debunking the myth of the Spitfire

[RJH57]

debunking the myth of the Spitfire:
http://hushkit.net/2015/12/04/dismantling-the-spitfire-myth/

[Zimme83]

That article has some flaws, it for example does not consider that during BoB Spitfires more often engage LW fighters while Hurricanes went after the bombers.
The numbers of available planes during BoB was not the real issue either, RAF had more fighters at the end of the fights than the beginning. Replacing the losses of pilots was a bigger problem.
The idea of only having Hurricanes instead of the spitfire might have worked in 1940 but the Hurricane was still obsolene and with new 109 versions (and the 190) the Hurricane would quickly have lost is effectivity in combat. In the early years of the war it was few planes besides the spitfire that could compete w the German fighters. RAF were able to counter the 190 w the introduction of the spit IX and i don't see that there was that many other planes that could have done it in so short time.

[GScholz]

[BaldEagl]

debunking the myth of the Spitfire:
http://hushkit.net/2015/12/04/dismantling-the-spitfire-myth/

It's on the Internet.  It must be true.

[MiloMorai]

Did the Hungarian lawyer write that article?

"its range in fighter variants was always poor, its narrow-track undercarriage invited accidents and its roll rate wasn’t competitive, a dangerous shortcoming for a fighter."

Describing the Bf109 he is.

[GScholz]

He does have a point about the production cost of the Spitfire, but that's it. In everything else there was little to choose between the Spit and 109.

[Zimme83]

These "what if" scenarios could be fun but in this case he hasn't thought it trough.
Claiming that the MB:3 would have been a good replacement for the spitfire is a bit bold since the MB:3 had the Napier Sabre engine, same as Typhoon and the reason for its initial failure. I have hard to see that it would have worked out any better in the MB:3. It would btw have been just another "Tempest".

In the final years of the war RAF would have been able to replace the Spit w the Pony. The problem is the mid war years, US aircraft industry did not picked up the pace until after Pearl Harbor and initially only planes available for RAF to replace the spit would be the P-38 and P-40 and I don't see that it would have been beneficial in any way. P-40 was already in the RAF inventory and could probably have been reasonably competitive if equipped with a later version of the Merlin but I see no advantages to that compare to having the Spitfire.

[DaveBB]

Spitfire was always lacking in range.  Good for defense, but not suited for offense when compared to long range US aircraft.  Also air-to-ground capability was lacking.  But it was a 1930s design.

[GScholz]

Had the P-51 not come along there would have been armed Spitfires over Berlin in 1944. Unarmed photo recon Spits had been flying to Berlin and back since 14 March 1941...

[Zimme83]

Had the P-51 not come along there would have been armed Spitfires over Berlin in 1944. Unarmed photo recon Spits had been flying to Berlin and back since 14 March 1941...

It would have been a solution for it for sure. but its how things work, the Allied figured out that they needed a long range escort fighter so they put their efforts there and the result was the Pony.

[GScholz]

Yes, and the British scrapped the Long-Range Spitfire program in favor of just buying Mustangs from the US.



The Germans also made a few long range variants of the 109 and 190 for special purposes, but the Luftwaffe rarely needed more range than what the standard models offered.

[MiloMorai]

rebuttal and re-rebuttlal

http://hushkit.net/2015/12/16/10616/
http://hushkit.net/2015/12/19/why-the-spitfires-place-in-history-of-world-war-ii-should-be-challenged/

[Zimme83]

http://hushkit.net/2015/12/19/why-the-spitfires-place-in-history-of-world-war-ii-should-be-challenged/

Well... Of course they kept the Hurricane in production during BoB since they had not been able to replace them all with the spitfire but I'm sure that Fighter command would have preferred to have only spitfires if it had been an option.

And while true that the spit V were outmatched by the 190, the Hurricane would have been in an even worse position. And since there was no other aircraft available to counter the 190 it was the wisest thing to do to upgrade the spit. And after all, all it needed was a new engine.

[RJH57]

England had the advantage during the Battle Of Britain NOT because of any great superiority in the Spitfire's performance but because the limited range and loiter time of the Luftwaffe's Me-109E fighter. The English early warning radar network was another huge advantage that enabled controllers to vector and advise  their interceptors. Also, British pilots who bailed lived to fight again whereas Luftwaffe bailers went into captivity.

[Chalenge]

How many years after WWII was the Hurricane still produced? and the Spitfire?