Shortround6
Major General
the Me 109 more so.
The Spitfire could and was upgraded (although not as much as it could have/should have been at times). Spitfire started with 84 gal Imp (?) and with a 9 gallon larger lower front tank, two 14 gallon wing tanks and 33 gallon rear fuselage tank (all of which were used at one time or another on MK VIII and IX aircraft) internal fuel might have been able to go to 154 IMP gallons. An 83% increase. Some Spitfires could carry an extra 74 imp gallons in rear fuselage tanks alone but that is for ferry purposes and not combat. Granted the fuel selector may get a bit tricky. I would note that if you limited the lower rear tank to just 19 gallons this tankage of the Spitfire would hold exactly the same amount of fuel as a FW 190D-9 which was using is aux tank for fuel and not MW-50. Not a huge amount of fuel but certainly not lacking when compared to German or Russian aircraft.
The Spitfire, more through luck than design, had less problems with compressability than some aircraft designed 2-4 years later.
Spitfires armament also stayed closer to first rank. Both guns and bomb load. Granted 1000lbs isn't huge but it beats 550lb by a good margin.
And I haven't gotten to the MK 21/22.
The Spitfire could and was upgraded (although not as much as it could have/should have been at times). Spitfire started with 84 gal Imp (?) and with a 9 gallon larger lower front tank, two 14 gallon wing tanks and 33 gallon rear fuselage tank (all of which were used at one time or another on MK VIII and IX aircraft) internal fuel might have been able to go to 154 IMP gallons. An 83% increase. Some Spitfires could carry an extra 74 imp gallons in rear fuselage tanks alone but that is for ferry purposes and not combat. Granted the fuel selector may get a bit tricky. I would note that if you limited the lower rear tank to just 19 gallons this tankage of the Spitfire would hold exactly the same amount of fuel as a FW 190D-9 which was using is aux tank for fuel and not MW-50. Not a huge amount of fuel but certainly not lacking when compared to German or Russian aircraft.
The Spitfire, more through luck than design, had less problems with compressability than some aircraft designed 2-4 years later.
Spitfires armament also stayed closer to first rank. Both guns and bomb load. Granted 1000lbs isn't huge but it beats 550lb by a good margin.
And I haven't gotten to the MK 21/22.