I hope an RAE evaluation is admissable, don't forget the British had no concept of stability and control :grin:

Stability and Control characteristics of the Early Mark Spitfires

That is the name of the thread.

Seems once again you didn't read it. Why you guys don't open a new one ?

You do realise that Crumpp has made lots of assertions in his first posting which do, in fact, make them part of this thread and a matter for legitimate debate? His claims about the so-called lack of stability and control standards for all countries apart from the good ol US of A and Germany are ridiculous and call into question his neutrality in this thread.

As for the Spitfire - of course it wasn't perfect, and I have never tried to make out that it was; however, the NACA report makes it quite clear that there was some doubt about the correct cg position as measured by NACA, and that should be sufficient reason to question its conclusions.

Also, as a fighter, it was in good in good company:

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...7-page-001.jpg

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k3...7-page-002.jpg

most pilots reported that the F8F was an excellent aircraft to fly and fight in, yet there was a certain amount of longitudinal instability. It would seem that a well designed fighter could exhibit some longitudinal instability as long as it could be controlled.

Since they state that a captured 109 is inferior to the Hurricane as fighter, then I wonder what are the mandatory characteristics of an airplane they want to call it "fighter".

No problem... British still drive on the left side of the road.. it's a matter of preference. :-D

But they didn't really say that did they, they just say the 109 is less manouverable.....a reasonable handicap as a dogfighter.

we drive on the left for a historic reason not really preference or because we have 2 heads and 6 fingers on each hand :grin:

You guys should put the 109 stuff in a separate thread.

And so do the Japanese. My car is a grey import from Japan. Great car too. ;)

The Bf-109 is another thread.

This one is about the measured flying qualities of the early mark Spitfire. That means the ones in the game.

The British did not have Stability and Control Standards during World War II. Only the United States and Germany had them in place.

To determine flying qualities, the RAE relied upon the individual talent of the design firm and the opinion of its test pilots.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/890...fastandard.jpg

I just want to point something out here: Adding instability does not necessarily make the aircraft more maneuverable.

Perfect example is the B-2 Spirit. Extremely unstable, but not particularly maneuverable.