[JtD]

I don't think there's anything wrong with what robtek stated here, maybe he could have worded it a bit differently, avoiding the word abuse. The Spitfires elevator was sensitive enough to allow the pilot to achieve the stalling angle of attack at any speed, which at high speeds means it is easily possible to overload the airframe. So if folks in game pull back the stick all the way, they should either stall or break a wing. Just like it would have happened in real life. Pilots learned to not do it, hardly a big deal, and players can probably manage the same.

For the 109, this problem did not exist, the elevator was way too heavy at high speeds. There was, however, a different one. In high speed dives, there was a serious tendency for the nose to tuck under as speeds increased, and coupled with the heavy elevator, the pilot would not be able to pull out with the elevator alone. Trim had to be adjusted. This, however, lead to problems in the pullout, as speed decreased again the tuck under tendency disappeared, which meant quickly increasing g-loads up to the point where the airframe would be overloaded, unless the stick was pushed forward hard.