Flying the 109: Pilot Accounts

[*Buzzsaw*]

Salute

And here, also from "MESSERSCHMIDT BF109, OWNERS WORKSHOP MANUAL", is an account by Dave Southwood of the differences, as he saw it, between the Warbird Spitfires and 109s he flew. Note: He did not fly all varieties of these aircraft, and as he says, he did not fly any of the display aircraft he was entrusted with to the limits of their potential performance.

There is material on the first and last pages, before and after the account by Dave Southwood, which are not relevant to his account.





Note that Southwood's comments about the Spitfire being unstable in pitch at "aft C.G." are in reference to later models with the additional fuselage tank loaded with fuel and would not apply to early models or aircraft at combat loading.