I want my old spit 5 back!

[Krusty]

Dedalos: You can dive anything to any speed. I dive the Ki84 a lot. Only problem is I lose rudder (Ye gods, WHY the rudder?!?!) if I go too fast. It can go much faster, I just back off because I want to be able to get kills (i.e. I need my rudder). The Spits have a G-related bug I think. They were shedding wings like MAD the day they came out. A little while later they "fixed" this, but I think there's still a bug. I think it's there on the new 109s as well (they don't lose the wings, but the bug is there). Best guess: massive G-spikes on both sets of planes when there really shouldn't be. I've only ripped wings off a spit16, and I wasn't even blacking out when I did. It was a high speed dive and I eased out of it gently as a lamb, then SNAP no more wings.

Levi: Okay, I admit I was thinking about prop planes only. I think the 262 dives better just because it's faster most of the time, and already at a high speed when it dives, to begin with. If you're same speed and same alt and do a dive test I wonder which would pull away, a La7, a p47, or a 262?

So let me correct myself by saying "For Prop Planes, diving means nothing"

[Raptor]

You're still wrong Krusty

Dive in a P38 and a P47
P38 starts buffeting around 400, dive flaps can reduce buffering. It is damn hard to get a P38 over 500 in a dive. P47 doesn't buffer until 500+
P47 Accelerates like crazy in a dive as well, P47 best bet on catching a 262 in a dive.

[Krusty]

Okay then I'm wrong, but many planes dive far too well, against historical testing and anecdotal evidence.

Zeros out dive p40s. Las outdive 109Gs. Hurricane seems a bit "generous" in its abilities as well. 190d or p51d, there's very little difference between the two. P51d vs P47D, very little difference.

It seems that only a few planes have arbitrary "buffet" points or "shed parts" points, compared to most planes I think of.

[Karnak]

Dive acceleration is not equal.

I have watched La-7s just run away from my Spitfire Mk XIV in a dive starting at 25,000ft.

I have easily out run P-51Ds and La-7s by diving the Mosquito.


I remember see a US document posted that compared the dive of the A6M2 and various American aircraft.  The P-47 pulled away fastest.  After a dive of something like 5000ft it had only pulled ahead by about 300 yards as I recall.

The way people talk here they expect their Fw190 to be 1000 yards ahead of a Spitfire in a like dive.

The dive performance was different, but not to the extreme that people seem to think.

[1K3]

Originally posted by Krusty
Okay then I'm wrong, but many planes dive far too well, against historical testing and anecdotal evidence.

Zeros out dive p40s. Las outdive 109Gs. Hurricane seems a bit "generous" in its abilities as well. 190d or p51d, there's very little difference between the two. P51d vs P47D, very little difference.

Krusty

A6M zeros and 109Gs are "sprinters", of course they will out-dive the P-40s and Las in 0 to 250 mph.  In a "marathon" the P-40 will beat the A6M and 109 will beat Las in syustained dive.

[Krusty]

There is nothing "sprinter"-like about the zero, ik3. It was never a good accelerator, a diver, a climber, or a runner. It was slow but highly manuverable. While it was good in some other areas, it was by no means a diving aircraft.

Karnak, I think you might have mis-read the report that stated that, or it wasn't clear. There have been posts of other reports (p47 vs fw190) where starting at 20,000 feet or something, the p47 was easily out-dived by a fw-190, the p47 only catching up to the fw at the 3,000 foot mark on the altimeter. That's a hefty advantage, if ya ask me.

[bozon]

Originally posted by Karnak
I remember see a US document posted that compared the dive of the A6M2 and various American aircraft.  The P-47 pulled away fastest.  After a dive of something like 5000ft it had only pulled ahead by about 300 yards as I recall.

300 yards is all a pilot needed to be clear of guns range - or to close into gun range.

Bozon