F4u flaps

[F4UDOA]

Saxman that is a great question,

Unfortunately Grumman had so many problems with the airspeed indicator in the F6F I don't think there is anyway anyone can know how fast the F6F was actually flying.

Even in later models and in test run by modern pilots the results are so scattered there is no way to know for sure. I have copies of Vought test where they used radio towers to calibrate the airspeed and they could say with little doubt how fast or slow their aircraft was flying. Then I have no less than 4 seperate CAS charts for the F6F some of which having as much as 18knots of error on the high and low end of the speed range.

I believe the F6F would have been marginally better with no flaps and not as good with flaps in terms of turning circle.

[SgtPappy]

Originally posted by F4UDOA
The only thing that is not in the manual for the Spit is stalls with power on (idle power). This helps give you an idea on how much wing area is affected by propwash. The F4U goes from 75knots to 66 knots by applying 23" of MAP which is a fairly significant reduction. I am not sure how the SPit is affected.

All that needs to really be done now is to test what speeds the Spit IX in AH stalls at power off at 7150LBS to see if it matches the manual or is close.

It is likely that there are some Spitfire training films out there. I've yet to find one, but it may have the info you're looking for - the F4U training vids on  www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com were very useful in telling different stalls under various situations. If you can find a video like that (not sure if there's a USAAF one, but they did use Spits), you may find your info.

If not, look to Widewing!