Is Spitfire really the BEST British fighter???

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by redcoat

While the Hurricane was used as a nightfighter, the Spitfire wasn't

Both the Hurricane and Spitfire were used as Nightfighters, they had small plates placed either side of the Engine Cowling, which were supposed to have obscured the flames from the exhaust outlets. Neither were very succesfull as Nightfighters as the pilots had to rely on picking the enemy aircraft up visually, although some Spitfires were fitted with early AI Radar.

[KraziKanuK]

Originally Posted by Andrew

According to the data on this website http://www.supermarine-spitfire.co.uk/perfdata.html The Mk V111 Spit had a range of 1,180miles, whereas the Mk X1 had a range of 2,000 miles, which if correct gave these Marks of Spitfire almost as great a range as the P51D.

That is ferry range for the Spit. If that tank (a 170gal) was taken on a combat mission the Spit would run out of fuel before it reached home.

although some Spitfires were fitted with early AI Radar.

If you say so. What was the Supermarine Type number?

[Andrew]

If you say so. What was the Supermarine Type number?

I am not sure although I will find out over the weekend, I will pay a visit to the local Library. Some Day Fighters were converted to Nightfighters by just painting them Matt Black.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

you can get stuff like that from your local library??

[cheddar cheese]

I should think you can get that sorta thing from Launceston?

Originally Posted by KraziKanuK

Well I'll take what is written in the Classic 262 series before what is said on some modelling and/or gaming site.

What unit was this XIV, supposed 262 killer, from? On what date was the kill made? Some basics are missing from the claim.

Oh? I bet your source claims a top speed for the 262 of 540 mph right? This speed was only possible for the "A" series engines, of which very few were deployed. The "B" series engines, in the great majority of combat 262's, were only capable of 505 mph in level flight. It is funny how such "definative" sources are so often selective in what data they present.

=S=

Lunatic

[KraziKanuK]

Originally Posted by RG_Lunatic

Oh? I bet your source claims a top speed for the 262 of 540 mph right? This speed was only possible for the "A" series engines, of which very few were deployed. The "B" series engines, in the great majority of combat 262's, were only capable of 505 mph in level flight. It is funny how such "definative" sources are so often selective in what data they present.

=S=

Lunatic

And what does speed have to do with a 262 claim?

When were the V1 - V5 a/c ever deployed? The V5 did not even have retractable u/c. What units were they assigned to? The V6 and on had B engines. Oh yes, I forgot, your are the resident expert know-it-all.

The Classic series gives no flight data sheets.

[Chiron]

"The Spit could easily deal with the Fw-190 by about the Mk.VIII. It is also widely recognised that the Mk.XIV was the best dogfighter of the war"

it seems that Fw-190 was much manoeuable than the Spitfire at the rate of roll in dogfight.

And is it TRUE that British was unable to counter the Fw-190 until they acquired the essencial technology from the false landing of a Fw-190 on their land in 1942?? that sounded pretty similar to Zero's story.........

[cheddar cheese]

Yes, at slow to medium speed the Fw-190 had the fastest roll rate of the war. This does not necessarily make it manoeverable...

[BountyHunter15]

The Spitfire had an armament consisting of two forward firing 20mm cannons and two 50 cal. machine guns in the leading edges of the wing. It also had a bomb/rocket load of 500lb. It had a maximum speed of 448mph and and could climb up to 20,000ft in about 7 minutes.It was powered by one Rolls-Royce Griffon 65 12-cylinder Vee engine.

[cheddar cheese]

Nice picture I take it you're quoting stats for the XIV...

[Hot Space]

I want one for Easter

Hot Space

Originally Posted by cheddar cheese

Yes, at slow to medium speed the Fw-190 had the fastest roll rate of the war. This does not necessarily make it manoeverable...

Roll rate is a very significant part of manuverability. However, the FW suffered from a rather radical roll rate vs. speed curve. At 180 IAS the RoR was about 125 deg/sec. This ramps up almost linearly to a peak of about 162 deg/sec at 255 IAS, at which point it abruptly reverses from increaseing with speed to decreasing with speed, and drops almost linearly and at 330 IAS its down to 108 deg/sec., and by 367 IAS its down to about 87 deg/sec. (I used 75 mph spacing for the first 3 points, 37 mph spacing for the last as my graph does not go past 390 IAS).

With such a radically changing rate of roll, the pilot would have a hard time executing rolling scissors moves at the full roll rate available. I think the pilots had to choose to use less than the maximum roll rate for this reason - the feel of the stick probably allowed them to get some reasonably smooth roll control at less than the maximum capability of the plane.

On paper the P-47 does not roll nearly as well as the FW, but in practice P-47 pilots had no trouble rolling with the FW. The P-47 had a much flatter roll response curve.

=S=

Lunatic

[the lancaster kicks ass]

and i don't think they're the stats for the Mk.XIV, and that pic's of a Mk.22/24.............

[cheddar cheese]

They were the stats of an XIV...