spitfire or mustang?

[kaz3g]

`Winkle Brown', the British test pilot who did over 2,400 carrier landings and reputedly flew 478 different aircraft types said the single seat Hornet was his favourite piston aircraft, because it was `over-powered perfection'. His favourite jet was the F-86E Sabre (and Bob Hoover's).rgmwa

Did you read his biography? Brilliant account of a life spent flying a multitude of different aircraft, usually with no more preparation than a quick read of the manual.

 

He flew a Sikorsky helicopter from the wharves to his research establishment reading the manual on the way...he had never flown a helicopter before.

 

And his party trick was a snap roll on takeoff over the bow until he had an engine failure. He was in a Martlet then and he recounts that he was supposed to be doing a demo for all the assembled big wigs at the time. He said it was nice of the Prime Minister to send a get well wish to him in the sick bay!

 

The Martlet fortunately had flotation bags unlike the Spitfire which immediately assumed the characteristics of a submarine on ditching.

 

Kaz

 

 

[rgmwa]

I did Kaz. Very interesting book. There goes a much, much better pilot than I'll ever be!! In fact two better pilots if you throw in Bob Hoover (and there may possibly be others).

 

rgmwa

 

 

[planedriver]

When you stand next to a Sabre, you can see it has some curves to it, probably the way the wing has been blended into the fuselage by flattening the round profile slightly and adding fillets around the wing roots, the Migs are very much as someone described the BAC Lightning previously. Not my cup of tea, but often the beauty is in the eye of the tea-drinker.

And i'll leaf it that that:thumb up:

 

 

[facthunter]

ALL early planes appear crude to those who design and build the next generation of new planes. Some have a nice appearance but a plane is a functioning machine and must give way to superior performing derivatives. Form should follow function . Nev

 

 

[Downunder]

As good as the FW 190 was even at the height of it's development, it was still no match for the Hawker Typhoons and Tempests, or even a talented P 51 pilot............Maj....

The last of the FW-190 development, the TA-152 may have given them a run......if they weren't kept back protecting jet bases and had the numbers.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

Kurt Tank was the designer If I recall correctly. Apparently he test flew it without armament. In that condition it was supposed to be able to outrun anything else around. Very clean design (unlike the Bf 109) Nev

 

 

[Marty_d]

The last of the FW-190 development, the TA-152 may have given them a run......if they weren't kept back protecting jet bases and had the numbers.[ATTACH=full]27414[/ATTACH]

Check out those paddles up front!!

 

 

[Marty_d]

I met a man a while back, who had been a design engineer on the SR71. Unfortunately he had gone all religious, as much as I was interested in the SR71, he only wanted to talk about Jesus.

 

Happens quite a bit. The pride and euphoria of the design process is often replaced by regret about it's destructiveness. Several who worked on the A-Bomb ended up with similar issues.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-01-13/ak-47-rifle-inventor-mikhail-kalashnikov-regrets-creating-weapon/5198396

Bit of a difference between inventing the A-Bomb, or the AK47 (which has probably killed more civilians than any other firearm), and an unarmed reconnaissance plane.

 

 

[Oscar]

Kurt Tank was the designer If I recall correctly. Apparently he test flew it without armament. In that condition it was supposed to be able to outrun anything else around. Very clean design (unlike the Bf 109) Nev

Saw both a standard FW190 (immaculately restored, better than out-of-the-factory which tends to be a feature of NASM restorations) and an unrestored H model in storage, the H is seriously longer and sleeker. Unfortunately it was very tightly packed in with a vast number of other aircraft and the wings were off it, but it has a presence all of its own, very elegant.

 

 

[bexrbetter]

err, mass produced war plane.

 

So...?....massed produced warplanes kept nazism from taking over the world, and kept the japs from taking over the Pacific.Thanks to massed produced war planes we don't goose step to work or eat only rice for lunch, and they continue to keep the communism pretty well boxed up............Maj....

ummm, errr what?

 

Oscar said a war plane was as "rough as guts" and I merely pointed out that they were mass produced war planes meaning there wasn't time for perfection and prettyness. Slap them together asap and get them into the air.

 

 

[dutchroll]

.........and they continue to keep the communism pretty well boxed up............Maj....

Yeah China is just a shadow of its former self and shrinking by the day.........

Rather simplistic and unconvincing argument.