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This I totally agree with, problems were not unique to the Spitfire.
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The Spitfire has unique stability and control characteristics.
The most outstanding issue is the Longitudinal Stability and Control of the early marks.
This was corrected in later variants.
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The average military pilot might have had basic aerodynamics training but you can bet you ass test pilots had alot more.
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Not really Bongo. They were the guys that had the balls to climb into an uproven machine.
Hans Sander related a story of performing a max G pullout from a dive in the early testing of the FW-190. The aircraft was well into the transonic realm of flight and upon recovery exhibited water vapor condensation behind the normal shock.
It turned the wings completely white for a second. He had no idea at the time what happenend and effect scared the pants off him at first. He thought something was wrong with the aircraft. He paused, ensured he had control of the aircraft and all engine indications were in the green. He was prepared to bail out if necessary.
You can see the same effect in this video:
05-07-2012, 04:19 PM
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