Well, at least some of you guys are claiming that the Farnborough test is wrong, because it MUST be, because a Spitty could never dive that far.
BTW, I'll tell you a little story of a Hurry pilot who dove full power from 30K
Here ya go: (oh, 17th squadron, aircraft number is either YB-S or YB-T, Hurricane Mk II, year 1941)
"I climbed up to 30.000 feet, rolled over and shoved the nose down into a dive with the throttle forward. I watched as the needle of the airspeed indicator moved clockwise, passing the numerals 300, 400 and 500, which was the highest value on the dial. By now the engine was roaring and the wind screaming as it passed the canopy, and I felt it was time to pull the throttle back and start slowing down, but just at that moment it seemed like an explosion occurred in the cockpit as one of the canopy panes blew out and my head got sucked into the hole it left behind. I managed to free my head and started pulling at the control column to come out of the dive.
To my surprise, and a little later to my horror, I discovered I could not move the stick. I pulled with all my might but nothing happened and the aircraft continued diving vertically towards the ground at high speed. The hands of the altimeter were unwinding fast and I saw I was already passing 10.000 feet. Now I was becoming seriously alarmed. I undid my safety straps, put both feet on the instrument panel in front of me, wound both hands around the control column and heaved with all the strength I could muster. And, thank god, the nose started slowly inching away from the vertical. Now the sweat was pouring off me as I continued to pull with all my might, and suddenly it seemed as if something gave in and the nose started to rise rapidly. I got pressed down into the seat with tremendous force and the blood drained from my head - all became black and I lost conciousness.When I came-to again the aircraft was climbig vertically and very close to stalling. Although I was giddy I managed to regain control and get the aircraft flying level again. I looked at the altimeter and it showed 5000 feet. I shall never know how close to the mountains of Scotland I was when I passed out, but that cannot have been very far.
When I taxied to the parking stand people gathered around to stare at the aircraft. In addition to the pane in the canopy an access panel to the radio compartment had blown off, but what most caught people's attention were the wrinkles on the upper surface of the wings. Measurements later showed I had added three degrees of Dihedral to the wings!"