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When reading interviews with Lavochkin/Yakovlev you can see that all of them, when comparing their aircraft with Luftwaffe's, point out the superior diving of the German models. Diving mainly depends on:
- Weight of the aircraft.
- Aerodynamic profile.
It's normal that the Fw-190 has a superior diving capability because it's noticeably heavier, but Lavochkin's weight is similar to Bf 109. Another reason could be the engine settings/pitch angle. German cockpits were more automatized when it came to engine handling. I had a discussion on this and it was pointed out that the pitch angle of the Bf 109 went up to 90°, while Lavochkin only went to 45°, thus the propeller acted like a brake. Can someone confirm/provide more detail?
Why bother with a poll when the figures upon which it is based are inaccurate? Where did the original "Fact Sheet" figures come from and was there ever any original, reliable documentation given to back them? Anyway, I voted Spitfire XIV.
As Vincenzo showed, this datas from Soeren came from original primary german sources and to my opinion they are the most accurate for german a/c's.
I'm always doubtful about foreign data's about german a/c's especialy when they come from WWII Aircraft Performance
I think its best to concentrate on the original papers, not the where they came from. No one is going to retype things in this level of detail.
The spit XIV had that terrific climb - would it have been enough to enable it to disengage from the Yak//La at lower altitudes?
An interesting subject might the Soviet fighters v The Tempest, which I understand performed best at similar heights.
I think its best to concentrate on the original papers, not the where they came from. No one is going to retype things in this level of detail.
I have had a quick look at both sets of papers, The ones from Kurfurst's site and the ones in posting 323 and to be honest there is little if anything difference between them. Only if you look at the performance figs for the DB605D do you get any difference, the others seem pretty similar. I admit to having a question on this as I thought that the DB605D was an early version of the engine, in which case why would it have a better performance.
On this basis the question would be, how many had the the DB605D? If anyone knows I would welcome any details.
I think we can take it that the Soviet fighters would be out of their depth above 20000ft, so the next obvious question is are others competitive below that altitude. The spit XIV had that terrific climb - would it have been enough to enable it to disengage from the Yak//La at lower altitudes? If so, it's hard to go past.
An interesting subject might the Soviet fighters v The Tempest, which I understand performed best at similar heights.
His reading shall we say, may be somewhat imaginative and its always worth checking the translation, ensuring that he hasn't been selectve in what he has chosen to show. But if there is a full scan then its worth taking it seriously.
As Vincenzo showed, this datas from Soeren came from original primary german sources and to my opinion they are the most accurate for german a/c's.
I'm always doubtful about foreign data's about german a/c's especialy when they come from WWII Aircraft Performance
Excellent book, one for my birthday list. Re Kurfurst I have crossed swords with him a number of times and been accused of all sorts of things by him but an original document is an original document. His reading shall we say, may be somewhat imaginative and its always worth checking the translation, ensuring that he hasn't been selectve in what he has chosen to show. But if there is a full scan then its worth taking it seriously.
I also had crossed swords with Kurfürst and I also be careful with his claims but his site is excellent and for ex in his 109K specs part he correctly points out that in the graphs the thick lines are results of calculations by Mtt for 109K with an experimental thin blade airscrew and that the most important graph is the thin line which is that of 109K-4 with standard airscrew and he also notices that the compression effect was ignored in the calculations.
Juha