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Time and time again we see this most important single factor in the performance of any aircraft ignored in discussions.
Everyone knows that a Spitfire I can out turn a Bf 109 E and that the Messerschmitt pilot would be ill advised to fight in the horizontal, right?
Well, for the two aircraft flown at their limits by experienced pilots this is probably true, but most aircraft were not flown in combat at these limits, nor were they flown by pilots who could do this.
Erwin Leykauf would beg to differ. On the Bf 109 vs Spitfire duel of 1940 he wrote:
"Indeed many fresh young [Luftwaffe] pilots thought they were pulling very tight turns even when the slots [slats] were still closed against the wing. For us, the more experienced pilots, manoeuvring only started when the slots were out. For this reason it is possible to find pilots from that period (1940) who will tell you that the Spitfire turned better than the Bf 109. That is not true. I myself had many dogfights with Spitfires and I could always out turn them."
Leykauf may well have been turning with Spitfire pilots who were not pushing their aircraft to the limit. He had developed a sophisticated technique to turn his Bf 109 inside a Spitfire.
"One had to enter the turn correctly, then open up the engine. It was a matter of feel. When one noticed the speed becoming critical-the aircraft vibrated-one had to ease up a bit, then pull back again, so that in plan the best turn would have looked like an egg or a horizontal ellipse rather than a circle. In this way one could out turn the Spitfire and I shot down six of them doing it."
Just saying
Cheers
Steve
Most of the lethal work is done by perhaps 20% of the pilots.
I am not a pilot but shooting down a plane in a tight turn is done by the pilot, for one plane to out turn the other one of them would stall out wouldn't they?
That is for an instantaneous turn, for a sustained turn in the horizontal plane power is required or speed bleeds off, turning rate is similar to climb rate in this situation, the higher powered AC will maintain the turn longer. This isnt what I "know" it is what I read here posted by a pilot (GregP I think)Aerodynamically the Spitfire I should be able to turn tighter than a Bf 109 E at similar altitudes and speeds. My point is that this was not always the case and that is down to the man at the controls.
For a pursuing pilot to make a deflection shot on a turning target he has to pull his nose inside the other aircraft's turn.
Cheers
Steve
for a sustained turn in the horizontal plane power is required or speed bleeds off, turning rate is similar to climb rate in this situation, the higher powered AC will maintain the turn longer.
I've said this in here before, but we have former WWII pilots make presentations every month on the first Saturday at the planes of Fame. Almost all of them are convinced that their particular mount was the best fighter evcer built. Only once have I asked one of them how many ohter fighters he flew, and the answer was none, he only flew the P-51 in combat.
So ... his P-51 actually WAS the best figher he had ever flown in combat since it was the ONLY one. I'd bet a good chunk of all former combat pilots are in that group ... that is, they only flew what they flew, and it was the best. There are probably only a very few who have experience in combat in multiple platforms.
I could be mistaken here, but I don't think so.