The Spitfire Mk IX at full throttle is still 1.6 seconds faster than a FW-190A-5 at 80% throttle: This could be plausible if the FW-190A-5 does not use an optimal flap setting: The flap setting was critical to low-speed performance.
The Spitfire IX could not use a combat flap setting: 2 position only...
Soviet tests of a FW-190A-4 did show about 19 seconds in turn times, but it was displayed as 19-23 seconds, implying the difference in side of the turn(?).
Note the best Soviet Gustav time for that test, for a clean Me-109G-2, WAS 22 seconds, so right there you have the FW-190A out-turning the Me-109G to one side at least...
Me-109F was 20 seconds.
Note that the longer-nose A-5 was said by the Soviets to shave a second off these figures, which would give about 18-22 seconds.
I assume these real-life tests were all done at full power without flaps...
At partial power it could be all these aircrafts do not do much better in sustained turn TIME, but much better in RADIUS, which gives some advantage in sight lead also...
A FW-190A-8 in sustained low-speed level turns, flaps down, at 70% power(?), can gain nearly 180° per 360° on a P-51D at full power riding on the edge of a stall: If flaps up full power for the P-51D means 23-24 seconds, then the FW-190A-8 with the broad-blade prop could be as low as 16-17 seconds to one side (it was the right side with flaps down), to reverse a tail position in 2.? X 360° turns... The A-8 was said to be better than all previous FW-190As in low-speed maneuverability, especially with the broad-blade prop.
Of note is that the FW-190A riding on the edge of a stall requires the use of the ailerons to catch the stall's wing drop: At low speeds this favoured the choice of the longest chord of three different types of ailerons that could be used. The FW-190A Western ace in AH's forum described adding "spacers" to the hinges of his longest-chord aileron choice, to increase low-speed wing-drop "catch" performance further, this of course at the expense of aileron leverage and performance at high speed...
This choice of his was specifically described by him as being exclusively aimed at low-speed turn performance...
These aileron hinge modifications could explain the out-of-the-ordinary low-speed turn performance he mentions for his P-51D shootdown: 2.? X 360 to reverse a tail position on the deck, the P-51D almost stalling in front of him...
Not clear if the aileron hinge extensions were a field modification, or availabe as a kit...
Interesting tests for the in-game figures... Thanks!
Gaston
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