Stability and Control characteristics of the Early Mark Spitfires

[CaptainDoggles]

Originally Posted by winny

I have another question, the RAE refer to the bf-109 as being " too stable for a fighter".

So is instability a good or bad thing?

I've read that quote, but Mike Williams seems to have sort of picked it out without including a lot of context from the original source, so it's hard to know exactly what they were referring to.

Here's the quote for people unfamiliar:

Longitudinally the aeroplane is too stable for a fighter. There is a large change of directional trim with speed. No rudder trimmer is fitted; lack of this is severely felt at high speeds, and limits a pilot's ability to turn left when diving.

Now, the way I interpret it is that they're referring to the trim problem. I could be wrong. There could be a truncated sentence or two preceding the quote that makes it more clear, but that's how I interpret it.

Edit: I think in this case that they're correct. You don't want the pilot's attention on trimming the aircraft every five seconds; you want the pilot's attention devoted to situational awareness.