Friedrich-4B

For interest, here is an excerpt from Stephan Bungay's The Most Dangerous Enemy, paraphrasing Plt Off Bob Doe, who flew Spitfires on 234 Sqn. during the Battle of Britain: By the look of things, Bob Doe put on his dancing shoes... :smilewink: :pilotfly:

Nope, the landing lights in the wings were a hangover from the original specification that called for the Spitfire to be a day and night fighter; the last production variant to have landing lights was the Mk. VB.

:doh: Cheers mate, like Chief's essay, it's so much clearer when it's explained properly...:thumbup: BTW: taking into account the fact that it's easier taking off on grass, perhaps it would be easier to ignore ED's runway and use the rest of the airfield? :pilotfly:

On fighter-bomber Spitfires, the bomb distributor, fusing and selector switches were mounted immediately forward of the cockpit door, and the bombs were released by a push-button on the end of the throttle lever: the configuration stayed the same, from the Spitfire IX through to the Seafire 45 (on RP equipped Spitfires, the throttle button fired the RPs and the bombs were released by a push-button on the control column).

Cheers Chuck - excellent!

Cheers! :thumbup: You gotta respect the wartime pilots who flew from all sorts of surfaces, often in adverse weather conditions, carrying all sorts of loads. (Meantime, I'm struggling to get a simple youtube link working...*sigh*)

clip not working Thanks once again Chief, for a great, easy to understand essay. A couple of questions: Watching this clip, the pilot started lifting the tail very early in the take-off (from c. 2:25 on) - is this about right, or would a more heavily loaded wartime Spitfire need more time before lifting the tail? How much of an effect does the airfield surface have on the take-off?

Ditto everyone else: thanks, Chief, for writing such a clear, concise article on controlling taildraggers.

The best time to switch to the filter is be on final approach, at the same time that the undercarriage and flaps are lowered. During take-off, the Pilot's Notes recommend switching to ram air at 1,000 ft. Hopefully, ED will be kind to us and their Normandy airfields will be dust (*cough!*) free (*hack!*)...like this one: (NB: the silicates in the soils around Normandy were very hard, and could quickly cause serious damage to an aero-engine, as the Typhoon units found out shortly after arriving post-D-Day.)

Clostermann's undocumented personal opinions (does Clostermann provide any documentation anywhere in his book to support his claims?) notwithstanding, 2 TAF's Spitfire IXs and XVIs were just as willing and able to mix it with Luftwaffe fighters of all types through until VE-Day: for example, 1 1/2, possibly 2, Me 262s were shot down by Spitfire IX/XVIs on 25 December 1944 (from Shores and Thomas, 2nd Tactical Air Force Volume 2): Then there's the example of the French Canadian pilot, Flt Lt Richard Audet of 411(Canadian) Sqn. who shot down 5 German fighters in one sortie on 29 December 1944, followed by five more in January and an Me 262 on January 23... Besides, what happened in real life between 2 TAF and the Luftwaffe 73-74 years ago bears little resemblance to us flight simmers sitting in comfy computer chairs, manipulating computer graphics while munching on chips and Tim Tams (as enjoyable as such activities are). :music_walkman::joystick:

Yep; generally, it's better to keep the coolant temperature @ around 105° C.

I would suggest to everyone who thinks that one or two pages from Clostermann's book is a %100 reliable account of what actually happened to 2 TAF's Spitfires, that they read far more widely and from far more objective sources, such as Shores and Thomas' excellent four part series on 2 TAF, or Don Caldwell's JG 26 diaries.

Just one thing Ed has forgotten - optional ground crew to guide the pilot and keep an eye on the wingtips... Thanks Wags & ED! :pilotfly:

To avoid panic due to unfounded rumour, Ed has hired another of Santa's helpers for consultation and/or counseling.

Ask and here it is...A.P. 2095 Pilot's Notes General, 2nd ed, April 1943...Part I: General Flying and Part II Engines and Propellers Note that this booklet was originally issued to an operational Spitfire VIII pilot of 92 Sqn: as such, I'm being ultra-careful scanning this unique historical document, to prevent more than the usual wear and tear inflicted over 70 plus years; this means that some pages won't be reproduced as clearly as I would like. A.P.2095 Pilot's Notes General 1943 a.pdf A.P.2095 Pilot's Notes General 1943 b.pdf

It's also well known that the P-47 pilot could undo his harness and run around the cockpit to evade incoming fire. :music_whistling:

With luck, the Spitfire we're getting will be factory-fresh and newly serviced, while the ground crew will be super efficient; thus, the Merlin will start first time, the flaps won't squeak and the tachometer will work...:smilewink:

Pip pip, chin up and all that! :v: The developers have already gone to the trouble of altering the elevators and adding the cockpit door, even at this late stage; thus, AFAIK, they have no problems with observing historical accuracy. Perhaps the reason that the developers haven't yet looked at the roundel's proportions is because they are fine-tuning more important aspects of the L.F Mk. IX for final release?

The normal ammunition capacity was 120 rpg per cannon and 350 rpg for the .303s. Purely from memory, the normal convergence for 2 TAF Spitfires was ~ 300 yards (? confirmation pending...).

Wow! If true, it's astonishing that the Anglo-Saxons even mentioned the Fw 190 in their literature, let alone hyped it! Anyone who wrote about the 190 in Anglo-Saxon times was a true visionary, or a time-traveler, because the Anglo-Saxon culture essentially died out a few generations after King Harald got an arrow in the eye in 1066 AD. The best known example of Anglo-Saxon literature is . Unfortunately, there's no reference to the Fw 190 in Beowulf (or could it be Focke-Beowulf 190?), so it's more than likely an urban myth that the Anglo-Saxons hyped the 190.

Excellent news, thanks SiTh. :thumbup:

One of Santa's helper's has been hired by ED to ensure a smooth pre-Christmas release. :pilotfly:

Mainly for interest, here are some CAD drawings of the elevators, early and late, from this Ebook by Paul Monforton, a most useful publication when wanting specific details of the Spitfire IX/XVI family (and I'd forgotten that I had bought it...:music_whistling: ) Spitfire IX elevators.pdf

Speaking of Spitfire start-up and related, I'm wondering whether ED would consider including WAAF ground-crews for the Spitfire IX? It would really buck the chaps up as they soar into combat against the wily Hun, knowing that their aircraft had been serviced by these plucky young ladies:

The exhaust shields were alloy strips that were secured to both sides of the fuel tank cover. They were supposed to stop the pilot being blinded by the exhaust flames at night and were mainly fitted to some Spitfire Is and IIs, but some Vs also used them.