The good maneuverability of the aircraft made it very popular with pilots. The aircraft is one of the most frequently built aircraft types; more than 20,300 Spitfires of all variants were built by Supermarine and its licensees and remained in service well into the 1950s.
In public perception, the Spitfire was often seen as the aircraft that contributed significantly to the victory in the Battle of Britain. In reality, the inferior Hawker Hurricane was used by the RAF in greater numbers than the Spitfire and bore the brunt of the aerial combat. Because the Spitfire's performance was better than that of the Hurricane, the RAF proposed a division of duties: The Spitfires were to attack the escorts of the German bombers, the Hurricanes the bombers themselves, but this was rarely realized in practice.
The German pilots also referred to the Spitfire as a "Spucke", alluding to the German meaning of the English word to spit.
Source: Wikipedia.
