[Skoshi Tiger]

Originally Posted by Crumpp

Remember, size does matter......



A good simulation of the Spitfire will have the aircraft twitchy or skittish and hard to precisely control in the longitudinal axis. The higher the angle of attack, the more skittish the aircraft; the lower the angle of attack, the more stable the longitudinal axis. It will take skill and constant attention to maintain a set altitude and will require small precise stick inputs to keep it from overloading the airframe on dive recovery or reaching an accelerated stall in a turn. If it does experience an accelerated stall, the stall is extremely harsh and will require immediate application of the correct control inputs ( reduce the angle of attack and increase airspeed) to keep from spinning.

It will take about 2000 feet to stop the spin and then the pilot will have recover the aircraft to flight. The correct inputs are full rudder in the opposite direction until the spin is fully recovered; Stick neutral and then slowly brought forward. The nose will come down and the rotation speed will increase until enough dynamic pressure is built for the control to be effective and stop the rotation. The aircraft will be nose down in a dive which the pilot then recovers from. The book recommends 5,000 to 6,000 foot margin to ensure a recovery from an accidental spin. Deliberate spins are prohibited because the airframe can fail under certain conditions in a spin.

That sound just like was happening with me at Hawkinge about 10 minutes ago. 2000 foot recovery sounds about right. Recovery fairly conventional as you describe. CoD must be a good sim.