Recent content by Juha2

The second Whirlwind sqn was No. 137 Sqn

Yes, and the VVS (Soviet AF) began use droptanks during the Winter War against Finland (30 Nov 1939 - 13 Mar 1940) to extend the combat radius of its fighters after sometimes heavy losses of its unescorted bombers.

Hello MIflyer thanks for the confirmation! Juha

Thanks a lot for that, I tried to veryfy that from my sources but from Finnish sources only got the info for Mk I and for Mk II cannot find quickly anything better than a cutaway from a 1987 Aeroplane Monthly, which published a four part article on Hurricane in April - July 1987 issues. The Mk I...

It's about how one definite "high speed" and "nearly useless". According to the NACA 868 table Figure. 47 Spit with normal wing still had the ror little under 60 deg/sec at 407 mph TAS at 10 000 ft. Note that the speeds in the table are given as IAS. One reason might be that Spit and Hurri...

I agree that low stick forces was a plus in any fighter. Yes when also Hurri had metal ailerons, Mk Is had fabric covered and at least the late Mk IICs seems to have had metal covered ailerons. Weight distribution along the span also had its effects on how fast the roll began. Thanks for...

In fact M-V F.2 was developed into 3,500 lb F.2/4 Beryl, first ran Jan 1945 and passed a 100-hour type test that year. Built in small numbers, IIRC around 30, and in the end produced 4,000 lb thrust. Powered Saunders-Roe S.R./A.1 flying boat fighter prototypes. Juha

Yes, that is true for early Oscars, Japanese needed to reinforce the main spar of the early Oscars.

As asked, from Christer Bergström's old message to another board, IIRC Prien gives the same in some of his books. Below 10 %: Minor damage that can be repaired by the aircraft’s ground crew. 10 % - 24 %: Medium damage that can be repaired through small repair works at the unit. 25 % - 39 %...

IMHO that was Kurfürst's opinion on Spitfire not on the 45 Impgal slipper tank. Juha

Thanks for the source, even if I knew the docu beforehand. But who hell would use 5 lb stick force, except maybe badly wounded pilot, in a life and dead situation? The 30 lb or more is much more realistic for real life combat situation. Juha

Have you source for that? because following graph says something different.

In fact Soviet pilots were not very fond of Hurri and at least over Artic it was an underdog against 109Fs or even against FiAF's Brewster B-239s. Of course the skills of pilots had marked effects on the results of the air combats. And the armament of 2 x 20 mm and 2 x 12,7 mm was effective. Juha

On the Model 239, it has its early problems e.g. leaking of the integral fuel tanks, so it was good that Finns had time to fix them before Brewsters got into real actions. And of course time to perfect the tactics to be used against VVS fighters and pilots to learn the tricks of the plane. There...

But the fact that Finnish fighter pilots liked Model 239 very much and that it was the most successful FiAF fighter during the early years of the Continuation War (1941-06-25 - 1944-09-04) says something on the plane.