So, to sum up the latest spin on the Spitfire instability....
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On to dynamic stability - short period oscillations were sufficiently damped by the Spitfire. Long period oscillations were not. This was however, typical for aircraft of that era, and opposed to what one poster claims, fighter aircraft of that time in general were no hands off aircraft. In fact, the Spitfire stability in long period oscillation is above average from what I've seen, much better than say a Hurricane. .
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It was not a big deal, it enhanced the aircraft's combat capability, and those meddling engineers said,
"Hey we can't have the Spitfire be better at everything, let's pork the stability by adding these inertial elevators!!"
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One of NACA's chief test engineers states that all fighter aircraft they tested were dynamically unstable in long period oscillations. .
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Please point this out. I smell a misquote or misunderstanding!