lbs. However, the Spitfire XIV was cleared for weights up to 10,280 lbs, and this was basically the same airframe.
So, the we have a Spitfire with 123 gallons in the forward tanks, 75 gallons in the rear tank, 90 in the drop tank. Obviously we don't want to still have the drop tank once combat starts, and we need to have 30 gallons or less in the rear tank (the manual notes aerobatics are safe with 30 gallons, iirc, but with extra fuel forward it's even more stable)
F (forward tanks) 123 gallons
R (rear tank) 75 gallons
D (drop tank) 90 gallons
Start the engine, warm up on the ground. Takeoff to 2,000ft. Because this is critical, we will run from the main tank. 10 gallons used.
F (forward tanks) 113 gallons
R (rear tank) 75 gallons
D (drop tank) 90 gallons
Climb to altitude and form up, 15 gallons from the rear tank.
F (forward tanks) 113 gallons
R (rear tank) 65 gallons
D (drop tank) 90 gallons
Cruise at 6.5 mpg. Rear tank first, using 35 gallons. 225 miles
F (forward tanks) 113 gallons
R (rear tank) 30 gallons
D (drop tank) 90 gallons
Cruise with drop tank. We'll go faster, as we're in enemy territory by now. 5 mpg, 450 miles. Total range to target, up to 675 miles
F (forward tanks) 113 gallons
R (rear tank) 30 gallons
Combat. 5 minutes at WEP, 15 minutes at military power (to use the American definitions). 40 gallons from the main tanks.
F (forward tanks) 73 gallons
R (rear tank) 30 gallons
Cruise home. A lot lighter now, with less drag. 7 mpg. 103 gallons left, 721 mile range. However, this doesn't allow reserves, so more practically about 650 miles.
650 miles would be about the limit for practical Spitfire escorts, without adding more fuel still. I've only allowed the commonly fitted Spitfire fuel tanks, that were used in numbers of greater than 1,000. However, you could add the 30 gallon tank fitted under the seat of some recce Spitfires, you could put an extra tank in the unused cannon bays, etc. That would take the range higher, but that's pure speculation.
The point about long range escort fighters, though, is that only 1 single engined fighter in WW2 was
designed with the necessary range to escort bombers from Britain deep into Germany. That was the Zero. None of the others, not even the Mustang, had sufficient range until the need was identified, and the aircraft equipped accordingly.
The fact that most Spitfires flew with far less fuel isn't because they couldn't carry more, it's because that need was never identified.
I do not hate the Spitfire at all but it is the most overhyped, overvalued, and mythified plane of the entire war and that is a fact.
A statement like that can only be
opinion.
Two major aerial battles where Fw 190s/Bf109s and the Spitfires met in the air, February 1942 (Unternehmen Cerberus) and only a few months later, Operation Jubilee, ended in juiciy disasters for the RAF.
The Dieppe Raids was more than a disaster, it was a slaughter of RAF fighters.
Hardly. And from the RAF viewpoint, they had troops ashore to protect, and ships lying off the coast, and the Luftwaffe only managed to damage 1 ship, and had no effect on the fighting onshore. I suspect it's another case where the Jagdwaffe were looking after their "score" to the detriment of the war effort. (And seriously, on another forum Kurfurst and others were arguing that the 190 was such a wonderful plane because it allowed the Luftwaffe to run away, which just shows the attitude is still alive and well)
And those are only two examples, the operational records of JG 2 and JG 26 for 1941, 1942 and 1943 are easy to verifiy and the flyers of both jagdgeschwadern swallowed the Spitfires, maintaining a stunning kill ratio over the Brits.
Not quite so stunning as is usually made out, because what's passed off as "Luftwaffe losses" tend to be pilot fatalities in 2 fighter geschwader.
In 1943 the tide had very much turned.
Jg 26 records show at least 96 pilots killed or seriously injured by Spitfires in 1943. Plane losses will be substantially higher than that. In return, Jg 26
claimed 168 Spitfires. However, the Luftwaffe
claimed 903 Spitfires on the western front in 1943, at a time when the RAF lost about 700 fighters in total, to all causes (the claims don't include flak, the losses do)
That means Spitfires shot down about two Jg 26 fighters for every Spitfire JG 26 shot down, in 1943.