Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires
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Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires
Fantastic. Thanks Dave.Stay calm, be brave....wait for the signs. Possibly precariously prevaricating.
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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
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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
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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.
It really is quite difficult to build an ugly wooden boat.
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Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires
Funny you should mention that...
Dave gets soaked_thumb[1].jpgComment
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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
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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.
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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
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Re: Battle of Britain Anniversary -- on Spitfires
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
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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
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