Spitfire pilot outside hospital in pain (4)
I believe the answer is:
ache
'pain' is the definition.
(ache is a kind of pain)
'spitfire pilot outside hospital' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'hospital' could be 'h' (abbreviation for hospital on maps) and 'h' is found within the answer.
'pilot' could be 'ace' (term for military pilot) and 'ace' is found in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for ache that I've seen before include "Pine" , "Feel sore" , "Dull prolonged pain" , "Feel pain" , "Hanker" .)