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I think that sums it up. If you want a very large footprint over enemy soil - the mustang. If you wish to defend with greatest vertical performance envelope - spitfireGuess what, if defending Spitfire, attacking P51.
This is the point I'm trying to make , the LW was no longer a force able to brimg weight to bear on the UK so why did they continue to build a defensive fighter when an offensive weapon was available in the 51. As everyone knows the best defence is a good offenceI think that sums it up. If you want a very large footprint over enemy soil - the mustang. If you wish to defend with greatest vertical performance envelope - spitfire
This is the point I'm trying to make , the LW was no longer a force able to brimg weight to bear on the UK so why did they continue to build a defensive fighter when an offensive weapon was available in the 51. As everyone knows the best defence is a good offence
What may not be satisfactorily explained is why the MK VIIIs went away from England and the MK IXs stayed in England. I can certainly understand the need in 1942 to get the MK IX into service as quick as possible. But one year later in the summer/fall of 1943 one would think that at least SOME UK based Spitifires could have had the 14gal leading edge tanks. By the Summer of 1944 having either NO Spitfires or darn few with the leading edge tanks doesn't seem right. Maybe I am missing something?
The leading edge tanks certainly are NOT going to turn the Spitfire into a Berlin escort but an extra 100-150miles of radius ( the extra fuel is return home fuel after drop tank is dropped and combat) would have been quite useful.
Surely Great Britain was not so hard up for fighters that some of the 5,600+ Mk IXs could not have been fitted with the leading edge tanks ( or contracts changed for less MK IXs and more MK VIIIs without tropical kit)?
I disagree , the Spit in its prime role as a point intreceptor was over . The war had changed directions and knocking down the LW should have been the prime role that the Commonwealth units were unable to perform with the same dash and elan as the US units it would take hundereds of spits to perform the same task as a group of 51's .It's based on a false assumption.
The 8th AF needed long range fighters to escort their bombers. Attacking the Luftwaffe across the channel didn't need much range.
In 1941 the Germans could withdraw most of their forces from Western Europe because they knew there was nothing Britain could really do to hurt them. In 1943 that was no longer the case.
In 1943 there were plenty of targets in France, Belgium and the Netherlands the Luftwaffe had to defend. The invasion defences, V-1 and V-2 launch infrastructure, their own airfields (which would be essential when the invasion came), the road and rail links they would need to bring troops to the front.
In 1943 the Luftwaffe were in the same position the RAF were in in 1940. They had to defend against an enemy air force based 20 miles across the water. That doesn't require long range on the part of the attacker.
Mid 1943 gets you a Spitfire XIV. And they did have the capability of extended range with increased tankage, as per XVIII.
At this stage its probably worth reminding everyone that in Oct 1944 the US equipped two Spits with 2 x 60 gallon drop tanks and they flew the atlantic. So there is little doubt in my mind that the Spit had the potential to be a decent long range fighter. I am NOT saying that it would have had the range of a P51 but sufficient so that the UK wouldn't have had to build P51's