AROUND THE WORLD IN THE SILVER SPITFIRE WITH IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN
I imagine the moment that pilots Matt Jones and Steve Boultbee Brooks approached IWC’s CEO Chris Grainger-Herr with the seemingly implausible, highly irrational and altogether far-fetched idea of getting into a 75-year-old airplane that in stock form has a range of 700 miles — before having to refuel — and circumnavigating the planet earth in it, he immediately saw the charm in this.
Because there is something about the specific 75-year-old plane that Jones and Brooks wanted to use to travel the 43,000 kilometers, which will be divided into 100 segments, that held particular appeal to IWC’s CEO. He explains, “The Supermarine Spitfire is one of the most iconic feats of engineering and design. The Spitfire became a legend during WWII and in particular in the skies during the Battle of Britain.”
The plane was famous for combining some of the most advanced innovations of the time. These included a monocoque aluminum chassis. A retractable undercarriage, meaning that all landing gear could be retracted to greatly enhance the aerodynamics of the aircraft. And perhaps, most famously, the Spitfire used elliptical wings, which induced the lowest amount of drag while still retaining the necessary structural integrity to create a robust and reliable plane.
“As an act of design ingenuity that wasChristoph Grainger-Herr, CEO of IWC
