Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

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  • Dave Hadfield
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2000
    • 7458

    Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

    https://youtu.be/Ud6rvICM1zI

  • Harry Miller
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2003
    • 2137

    #2
    Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

    Thanks Dave. I really appreciate this.

    Comment

    • skuthorp
      Senior Member
      • Jan 2002
      • 73600

      #3
      Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

      A Spit. is one beautiful airplane.

      Comment

      • Steve McMahon
        Senior Dis-Member
        • Nov 2000
        • 7901

        #4
        Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

        Fantastic. Thanks Dave.
        Stay calm, be brave....wait for the signs. Possibly precariously prevaricating.
        .

        Comment

        • Rich Jones
          What boat to build next?
          • Apr 2009
          • 19643

          #5
          Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

          Excellent! Thanks for posting.
          I was born on a wooden boat that I built myself.
          Skiing is the next best thing to having wings.

          Comment

          • gilberj
            Senior Member
            • Aug 2010
            • 4157

            #6
            Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

            Thanks Dave, this is important.

            Comment

            • Edward Pearson
              Senior Member
              • Dec 2015
              • 2204

              #7
              Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

              I reality Germany had inferior fighters but more of them and the RAF was on its knees by the end of the summer 1940. Hitler's decision to then start heavy bombing industrial and port cities, led to a response by Churchill to retaliate and bomb Berlin. Hitler then had to withdraw many of his fighters to defend Germany and the RAF recovered it's numbers.

              Hitler's Blitzkreig through Europe to ensure he only had a war on one front with the USSR thus stalled, and he had a war on two fronts which he then lost. Those decisions first with regard to Hitler then Churchill, then the actions of those flying heavy bombers into Germany shouldn't be forgotten for the influence they actually had in the 'Battle of Britain'. It's that that swung it.

              Comment

              • Peerie Maa
                Old Grey Inquisitive One
                • Oct 2008
                • 62422

                #8
                Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                Do not neglect the Hurricane.
                McKinstry quotes Fighter Command's claim of 2,741 German losses, 55 per cent made by Hurricanes, 42 per cent by Spitfires.
                <snip>
                The celebrated ace "Ginger" Lacey (ah, those nicknames: Boost and Dimsie, Bull, Grubby, Tubby, Sandy, Dizzy and Stapme), saying: "They are shooting me down too often." He said he would rather fly in a Spitfire but fight in a Hurricane on the grounds that the Hurricane "was made of non-essential parts. I had them all shot off at one time or another, and it still flew just as well without them." Stories are legion of pilots landing in Hurricanes with little idea that anything was wrong until they saw the faces of their "erks". Above all, the Hurricane was a better gun-platform. The RAF armourer who said he regarded pilots as really just chauffeurs for his guns got close to the truth. The Spitfire might have been better in the vertical plane – it could outclimb and outrun the Hurricane – but the Hurry was more agile in the horizontal, could, all-importantly, turn tighter than its most significant opponent, the Messerschmitt Me 109, and was more stable once the guns began to fire. It just kept going.
                https://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...n-2022105.html
                It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat.

                The power of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web
                The weakness of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web.

                Comment

                • Dave Hadfield
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 2000
                  • 7458

                  #9
                  Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                  Funny you should mention that...



                  Dave gets soaked_thumb[1].jpg

                  Comment

                  • Nicholas Scheuer
                    Senior Member
                    • Aug 2006
                    • 13579

                    #10
                    Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                    Am reading The Splendid And The Vile (about Churchill) in which there is a lot concerning fighter production and operations. I find it a bit hard to grasp that the Hurricane was not completely outclassed by the Spit. Yes, the Hurricanes liked to engage bombers while the Spits took on the Messerschmitts because they had a bit more speed, but a Hurricane pilot wasn't a foregone fatality against a 109.

                    Comment

                    • Peerie Maa
                      Old Grey Inquisitive One
                      • Oct 2008
                      • 62422

                      #11
                      Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                      I recently visited the small museum at Manston Airfield Kent.
                      They have a Hurry and a Spit on display in the same room. It is surprising how compact they both are, the pilots wore them rather than sat in them.
                      It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat.

                      The power of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web
                      The weakness of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web.

                      Comment

                      • Dave Hadfield
                        Senior Member
                        • Apr 2000
                        • 7458

                        #12
                        Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                        Yes. I end up with a bruise on my upper arm from the door.

                        The American fighter cockpits are roomier and better laid out for the pilot.

                        Comment

                        • Peerie Maa
                          Old Grey Inquisitive One
                          • Oct 2008
                          • 62422

                          #13
                          Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                          Originally posted by Dave Hadfield
                          Yes. I end up with a bruise on my upper arm from the door.

                          The American fighter cockpits are roomier and better laid out for the pilot.
                          Well American pilots were generally fa . . .bigger than Brits, especially after a year or so of rationing.
                          It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat.

                          The power of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web
                          The weakness of the web: Anyone can post anything on the web.

                          Comment

                          • Dave Hadfield
                            Senior Member
                            • Apr 2000
                            • 7458

                            #14
                            Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                            This is actually somewhat true. American cockpit layouts allow for 6’4” corn-fed farm boys, all muscles and shoulders. The Mustang is the only airplane of its day in which I don’t adjust the rudder pedals to max forward for my abnormaly long legs.

                            The European design philosophy was for smaller cockpits and pilots. I tried on a 109 once. Tight squeeze.

                            Comment

                            • gilberj
                              Senior Member
                              • Aug 2010
                              • 4157

                              #15
                              Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires

                              I read that British pilots that tried a Messerschmitt found them a tighter squeeze than the Spitfire or Hurricane.

                              Comment

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