Upcoming Spitfire V111 from Ed Walters............

Paul K · Post by **Paul K** » 13 Jul 2007, 16:49

I once talked with one of our dear trans-Atlantic cousins who maintained that while the Spitfire was a good basic design, it was only after Bell and Vought took it in hand and developed it, that it achieved its true potential. Not only that, but it was built in huge numbers in the US and ferried across for us. :roll:

Anyway, nice to see an another Edwardian Spit, whatever its colours. An example will soon be based at RAF Paul-K, without a doubt.

FlyTexas · Post by **FlyTexas** » 13 Jul 2007, 17:05

Spitfires built in the US?? Is that true??

Brian

Paul K · Post by **Paul K** » 13 Jul 2007, 17:39

FlyTexas wrote:Spitfires built in the US?? Is that true??

Brian

No Brian, its just what this particular individual believed.

FlyTexas · Post by **FlyTexas** » 13 Jul 2007, 19:14

Ah ok, thanks. I thought maybe I'd missed something.

Brian

kit · Post by **kit** » 14 Jul 2007, 18:11

Paul,

Paul K wrote:I once talked with one of our dear trans-Atlantic cousins who maintained that while the Spitfire was a good basic design, it was only after Bell and Vought took it in hand and developed it, that it achieved its true potential. Not only that, but it was built in huge numbers in the US and ferried across for us. :roll:

You could always remind him that the P-51 was a total dog till Rolls-Royce fitted it with a Merlin.............

Paul K · Post by **Paul K** » 14 Jul 2007, 18:20

kit wrote:You could always remind him that the P-51 was a total dog till Rolls-Royce fitted it with a Merlin.............

I did. He agreed, adding how brilliant the Packard design team were. :roll:

kit · Post by **kit** » 14 Jul 2007, 18:43

Paul,

Paul K wrote:
I did. He agreed, adding how brilliant the Packard design team were. :roll:

Yeeeees, I keep on reminding Americans that I know that while they, in the form of the Wright Bros., may have invented flight, such as it is, they didn't do EVERYthing first.

There are those of them who completely ignore the existance of the Comet, prefering to believe the 707 was 'The World's First Jet Airliner'.

Bah, humbug!

Sundog · Post by **Sundog** » 22 Jul 2007, 22:55

You could always remind him that the P-51 was a total dog till Rolls-Royce fitted it with a Merlin.............

Actually that is patently false. It was a dog at altitude until it got the Merlin. It was one of the fastest airplanes down low, which is partly what made the A-36 such a great aircraft.

What's even more interesting is after the Merlin was fitted we didn't want it. It almost followed a similar route as that of the Me-262.

Of course the plane that actually swept the skies clean of the Luftwaffe was the P-47. The P-51 usually gets the glory because it had the range to escort the bombers.

The Spitfire was the greatest tactical fighter the Allies had IMHO; And I mean that in the pure fighter sense. It was on the strategic side that it was horribly lacking. It's legs were just too short. Unless we talk PR Spits, which are still my favorite version.

Of course, if I could have any warbird, give me a Spit Mk.V, preferably with clipped wings.

Although I would settle for a Razorback P-47D, P-38, and even an P-51.

Post by **DaveB** » 22 Jul 2007, 23:51

Hi Sundog..

A bit of a 'mixed bag' of comments there me thinks.

While the P-51 might have been super dooper at low level, it was a dog (where needed at the time) at high level so to say that something is patently false is a falsehood in itself.

Did we really ever want the P-51.. with or without a Merlin??

To say that the plane that actually swept the skies clean of the Luftwaffe was the P-47 is a bit of an overstatement I think, despite it's high number of claimed kills.. I use the word overstatement, others might be less polite

The P-51 gets the glory because it had the range to escort the bombers..
Well.. one of the main reasons the P-47 turned out to be such a good bomber was that it's potential was realised when drop tanks were fitted (to escort the heavies to and from the target).

Finally.. to say the Spit was a bit short on legs (unless you're talking of the PR Spits) is again open to flak (excuse the topical use of the word). The Spitfire was designed to be 'sent up' to intercept and destroy enemy fighters.. something it did with great success. There were two very different trains of thought pre-war and escorting bombers all the way to Berlin fell into neither camp. Both the P-47 and P-51 were 'built to order' and on the experience gained/gathered in the early years of the war.

This could go on and on.. and on and on.. and then some and there'd never be total agreement

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Chris Trott · Post by **Chris Trott** » 23 Jul 2007, 04:12

Hey Dave, can you edit your post to use quotes? It's hard to follow the point-counter point becuase it all runs together. I'm afraid I'm not quite sure where you're going with the post.