Is Spitfire really the BEST British fighter???

[Anonymous]

Spitfire Performance Testing <--- click here

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Lunatic

 

[Hot Space]

and i don't think they're the stats for the Mk.XIV, and that pic's of a Mk.22/24.............

Ahh..you're wrong. The Pic is a Spit XVIII.

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[BountyHunter15]

The Spitfire had two 0.5in machine guns and two 20mm cannons. It was a great fighter. it really packed a punch.

 

[KraziKanuK]

The Spitfire had an armament consisting of two forward firing 20mm cannons and two 50 cal. machine guns in the leading edges of the wing. It also had a bomb/rocket load of 500lb. It had a maximum speed of 448mph and and could climb up to 20,000ft in about 7 minutes.It was powered by one Rolls-Royce Griffon 65 12-cylinder Vee engine.

According to Spitfire: the History, the Mk XVIII could carry 3x 500lb GP bombs.

 

[Anonymous]

The Spitfire had two 0.5in machine guns and two 20mm cannons. It was a great fighter. it really packed a punch.

I'd rather have 6 x .50's. The Hispano was too prone to jamming until very late in the war, and if the 20mm on one side jammed, its mate on the other side was nearly useless in the Spitfire (unlike the .50's where the plane could be trimmed to handle it). This is one of the big reasons they decided to mount the two .50's on the later Spitfires - they didn't want to be toothless in battle.

See the attached doc below where the Hurc IIc suffers 3 of 4 gun jams.

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Lunatic

 

[trackend]

Thing is statistics are useful but not everything I know the for instance the Hurricane had a higher kill figure than the Spit but the discussion is which was the best fighter not the most successful so I'm still in favor of the spit as being the best meld of man and machine this is what made it the best "like wearing a glove" as one pilot said.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

although service history does have an impact on people's opinions of the best..........

 

[Anonymous]

My point is that earlier in the war the 20mm cannon of all sides, except the ShVAK, were somewhat unreliable. As the war progressed they became increasingly reliable. By the end of the war the Hispano supposedly had a 1:1500 rounds fired stoppage rate, the MG151/20 was about the same, the BMG was about 1:4000 rounds. These stoppage rates do not include guns that froze.

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Lunatic

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

a gun freezing over (although it's normally the lubricating oil that freezes i believe), is a pretty major promlem in the air though..............

 

[cheddar cheese]

Especially at altitude...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

dude it's a problem at any altitude..........

 

[cheddar cheese]

I know, the key word in my statement being Especially, as it is a greater problem as you get higher, because the air is colder...

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

no i mean if you're guns freeze over it's a proplem, no matter what you're altitude is, not that gun freezing is more likely at higher altitudes, although i know it is..............

 

[cheddar cheese]

I neve said it wasnt a problem, jeez, do you have to attempt to find fault with everything I say?

 

[Anonymous]

I only pointed out that the stoppage rate figures I've given exclude cases where the guns froze, which was considered a different issue.

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Lunatic

 

[Andrew]

you can get stuff like that from your local library??

The Library in Slough has quite a good collection of books on Warfare.

 

[Hot Space]

Any Noddy

Hot Space

 

[cheddar cheese]

Damn im convinced!

 

[Medvedya]

you can get stuff like that from your local library??

The Library in Slough has quite a good collection of books on Warfare.

As well as poems by John Betjemen and the scripts for 'The Office'

 

[Schöpfel]

Hello:

In my opinion the Spitfire was obviously the best British figher - up to 1944. First half of 1944 its either Spit XIV or Tempest V, the choice is a matter of taste. Beginning June 1944 I'd have to go with the Mustang III with +25 boost; it had the best all around performance. I can't think of another period of time where the RAF had an aircraft with such an enormous quality advantage over the Lufwaffe as the highly boosted Mustang IIIs had during the summer of 1944.

p.s. nice site RG_Lunatic