Best morning ever ?

[iggy1966]

One thing I do miss about living in Lincoln is the regular "fly past" I used to get from the Battle of Britain memorial flight, Spitfire, hurricane and Lancaster bomber, absolutly awsome noise as they passed over at 300 ft.

[Stormin Ben]

I'm with Ben on this one
1) the Spitfire was a better plane but harder to fly and not as stable a gun platform as the Hurricane
2)The Spitfire was far mere costly and tine-consuming to make
3)The Spitfire used more metal. Metal was a very scarce resource
4) The planes were used for different purposes - the Hurricane was used to shoot down bombers. Being a very stable platforn it excelled at this. More planes were shot down by Hurricanes than by Spitfires
The Spitfire was used to take care of the fighter escorts.

And not forgetting the other fundamental flaw.
Considering the vast majority of the RAF's airfields at the time were grass strips the undercarriage on the Spit was way too narrow. The Hurri's was much wider

Ben

[Squiffythewombat]

Hey droid,

I do agree that the spit was more of a mission to construct and fly but without them the hurris would have been shot down in the hundrads. I think the thing with the hurri was that it was versitile, being used in the desert and the carrier based version which is why it lasted so long.

Most of my info comes from fly past mags etc, although im lucky to live a stones throw from the BOB musesm at manston and its quite common to meet the odd pilot down there! BIG RESPECT TO THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as for arrament, it depends on what period and theatre. i was talking genrally as the axis swayed towards cannons because of their extreme firepower, however the ROF was very low and this was the complaints from many pilots. The RAF having very high ROF's with 8 brownings the "peppering" effect came into play. this is so say that rather than one axis cannon hitting, the plane was peppered by mutliple smaller rounds. Another intresting fact is that most ME pilots hated the nose cannon because of the vibrations it produced.

Another reason the Allied forces didnt like cannons was the weight, recoil and ammo stash. For example if you have a large cannon in your wing, you have to create a "bulge" for the extra dimesion and ammo size. This bulge creates drag, which is never good. Also the airframe had to be much more rigid to cope with the extra stress that a cannon produced. this ment that the airframes where not only heavier but also less durable. It was for this reason that typhoons and the like were used for ground to air because of the airframe design being more suited to heavy weapons, than things like the spit.

As for the planes u mentioned, im not sure on exact version but didnt the vb version have two cannons and the long wing tips still using the rounded tail plane?
as for the F version of the Me109 im not sure, but the Me109 wasnt really a cannon platform inmo. I was thinking more along the lines of FW190's, Ju87's, Bf110s, Me262 etc. I thought the Me109 was one of the lesser armed version which is why it was replaced thru the latter half of the war for things that could actually keep up and turn with the 51's? The axis had a wider range of aircraft for various applications i thought??? IE: they used He219's for fighters, bombers and recon.

and omg another essay, i really need to get out more :-S
Toby

[logan7]

Iggy i too miss the flypasts. I was at finningly every year untill it closed that was the last time i saw a spitfire, hurricane and lancaster

[Pete.L]

If you Boys want to see one again we have one down here which which is out practicing at least once a week. It takes off from the BAE runway in Filton (about 50 yrds away from my window in work).
Don't bother mythering me with questions about it though, all I know is it's got bigger wings in the front than on the rear, the bloke flys it like he's stole it and it sounds awsome
Pete.l
Oh yeah, and no work gets done when he's practicing

[droid]

Agree with most of that, Toby,

however.... (non-anoraks stop here)

if the Hurricanes didn't shoot down the bombers, the Spitfires would not have runways. The thing that 'won' the Battle of Britain was Hitlers' personal decision to stop bombing Fighter Command and start bombing London. Bit of a pisser for London, but gave FC time to repair fields and planes, and train pilots - most were incredibly young, and didn't have a very long life expectancy. As you rightly say - RESPECT!
The Typhoon?Tempest was originally concieved as a persuit plane. Problems with the engine at high altitude led to it being used for ground attack. It was a huge plane for a fighter, well able to stand 4 cannon.
Bf109 phased out - mais non - they continued to be produced after the war ended - the Spanish fitted a Merlin engine to new-build 109s in 1956!
Buggers to land, aparrently!

Which twin engined fighter-bomber - Beaufighter or Mosquito!!!!!


ATB Toby

Droid

[Max]

Beaufighter, much more versatile than the Mosquito.
Runs away from pro Mosquito abuse..........

[Alienist]

Have to be the Beaufighter:D Those big Hercules engines hammering away near the cockpit, brutal, simple lines and tough as nails. Had an excellent reputation in Australia and the Pacific Theatre for range and hitting power. The Mossie just could not cope with the heat and humidity. Though an excellent aircraft, the mossie was a little more feminine looking
And that counts when it comes to weapons of war

[droid]

very true mate
The Japs called it 'Whispering Death'!

[logan7]

My house is full of spitfire pics. barrie a f clark. dover patrol by john young .print 70 of 850 i just love that plane the look and the sound. Its just the same way i love my storm,the look and the sound i think its unique
Its funny to me how much passion is shown by so many that mean so much to so few. never forget

[Alienist]

I believe it was reasonable quiet due to the design of the engines and its outright speed during attacks.

[logan7]

I am not alone a biking, ww2 plane nut i love you guys

[logan7]

ps i have had a drink, but i do mean it, i love spitfires,storms and you all

[Alienist]

Definately not alone mate, there are thousands of us and we are slowly taking over
The closest I think I will ever get to experiencing what a WW2 Flight line would have sounded like, was during my drag racing days, standing in the middle of 50 V8 drag cars all idling way, deep bass rumble, awesome sound.
I still remember seeing my first Hurricane and Spitfire flying. 1978 (I think) Farnborough airshow. I believe it was the first outing of the Harrier as well. Was only a little fella, so going on memory here.
At home, pride of place on the wall is a large print of Australian B24 Liberators flying over Sydney. Along with that I've got a few Spitfire prints and a Lancaster at dawn, over the Channel.

[logan7]

I have flown a light aircaft it was so easy i could feel the plane with the seat of my pants, just like i feel my bike moving under me. But to fly a fighter at 18 or 19 into combat . much respect to them guys