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I have heard this quite often but never any evidence. The reason why I have this question is that the Me108 had the same slats and if the the problem was common then it would have been dealt with before the war started. Certainly it would have been looked at and improved. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that it didn't happen but I do not believe that it was common.As has been explained the Emil suffered from its slats jamming in turns, making pilots vary about the slats and unwilling to attempt to push the a/c beyond slat deployment, fearing the a/c was on the verge of a stall.
The comment about the British test pilots not pushing them through the envelope has been addressed a number of times. You have read those postings and believe that point should be dropped.The problem with the LE slats was however solved with the introduction of the F series, a new roller design ensuring smooth operation of the slats, and most new pilots were then ofcourse instructed to push the 109 to the limit in turns from then on, there being nothing to be afraid of anymore. But the point is that the Britih test pilots and some of the old 109 jocks didn't know about this and continued to be vary about the slats, Rall never even attempted to push the a/c that far having nearly died once doing so, also he didn't have to seeing he had perfected his own tactics during the BoB which proved very effective.
The experience of Leykauf and Wolfrun has been covered, in fact their lack of experience against Spitfires would be more accurate.A British pilot having either previous flown the Emil, or never flown a 109 before, would therefore naturally be vary about the slats and not push past slats deployment, somthing which is made clear by Leykauf Wolfrum and the comments made in the AFDU report.
This I don't understand. In the 109myths site which I know you are aware of, a number of times visiting pilots mention that they were given a flight in a Me108 precisely to give them experience on the use of slats.And as for the Bf-108 being used as a trainer, well AFAIK this wasn't the primary trainer for LW fighter pilots. Furthermore the Bf-108 features the same slats as the Emil, so even if some pilots had trained in this type they'd still have high chance of experiencing that bad very dangerous habbit of the slats jamming in turns.
Soren
"Erwin Leykauf shot down six Spitfires during the BoB Juha, as he said himself."
How You know that he shot down 6 Spits? Have you done some research on subject or is that only your belief?
Juha
I think saying someone bagged an opponent by outurning him is a little misleading , if both aircraft started manouvering at the same time from the same position and energy level would be the only was to base the abilities of both aircraft. then toss into the mix capabilities of the pilot and the maintainence of the aircraft
For the FW 190 A3 @8564 lbs and a stall speed of 127 mph I get clMax of 1.06. (Stall speed might be lower than that, with a correspondingly higher cl number, but thats the best info I have.)
Yet another piece of evidence to support the fact that the British test pilots didn't push the 109 to its limits is a German test report on the turn radius of the Bf-109E. The Germans achieved a far smaller turn radius in their tests than the British.
The report is here on Kurfürst's site: Kurfrst - Baubeschreibung fr das Flugzeugmuster Messerschmitt Me 109 mit DB 601.