Addressing SHOOTER on his ridiculous Spitfire claims

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The majority of people who read these forums are intelligent enough to see through the ridiculous claims and ludicrous posts, particularly those which contradict the heaps of published information on well known aircraft such as the Spitfire; eg: the A.F.D.U's handling trials for the Spitfire XIV which refute Shooter's allegations that the Spitfire XIV was impossible to handle and was only used as a last resort by the RAF: Spitfire Mk XIV Testing

 
I like this bit Aozora:


Spitfire Mk XIV Testing
 

and yet despite all that we still have a thread that basically calls out another member and that disturbs me. I'm very uncomfortable with the title and purpose of this thread.
 
I agree, Chris - yep, we are feeding his ego by doing what we are here, that's why we should just treat him like any other forumite. If we don't make a big deal out of this (which we are), then it won't be a big deal.
 
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Loss rates say it all in my opinion. Despite its ups and down, the RAF lost around 20000 aircraft in all TOs, including against the Italians and Japanese for the entire war. LW losses to all causes were well over 150000. 20000 of thpse losses were to the US forces, about 50000 were to non-combat related causes. 14000 were estimated by Caldwell to the VVS. Against the rest (except the RAF), maybe 6000 (thats a guess, I couldnt be bothered doing the research)

That leaves just the RAF and around 60000 LW losses. 15000 (estimate 2000 for the PTO and 3000 against the italians) for 60000 does not seem like an airforce outclassed to me. And a big part of the RAF firepower was the Spit IX and XIV in the later stages of the war.

I would recommend forsyths day by day accounts of RAF operations in western Europe for 1940-43 to get an accurate idea of what was happening in RAF operations. They certainly werent losing and certainly werent complaining about the inneffectivtiveness of the Spit IX. Cant comment about the Spit XIV, because it comes after the volumes of Forsyth currently in my library
 
With the vast amount of info out there, both published and electronically, it is not hard to see how claims and counter claims emerge. I've only been involved in this forum for a few months, but I have already been put off by some of the attitudes of contributors. My 14 y.o son also reads this site, as he is an avid RAF fan, particularly regarding Spitfires. Having built numerous models, both static and flying, he knows far more about them than me, and has a number of books and technical articles about them. I got him a copy of "Reach for the Sky" about Sir Douglas Bader, so it is pretty hard to say a bad word about Spitfires to him. Needless to say, this thread has done little to endear him to the site. That aside, if people want to argue the toss, or get their nose out of joint because someone has a difference of opinion, I'm sure it is not that hard to keep it civil. As for Spitfires.....ask the Luftwaffe pilots what they thought of them. Didn't Galland say he could have done with a squadron of them himself during the battle of Britian? The FW190 had the jump on the Mk V, but it was a game of one up-man ship for the rest of the conflict between the two marques. And depending on what you read, or believe, The BF 109 had already reached its design potential, while the Spitfire continued to improve. Above all else though, the Spitfire will forever remain THE iconic fighter of WW2, and anything with a swastika on its tail will be the bad guy.
 

Can you please offer some sources for your numbers please?

To my sources the Germans built only 123.609 a/c's during and before the war.
My sources give a total loss of 100.500 a/c's to all causes.

So please which are your sources my source is LuftArchiv.de - Das Archiv der Deutschen Luftwaffe.

It is a little confusing, that the LW could have lost 40000 more a/c's then ever built.
 
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They didn't loose just aircraft built by them. I'm guessing that if you include a/c captured and used by the LW or manufactured by license you may reach those numbers.
 
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