A newbies impression of the 109 and spit

[WTE_Galway]

Originally Posted by IvanK

Thread drift but the Gladiator was actually renown for being an absolute delight to fly too

Maybe, but flipping through the records of the RAF prewar Gladiator Squadrons there are an awful lot of "abandoned in spins" , "overshot/undershot runways" and numerous collisions with other aircraft (generally at night) along with one collision with a house in Sussex (admittedly in fog), one with powerlines, one hedge and several with trees.

The squadrons were losing several pilots a year in Gladiators and this was in peace time.

Also note that RAF investigations showed that pilots trained on Gladiators made better Spitfire pilots than those trained in more mundane training aircraft.