question about Spit XIV

[Hristo]

Someone mentioned on this board that Spitfire XIV had improved high speed control.

Now, please, is that true ?

If so, how was it improved ?

How much ?

[juzz]

Probably confused. The Spitfire Mk.21 had a redesigned wing, which improved aileron control at high speed.

However; the XIV was based on the VIII airframe, which had different ailerons to the IX. I don't know if they made any difference to handling characteristics though.

I know one XIV was trialled with "piano hinge" ailerons which greatly improved high-speed authority, but also made stall behaviour worse.

[Karnak]

I was the guy who posted that and no, I'm not confused.  Its not the one that was trialled with "piano hinge" ailerons, this was a standard change from earlier Spits.
I would not imagine that it is much improved.

The moved the aerilons in about a foot, or they clipped about a foot off of the outside of them.  This would aliviate some of the difficulty in rolling the aircraft at speed as well as reduce the Spitfire's high speed wing warping problem.  Given how narrow the aerilons are out there it would probably not have much effect on its low speed roll, but I would expect it to roll slightly slower than the MkIX at low speed.

I read about this change from an unreliable source and did not really belive it until I looked at, and compared, pictures of Spitfire MkXIVs with pictures of earlier Spitfires.  Once I did that, it was easy to see the difference in aerilon length.  I was surprised that I had not noticed it before.

The change that came with the Mk21s wing whould be much more significant.

Sisu
-Karnak

[This message has been edited by Karnak (edited 10-24-2000).]

[juzz]

Karnak; those are probably the Mk VIII ailerons you see. They were shorter in span than the ailerons from the Mk V.