A newbies impression of the 109 and spit

[NZtyphoon]

Originally Posted by JtD

It is always possible to exceed safe margins through improper loading, but in case of the Spitfire, this margin was small by design; and if it is impossible to maintain safe limits in everyday service, it is a design problem. Saying it was just improper loading, or saying it was just faulty design for that matter, imho only is half the truth.

I think you're right about the narrow cg margin, not forgetting that when the Spitfire was designed in 1935-36 features like CS propellers, armour plate, armoured windscreen, IFF - even apparently small details such as extra ducting for gun heating equipment, shrouding for the gun bays etc - were three to four years into the future. Compare the equipment loaded into a pre-war Spitfire I with that loaded into a 1942 Mk V and the margin for error must have been relatively small.

Does anyone have any idea of how the Spitfire cg margins compare with (say) the P-51?