Stripped down ones did especially good as photo recon platforms. They didn't have sufficient range to escort bombers deep into Germany, or perform deep strafing strikes, but, goddamn! they look beautiful! Still called perhaps one of the most aesthetic fighters ever designed. Actually Hurricanes did the bulk of the hard work in the Battle of Britain, I do believe - Spits were always the 'glamour boys'.

Saw the British TV docos on both the Spitfire and Lancaster, where they took current pilots and dumped them in the deep end war time style training to see how they went, with a chance to fly one of the few remaining flying examples of each.