Hey Lone Star,
I have been flying the spitfire quite a bit lately, and am not very good as of late... As for the reversal, I can describe it in another plane, the 190 D9. Not quite the same flight characteristics, but it serves as an example. I was flying approximately 12k, level, not paying very much attention. I heard the faint whistle of 262 engines, and then a few tracers and the thud of those 30mm. I immediately snap rolled left, and ended up letting the 262 overshoot, upon maintaining level flight I shot off his wing at about d500. While this was probably one of my most exciting, quick manuevers ever, it taught me an important lesson. You need to do what the enemy does not expect. In a spitfire, most people will assume you are going to roll and pull in one direction, and you'll do it hard. At that point they can either go vertical and loop down on top of you, or lead you and waste some control surfaces. In a spit, I like to pull a looping barrel roll with some rudder input. This creates a situation where, if they are fast enough, they will shoot right through the 'tunnel' shape you've just created and you can end up on their six. Think of it like a roller coaster, where the loop is like a forward shaped spiral. What this does is create some neat angles and hopefully catches them off guard. The 262 thought he had a good bounce, I noticed it quick enough, barrel rolled down and back up, and he was slow enough for a great shot on the left wing ( AGJV44, was a tough break). Hope this helps, practice it some, the roll is easy to learn, the shooting afterward will take some practice.
