The Enlightenment wrote:
"Geoffrey Sinclair" wrote in message
snip
The Bearcat, as it appeared, was very much in the Spitfire
sort of arrangement, with a very high climb rate. It was
designed to fight the war in the Pacific, largely below 20,000
feet, with characteristics optimised to defend its base willing
to sacrifice range for example.
The FW190 outclimbed the Spitfire V by 450 feet per minute.
Which FW-190, and which Spit V? The typical FW-190A subtype certainly
outclimbed the typical 1941-42 Spit V with max. boost of +12, but not every Spit
V and not at every altitude, or at every period. A later Mk. V with max. boost
increased to +16 is a different matter, and an LF. V with cropped Mk. 45M or 50M
with max. boost increased to +18 is a very different animal indeed, below
critical altitude. A FW-190A is generally superior to a Spit V, but you need to
be fairly specific.
In other words rather than note it the Ta152H-1 had an empty
weight around a ton lower than the Spitfire and indeed around
the loaded weight of the Spitfire XIV you will announce that shock
horror, the Spitfire could have weighed a little more empty. Anything
but actually confront the problems with the "best turning" claim.
What does empty mean? Does it include all radios, guns, dingies etc that
can add up to hundreds of pounds?
Well, let's see. In the case of a Spit 21, tare weight is 6,923 lb, "Total
Typical Removable Military Load" (4 x 20mm guns, ammo, sight, radio, IFF
receiver & detonator, clock, incendiary bomb, crowbar, gun camera, oxygen
clinder, dinghy, first aid kit, pilot and parachute) amounts to 1,321.5 lb.,
then there's 857 lb. of internal fuel plus 81 lb. of engine oil, for a normal
combat take-off weight of 9,182.5 lb. The last is the most useful value. Spit
XIVscame in around 8,400 - 8,500 lb., Spit IXs came in around 7,500 lb,. and
Spit Vs about 6,500 lb. respectively.
Turning circle is usually measured at sustained speed without loosing
altitude. For instance a Spit might turn inside a Me 109F but the 109
pilot could pull G, use his automatic slats to warn him of incipient
stall
and bleed of speed faster to turn inside the spit anyway. Of course you
don't get to play this trick indefinetly.
I like this, please show all those Bf109 pilots that survived turning
contests with a Spitfire. How many did so regularly. The Bf109
was easily out turned by the Spitfire, unless the Bf109 was moving
much slower, end of story. The Spitfire had the further advantage
of a much better signalled stall than either the Fw190 of Bf109.
The Bf109 wing slats had a habit of deploying asymmetrically,
which caused aiming problems and was a fun effect near the stall.
I think that might be incorrect. A 109 might turn inside a Spitfire using
this techniqe but he presumably had only 1 turn or less to do it since he
would loose energy and speed and thus allow the spitfire to regain the upper
hand.
The Me 109 might have had a shakey stall due to its slats but this also
warning of incipient stall. Furthermore the spitfire had a nasty stall and
could spin away.
I've never seen any source claim that the Spit had a nasty stall. You certainly
can find no mention of it in A&AEE or AFDU handling tests.
The spits advantage was its big wing, made possible by
high octane fuel restoring the power to weight ratio it would otherwise have
losts with its small discplacement light weight merlin engine. The wing
had a habbit of twisting and increasing the washout angle thus warning the
pilot.
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PS most links work.
http://www.jg53.com/html/history/air...axis-bf109.htm
I dispute your claim that the Spit could outturn a 109. The reason being,
any test that showed the Spit could outturn a 109 was done at a constant
speed (Minimum radius of turn without loss of height) . This is a flawed
test because in combat the 109 pilot used the tactic of dumping speed
rapidly and making a slower and sharper turn than the Spit was capable of.
Remember the 109 had those leading edge slats? That's what they were for!
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The Spitfire had a lower wing loading than the Bf 109 and this would
normally give the better turning circle. However the 109 had help with it's
leading edge slats which gave a lower stalling speed, and thus was able to
turn tighter than a simple comparison of wing areas might suggest
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Two very different appraisals of the turning circles of the Spitfire and
Bf109 can be found in the books "Fighter" by Len Deighton and "The Most
Dangerous Enemy" by Stephen Bungay. The former has a diagram showing the
Bf109s turning circle to be inside that of the Spitfire (750 feet and 880
feet respectively) while the latter has a diagram showing the opposite (850
feet and 700 feet respectively). Crucially all the tests of mock combats
between captured Bf109s and Spitfires always give the Spitfire the edge.
http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/spitcom.htm
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Though the Spitfire had a tighter turn radius, the advantage was more
theoretical than real since the Messerschmitt's automatic wing slats warned
the pilot of impending stalls, enabling average pilots to get the most out
of the machine.
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http://people.history.ohio-state.edu...b/6252ls13.htm
Quote:
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However the 109 had a distinct advantage in manoeuvrability and turning
circle at low speeds. The design of the 109, with it's leading edge slats
gave a lower stalling speed.
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http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/jazzitoria/aspit-2.htm
MANOEUVRABILITY
SPITFIRE TURNING DIAMETER = 1,760 feet. BF 109 TURNING DIAMETER = 1,500 ft.
A Spitfire pilot will tell you the Spit could turn inside the 109. A
Messerschmitt pilot will tell you the 109 could turn inside the Spitfire!
The truth is that both designs were capable of turning circles that would
cause the pilot to "black-out" as the blood drained from the head. The pilot
who could force himself to the limits without losing consciousness would
emerge the victor from a turning battle, and the Spitfire pilots had supreme
faith in their machine. The British aeronautical press told them that the
wings came off the 109 in a dive or in tight turns, untrue but based on some
early wing failures in the 109`s predecessor the Bf108.
However the 109 had a distinct advantage in manoeuvrability and turning
circle at low speeds. The design of the 109, with it's leading edge slats
gave a lower stalling speed. The 109 was very forgiving if stalled, with no
tendency for a stall to develop into an uncontrollable spin, something that
the Spitfire was prone to. Thus a Messerschmitt pilot was more at home at
low speeds than his British counterpart.
Not according to the following charts:
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/ea...pit109turn.gif
and
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/ea...t109turn18.gif
Obviously, this applies only to the Spit I and Me-109E-3, and to an altitude of
12,000 feet, but since we're concerned with stall speeds, the Spit is superior
there as well - see the "radius of turn at stall", as well as the stall boundary
of the first chart.
5. As for the 109G-2 vs the Mk IX just look at the performance graphs, the
109G-2 is faster than the MK IX right up to 23000 ft. The 109 also outclimbs
the Spit below 10000 ft and they are roughly equal between 10000 ft and
18000 ft. Once again the Spit doesn't dominate until the higher altitudes.
Lets look at those performance graphs:
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/ea...pit9v109g.html
and also he
http://www.fourthfightergroup.com/eagles/109gtac.html
It's a reall shame that "Fuller's P.R.O. Page" appears to no longer be in
existence, as he had put up the various FW-190A flight tests done by the RAF.
Guy