Nealius Posted December 26, 2020 Posted December 26, 2020 I'm struggling to find sources saying anything of the historical usage of clipped wings other than "it started with the MkV" and "some Spitfires had them and some didn't." Searching for period pictures of the LF MkIX shows very view specimens with clipped wings. So... 1. How common/uncommon were clipped wings with the LF MkIX? 2. What time periods and squadrons would have clipped wings? 3. Would entire squadrons have clipped wings, or would squadrons be mixed between elliptical and clipped? 1
saburo_cz Posted December 26, 2020 Posted December 26, 2020 Clipped wings for the Mk.IX were very rare, at least during Normandy campaign. Late even Spitfires from AGBD had them, but again not really often. This one example with the clipped wings, Czech Mk.IXc MH 356 DU-X, is probably from early 1945. Spitfires from 2.nd TAF units used clipped wings more often, from late in 1944. But it mostly went with "new" MK.XVIe (actually Mk.IX with US build Merlin 266). The Spitfire units use both wings variants together, like 433. Sq on picture below. The clipped wings were mostly uncommon for the Spitfire Mk.IXc, but sometimes were used... 1 F6F P-51D | P-47D | Mosquito FB Mk VI | Spitfire | Fw 190D | Fw 190A | Bf 109K | WWII Assets Pack Normandy 2 | The Channel | Sinai | Syria | PG | NTTR | South Atlantic F-4E | F-14A/B | F-15E | F/A-18 | F-86 | F-16C | A-10C | FC-3 | CA | SC |
zcrazyx Posted December 26, 2020 Posted December 26, 2020 this docu on the seafire mentions the use of clipped vs non clipped, mainly for speed and stall speeds however on later marks the increased roll rate was gained or negligable with use of clipped wings 1
Nealius Posted December 27, 2020 Author Posted December 27, 2020 Is the pointed vert stab a trademark of the MkIXc? Ours in DCS are rounded, so I'm wondering which version specifically ours is.
DD_Fenrir Posted December 31, 2020 Posted December 31, 2020 Similar to the clipped wings we see the broader chord rudder with the pointed tail only become standard in the ETO with the introduction of the mk XVI. They were a production feature of the mk VII and mk VIII and a few examples found their way to the odd LF.IX in the latter part of 1944 but were uncommon.
Finnster Posted January 21, 2021 Posted January 21, 2021 (edited) The clipped wing variant came about when Pilots in the Spit MK V first encountered the 190A with it's high level speed and incredible roll rate. The idea behind clipping the wing was to increase roll rate to help the Spitfire counter the FW. It was of limited utility, and once the MKIX came along- an airplane that could outclimb, out turn, and run with, the 190, clipped wing variants became even rarer. Edited January 21, 2021 by Finnster typographical error 1
Mogster Posted January 24, 2021 Posted January 24, 2021 Some good information regarding clipped wing usage and photos from this thread on the IL2 board. https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/38732-clipped-wing-spitfires/
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