The Spitfire Mk. VIII was to going to use the larger Merlin engines so the airframe of the earlier Mk. V had to be redesigned. This kept the new mark from entering service until June 1943. The Mk. VIII was produced in 3 versions; the standard fighter F.VIII with the 1,560 hp Merlin 61; the high altitude fighter HF.VIII with the 1,655hp Merlin 70 and the low altitude fighter LF.VIII with the 1,705 hp Merlin 66. The Mk. VIII was going to be the answer to the Fw-190.

The Spitfire Mk VIII was developed from the high-altitude Mk VII. There were 1,652 Mk VIIIs built with a large number being sent to the Mediterranean, Eastern Front as well as India, Burma and Australia. RAAF Spitfire A-58-602 was built as an HF.VIII (HF – High Flying) for the RAF with serial MV133. It arrived at the Australian 457 Squadron on January 23, 1945 and was flown by Wing Commander H. R. Gibbes who ended the war with 10 ¼ victories and 14 probable’s.