The spitfire made its maiden flight 70 yrs ago today

[threepot]

Ok chaps ,I made a mistake re dates .big deal . My uncle TONY, flew spitfires ,also hurricanes . Tony was a pilot in the fleet airam ,Flying planes from an aircraft carrier .just invented . In my book Heroes. Al (thumbs)

Huge respect for those guy's Al (thumbs) Most of them with hardly any experience,or flying time! And they were up against experienced,battle hardened opposition. But they had respect for each other.
The same I have when I'm out on my Triumph,and I meet GS riders

[Mawnanian]

Indeed. "The German planes were faster with a better rate of climb, ours were more manoeuvrable and better armed"
Not my words, Winston Churchill in his memoirs of WW2 (thumbs)[/quote]

Where did you get that info from? Early Spits were outperformed by the ME109,but that changed with the Mk5. The FW190 was superior to both,until the Mk9 Spit. Then they put the Griffon engine in them...2300hp!! The Mk9 is regarded as the best fighter/interceptor during ww2(which it was originally designed as)And the German planes had superior fire power..cannons,as well as machine guns.

Read Leo McInstreys ..'Spitfire'. Brilliant read.

images_2016-03-05.jpg

[/quote]

I actually heard it quoted in a TV documentary, might have been The World at War, and it's always stuck in my mind. It was in the episode about the Battle of Britain I believe so it would have been the early ones. Come to think of it most of our fighters in 1940 were Hurricanes but I like the quote as it's an honest appraisal and not rhetoric and it seemed appropriate.

In another doc about the ME109 which was very well armed with cannon in the wings and in the centre of the prop they did comment that luckily for the British pilots they frequently jammed.

[Mike101]

The guns in the ME09 were not like most thought.

There were never guns in the wings as with the RAF fighters. The two 20mm cannons were in front of the pilot and fired through the prop. Eventually there were more guns mounted under pods under each wing. The ME109 wings were never thick enough tho mount guns inside.

The two 20mm cannons were far superior to the eight .303 guns in the spitfire at taking down an aircraft as they simply did more damage per hit.

If you don't beleive me go look for yourself.

Mike

[Mawnanian]

The guns in the ME09 were not like most thought.

There were never guns in the wings as with the RAF fighters. The two 20mm cannons were in front of the pilot and fired through the prop. Eventually there were more guns mounted under pods under each wing. The ME109 wings were never thick enough tho mount guns inside.

The two 20mm cannons were far superior to the eight .303 guns in the spitfire at taking down an aircraft as they simply did more damage per hit.

If you don't beleive me go look for yourself.

Mike

I don't doubt you, I'm not an enthusiast of WW2 military aircraft. It was a quote that I like and remember and I thought was appropriate.

[BigBashBonanza]

An article comparing the Mk9 Spitfire and a captured ME109:

http://www.spitfireperformance.com/spit9v109g.html

(thumbs)

[Gedge]

My grandfather went from the RFC/RAF to Southampton as an engineer on the S6b Blue rib and trophy team, and then worked on the Spitfire and the Seafire variant...I'm sure he would be chuffed to see they are still flying after so long ....

[Ken Shabby]

Probably the greatest Spit pilot ever? This guy 'barrel rolled' a Lancaster!!

Interesting there that you can see/hear one of the problems the Spitfire faced versus the German fighters - you can here the engine cutting when he's inverted due to it being carburated rather than FI.

Spits had to roll and pull positive G if they didn't want to lose power - the Me109 pilot could just push the stick and 'bunt' the aircraft (negative G).

[threepot]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Sh ... 7s_orifice

[Ken Shabby]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Sh ... 7s_orifice

Yes too late for the BoB of course unfortunately and i don't think it allowed sustained inverted flight - not a problem during combat, but certainly a problem for aerobatics.

[Alban]

The point I consistently hear from pilots about the Spitfire, is that it was a 'Pilot's aircraft'. If you knew how to fly, it would reward you with superb all round performance. I believe that the 109s were quite difficult to fly, especially taking off and landing.
I suppose it is a bit like riding a Triumph Daytona 675; Not the biggest, most powerful bike on the road but, by all accounts, a joy to ride; A real rider's bike.
I felt a similar appreciation when I exchanged a , difficult to ride, Moto Guzzi for my current Tiger 1050xc. The moment I pulled away on it I knew I had made the correct decision - So easy to ride.
Operating machinery that feels intuitively natural seems to make the whole experience easier, and therefore more enjoyable. The opinions of the battle of Britain pilots appear to reflect that view anyway.