Spit IIa

[winny]

I just thought I'd give some historical perspective on this.

I've got lots of BoB RAF pilot's accounts, a recurring theme from the top pilot's is "riding the buffet" Geoff Wellum mentions it in 'First Light' And I've seen it repeated quite often.

Also, when the RAE were conducting the mock dogfights against a 109 they found that in every case where the 109 managed to get behind the Spitfire, it could stay there. when they looked at why, they found that the RAF pilot's were easing off when the buffeting started, when in fact they could have flown it on the edge and even tightened it slightly.

It fits with contemporary accounts from both sides, with plenty of cases of each out-turning the other. As is usually the case, the more familiar the pilot is with his plane the better the chances of survival were. Some flew it on the edge, some flew it as per the handbook.