BarnOwlLover
Staff Sergeant
Maneuverability and Speed? Why not both? Though it does seem that a plane that's agile at higher speeds may not be able to achieve the same feats at lower speeds. And it does seem that planes that are good at low speeds often aren't as good at high speeds on the same coin.
It's sort of like comparing the Typhoon to the Tempest. The Typhoon had a thick, high lift wing, which stunted it's speed, especially at altitude (due to compressibility, though the single stage Sabre didn't help, either), but gave it good low speed characteristics for it's size (88mph landing speed was respectable for it's size and such), while the Tempest's wing was better for speed, though it did have a higher landing speed (about 100 mph, similar to most P-51s).
Also of note is how the Axis did things. Japan favored lightly loaded planes and low speed agility, Germany favored more heavily loaded designs optimized for speed and climb, while Italy designed (ultimately) speedy dogfighters. While the Allies ran the gamut, though they followed the bombers and favored high speed agility sort of like the Italians, though with often somewhat more lightly loaded designs that were easy to learn and fly (at least when airborne--the Spitfire wasn't at it's best in takeoff and landing when on the ground, though in the air it was a pilot's plane).
It's sort of like comparing the Typhoon to the Tempest. The Typhoon had a thick, high lift wing, which stunted it's speed, especially at altitude (due to compressibility, though the single stage Sabre didn't help, either), but gave it good low speed characteristics for it's size (88mph landing speed was respectable for it's size and such), while the Tempest's wing was better for speed, though it did have a higher landing speed (about 100 mph, similar to most P-51s).
Also of note is how the Axis did things. Japan favored lightly loaded planes and low speed agility, Germany favored more heavily loaded designs optimized for speed and climb, while Italy designed (ultimately) speedy dogfighters. While the Allies ran the gamut, though they followed the bombers and favored high speed agility sort of like the Italians, though with often somewhat more lightly loaded designs that were easy to learn and fly (at least when airborne--the Spitfire wasn't at it's best in takeoff and landing when on the ground, though in the air it was a pilot's plane).