Question or two about the Spit 14

[J.A.W.]

Sure, check Mason's "The British Fighter since 1912",

& from  R. Beamont, one of the Hawker test pilots (& Tempest combat Wingco)..

"My 1st experience was on HM 599, the Tempest I prototype, on 22 June 1943,
& at once this felt a livelier, more precise & in some curious way a more aggressive fighter than the Typhoon.

HM 599 was on performance testing at the time & for a period Bill Humble & I found ourselves alternately
exceeding the existing world speed record... we pushed 'max levels' progressively up to the maximum power
 altitude at which a TAS of 471 mph was ultimately obtained.

For that stage of the war this was very high performance..."

[BaldEagl]

Sure, check Mason's "The British Fighter since 1912",

& from  R. Beamont, one of the Hawker test pilots (& Tempest combat Wingco)..

"My 1st experience was on HM 599, the Tempest I prototype, on 22 June 1943,
& at once this felt a livelier, more precise & in some curious way a more aggressive fighter than the Typhoon.

HM 599 was on performance testing at the time & for a period Bill Humble & I found ourselves alternately
exceeding the existing world speed record... we pushed 'max levels' progressively up to the maximum power
 altitude at which a TAS of 471 mph was ultimately obtained.

For that stage of the war this was very high performance..."

Sounds a like some non FAI certified stunt flight to me.  Probably into a stiff cold headwind catapaulted off a conveyer belt with WEP running the whole time.

[J.A.W.]

Mason writes,

" When Bill Humble carried out the initial performance checks with HM 599 on 4 June that year, (`43)
he recorded a max' speed of 460 mph TAS at 24,000ft

 &, after fitting a thinner tailplane, this was increased to 472 mph in September."

[J.A.W.]

Sounds a like some non FAI certified stunt flight to me.  Probably into a stiff cold headwind catapaulted off a conveyer belt with WEP running the whole time.

Very possibly, Baldy - for sure, they didn't put in a FAI air speed record claim either..

[BaldEagl]

Mason writes,

" When Bill Humble carried out the initial performance checks with HM 599 on 4 June that year, (`43)
he recorded a max' speed of 460 mph TAS at 24,000ft

 &, after fitting a thinner tailplane, this was increased to 472 mph in September."

He said she said blah blah blah.  Post the test data.

[J.A.W.]

He said she said blah blah blah.  Post the test data.

Yeah, & we' re still waiting for m.m. to come up with anything more than Wiki-myth figures for those Super-Jugs.

[J.A.W.]

Mason writes re Tempest Mk 6..

" Performance trials at Boscombe Down revealed a maximum speed of 462 mph at 19,800ft,
& exhaustive trials were flown to clear the carriage of a wide range of ground attack stores."

[MachFly]

After 8 years in the game I decided to try the Spit 14 out. Is there anything specific to flying the Spit 14 and how does it compare to the Spit 16 or are they two different aircraft ?

The thread is getting rather long, so please excuse me for not reading the whole thing.

To answer your question, 14 and 16 are about as different as they can possibly be. Different engine, prop, wings (not just the clipped part, the internal structure of the wing is different), and tail. The purposes of the aircraft are also different, 16 is a low altitude ground attack fighter, 14 is a mid-high altitude air-superiority fighter.

When flying the 14, try to keep it above 10K, it's fast there, faster than a P-51.

For combat use vertical maneuvers. It has a high power to weight ratio and as every other spit keeps it's energy for a long time. Try not to get too slow (bellow 230ish), it's heavier than most other spits and you will most likely be at a disadvantage. Stay between 260 and 360.
Practice low energy high AoA maneuvering offline, the thing is very torqey. Make sure the torque doesn't kill you, you can actually learn to take advantage of it.
Try to avoid using your flaps in combat, you will bleed off a lot of energy with them down.

If you get in trouble, Spit14 accelerates very fast, if you can't outrun something you can outclimb it. 109K4 is an exception, but they are so close that the numbers depend on the fuel state of both aircraft.

When in cruise burn wing tanks first, then the top tank, then the bottom. The reason why you are leaving the bottom for last is it is self-sealing and armored, the other ones are not. Also the bottom tank is kinda small, so by the time you start burning it it's probably time to head home. The plane does burn quite a lot of fuel, do not use WEP unless you actually need it, WEP uses even more fuel, and it's noticeable.

Best glide speed is 135mph.


Let me know if you have any more specific questions.

BTW, do note that I have not been playing for a year and got back only last week, there is a small possibility I might be forgetting something.

[MachFly]

TC....if you get a chance, try and look up MachFly he flies rooks, and is very good in the 14

Appreciate it.

[mthrockmor]

The Spit14 is the best 109 ever made. Fight like a 109 (in the vertical) and you'll do great!

Agreed.

I've only goofed around in the 14 but it's climb and ability to hang on the prop seems incredible. Then it turns about as well as you'd expect a Spit to turn.

boo

[J.A.W.]

According to Alfred Price..

"As a stop-gap the Mk XIV was placed in production, being essentially a Mk VIII fitted with the Griffon 65
engine...a considerable improvement in performance compared with the Mk IX."

[MachFly]

According to Alfred Price..

"As a stop-gap the Mk XIV was placed in production, being essentially a Mk VIII fitted with the Griffon 65
engine...a considerable improvement in performance compared with the Mk IX."

The tail was also extended.

[J.A.W.]

If by 'tail' you mean rudder, then that, along with a retracting tail wheel - was a Mk VIII deal too..

[MachFly]

If by 'tail' you mean rudder, then that, along with a retracting tail wheel - was a Mk VIII deal too..

No, I mean the whole empennage. The CG got screwed up when they put a much heavier Griffon in a Spit 8, and the handling sucked, the solution was to extend the tail.

[J.A.W.]

Figures, just about every WW2 single engine fighter had to do that to cope..