Spit 14

[Yarbles]

I fly this plane quite allot alongside the Spit VIII.

I am surprised how badly it handles in certain situations particularly its stall behaviour. It seems highly unstable and unbalanced and I am surprised a plane with these characteristics ever went into production.

When Soda writes about it he says it is in many ways indestiquishable from the spit 9 in turning and handling etc!!!

Has it been modified to make it more off a handfull since he wrote his report and is it correctly modelled???   

[moot]

Guppy mentionned that it was such a departure from the Spitfire that they (Supermarine or the RAF I guess) considered renaming it.

[LYNX]

I had the same problem.....at first.  It's stick settings that makes it appear twitchy and that's the work around.  Its a little fiddly to get it right but it does improve the handling considerably.  Stops those snap rolls  and tank slapper (motorcycle phrase) rudder over corrections.  Make the stick stiffer.  All sticks are different so theres no easy profile to recommend.  Dead band, damper and stick scales are for you to suck an see.

However, its not as stable low speed turning at the other spits.  Its also prone to snapping wings off in high speed turns like the old 262 was.  Bare in mind you are going faster than the other spits.  Get it over 23k on full blowers and its a killer. 

[Yarbles]

I had the same problem.....at first.  It's stick settings that makes it appear twitchy and that's the work around.  Its a little fiddly to get it right but it does improve the handling considerably.  Stops those snap rolls  and tank slapper (motorcycle phrase) rudder over corrections.  Make the stick stiffer.  All sticks are different so theres no easy profile to recommend.  Dead band, damper and stick scales are for you to suck an see.

However, its not as stable low speed turning at the other spits.  Its also prone to snapping wings off in high speed turns like the old 262 was.  Bare in mind you are going faster than the other spits.  Get it over 23k on full blowers and its a killer. 

Thanks Ill try that and adjust my stick with more deadband and steaper scaling.

I think baring in mind the realtively modest increase in performance except up high the 9 and 8 are a much better balance. The 14 I think is the same plane as the 8 with a bigger longer engine that is probably too much for the air frame to handle and unbalances the whole thing for an inusfficient gain in top speed.

To resurect a well worn debate with all the 14's weaknesses I am surprised it is so highly perked if even perked at all.
I would perk the Nikki, Spit 16 and La7. People in AH build up huge perk reserves because these unperked planes are the rides of choice.

[Kazaa]

If the Mk.XIV flew in real life like it does in AH2 then I'll eat my socks.

Unperk the Mk.XIV btw.

[Ghosth]

Its a 109 in spits clothing. Handles nothing like the spit 8 or 9.

Its a high alt design, that really only shines at high alts.

[Yarbles]

If the Mk.XIV flew in real life like it does in AH2 then I'll eat my socks.

Unperk the Mk.XIV btw.

I wonder if anyone has seen any written accounts of its performance. 

Perhaps if we had some data we could get Hi Tech to re work it a bit. At the moment we have high perks and crap handling or the worst of both worlds. I would say remove the perk or take the rough edge of it. It cant be both a perked ride and bagger to fly. Dont make sense

[Oldman731]

Its a 109 in spits clothing. Handles nothing like the spit 8 or 9.

Its a high alt design, that really only shines at high alts.

Agreed...sort of.

The Spit 14 is a difficult plane to fly well, totally unlike its Spitfire brethern.

However, once you get the hang of it, the plane is a monster.  While it's best at high alts, it's still a monster at low alts.

- oldman

[Yarbles]

Agreed...sort of.

The Spit 14 is a difficult plane to fly well, totally unlike its Spitfire brethern.

However, once you get the hang of it, the plane is a monster.  While it's best at high alts, it's still a monster at low alts.

- oldman

Got any tips??

[lyric1]

Got any tips??

Fly it like a D pony. That is what I try to do.

[Lusche]

Fly it like a less stable 109K.

[Yarbles]

Fly it like a D pony. That is what I try to do.

I dont fly a 109k as far as the Pony goes that is what I try to do but it has certain weaknesses vis the pony.

1) Roll rate deteriates significantly with speed.
2) Wings rip off if you pull a sharp fast manovre.
3) Allot more untstable close to the stall.
4) Slower in allot of situations.

But

1) Outclimbs
2) Outaccelrates
3) Outguns

The Pony.

So I fly it up high and use E to batter my opponents from above knowing that as long as things dont get too slow I can outturn them mostly as well. If I fight a pony in a sustained fight I try to gain the E advantage in a vertical fight but they still have the option to dive away and use their roll rate to dodge me in fast pursuit. 

[waystin2]

My success in the 14 comes from what I call the soup ladle approach.  Dip down, bring it up, then eat it.  Rinse and repeat.  Always work the vertical with the 14, as this is where she truly shines!  I have ended up on the deck fighting with it, and you have a pretty fair chance against 1-2 cons.  More than that, and the 14's instabilities really become a handicap.

[Yarbles]

My success in the 14 comes from what I call the soup ladle approach.  Dip down, bring it up, then eat it.  Rinse and repeat.  Always work the vertical with the 14, as this is where she truly shines!  I have ended up on the deck fighting with it, and you have a pretty fair chance against 1-2 cons.  More than that, and the 14's instabilities really become a handicap.

Makes sense and of course you have to avoid bringing it up to fast or the wings fly off. I dont understand with such a relatively low perk why it gets ganged by so many so quickly. I guess low down its seen as both a threat and an easy kill simultaneously.

I find the Nikki and other spits especially the 8 and 16 tough as when they follow you up they often catch you

The other shortcoming in relation to the Pony is it compresses earlier which tends to mean you cant carry as much E into a fight though of course you can recover it quicker.

Jonnie Johnson said of the 14 "It had more in common with the p51 than the spit 9" I  would agree probably in ah anyway but I am not sure whether flown like a pony it is as good as a Pony.

[sunfan1121]

Fly it like a D pony. That is what I try to do.

Climb to 25k and run to your ack? That's all I've ever seen your D pony do.