Originally posted by Wilbus
The 109 was a small plane, like the spit. It was built as an air superiority fighter and interceptor, not an escort fighter. The Spit and 109 were built on more or less the exact same terms, the spit ended up with a bit bigger wings and thus better turn radius. THey were both small airframes with the biggest possible engine installed.
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242 sq ft vs. 174 sq ft. Thats 39% more - almost half again as much.
Originally posted by Wilbus
The problem IS the turn radius. This problem might not lie in the 109 as much as it lies in the P51, P47, Hog etc etc (just tell me why I often outturn Spits in Ponys, granted the pilots aren't the top of the notch, but still, a n00b spit should outturn a P51). The P47 weights in at nearly 10,000 lbs EMPTY. That's 2500 lbs MORE then a FULLY LOADED 109. Not sure of the typical combatload of the Jug but remove maybe 4000 lbs from the max load of 17,500 lbs and we're down to 13,500lbs.
Now remove 1100lbs (500kg bomb) from the 109's max load of about 7500 and we're down to 6400 lbs. The P47 outturning the 109, outlooping it etc is like a 109 outturning a zeke.
So while I know the Jug and Pony can be beaten in the vertical using climbrate, we shouldn't have to.
You could have an airplane that weighed as much as a mountain, but as long as you have enough lift and enough thrust, it'd turn with the best of them.
Below I've listed the combat takeoff weight, wing area, rate of climb (gives a good indication of acceleration/excess power available for manuevering) and wing loading for the Spit,109,51, and 47.
Spitfire Lf.IX - 7,485 lbs - 242 sq ft wing area
0 ft RoC - 4600 fpm
wing loading 30.9 lbs/sq ft
Bf109G-14 - 7,320 lbs - 174 sq ft wing area
0 ft RoC - 3,800-4,300 fpm (depends on the chart you look at)
wing loading 42 lbs/sq ft
P-51D - 10208 lbs - 236 sq ft wing area
0 ft RoC - 3,400-3,600 fpm (depending on chart again)
wing loading 43.3 lbs/sq ft
P-47D - 13,582-14,411 (depending on specific D model) - 300 sq ft wing area
0 ft RoC - 2,900-3,250fpm (depending on specific D model)
wing loading 45.3-48
Is it really that surprising that the Spit turns WAY better then the others, and that the last three are pretty close to one another? Especially when you consider that the American planes are often running around the arena 1000+ lbs lighter then what I've listed here due to fuel and weapons loads.
