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General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: nrshida on November 07, 2011, 03:44:34 PM

Title: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 07, 2011, 03:44:34 PM
After flying the Number One Spitfire in the MA recently a discussion began about the stall characteristics and especially the inverted flat spin, which has the additional fun feature of cutting the engine due to the lack of gravity (which the carburettors need to feed fuel with this type).

I suggested to RTHolmes that you can escape by Elvis Presleying your way out of it, Rock and Rolling in other words  :rock

Unfortunately the film viewer doesn't seem to depict the control surface movements but what I try to do is to get the plane to rock at the same time as oscillating the ailerons and looking for suggestion that the nose is ready to come back down.. Sometimes this works quite quickly. I have a feeling that the effect of the elevators is reversed in this position, so you often need to push slightly forward on the stick at the right moment. About ⅓ I suggest. Once the nose does start to go slightly downwards again it is important to be gentle or the spin will restart again very quickly. Once it has settled down you can restart the engine with the starter and go about your business.

Naturally this costs some altitude!


Number 1 Spitfire Recovery 2.ahf (http://www.4shared.com/file/cd1cHeY6/Number_1_Spitfire_Recovery_2.html)


Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: olds442 on November 07, 2011, 03:57:20 PM
also i thought more than just the spit in the hurricane had float carbs i know some planes where throttle linked carbs and some where fuel injected (db605) but i think the early allisons had float carbs then went to throtle carbs. all in all i know the d7 had a float carb so if you go negitive in it heck in most ww1 planes it will stall.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: Krusty on November 07, 2011, 04:51:27 PM
Not all float carbs cut out in negative G. It was an issue with the gas feed in those Merlin engines specifically. The Spit Mk.XII had a similar issue at first and pilots were quite upset. They were told the cutout was a thing of the past and yet were still experiencing it. A rep from the factory came out (a lady on a bicycle the story goes) and replaced a rubber diaphram in all the engines' carbs and the problems disappeared.

I don't know if Allisons had that float carb or not, but regardless they did not have the negative G cutout.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: RTHolmes on November 07, 2011, 05:29:37 PM
I can usually catch those given some alt, I was talking about the full tailslide. took me quite a few attempts to replicate it offline (25% fuel helps apparently) and now my ISPs hosting server is down :(  happens to me when i'm pulling inside a turn for a shot almost vertically so pull up get to ?70mph and push forward. if you catch it while you still have forward motion and some controls you're good, once you start tailsliding properly nothing much seems to help.


edit: here we go http://www.lumbergh.aquiss.com/ah/ah_films/tailslide.ahf (http://www.lumbergh.aquiss.com/ah/ah_films/tailslide.ahf)
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 08, 2011, 01:32:57 AM
I see the problem RTHolmes, will have a bash at this one this afternoon. (http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/5780/1053175781.gif)

I read a bit further, it was a flooding problem apparently, which Tilly Shilling fixed with her little orifice  :lol

She was quite a character I think:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Shilling
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: Tilt on November 09, 2011, 06:08:27 AM
Quote
According to anecdote, she refused to marry him until he also had been awarded the Brooklands Gold Star for lapping the circuit at over 100 mph.

My kinda girl!!!!! :salute
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: olds442 on November 09, 2011, 04:22:06 PM
Not all float carbs cut out in negative G. It was an issue with the gas feed in those Merlin engines specifically. The Spit Mk.XII had a similar issue at first and pilots were quite upset. They were told the cutout was a thing of the past and yet were still experiencing it. A rep from the factory came out (a lady on a bicycle the story goes) and replaced a rubber diaphram in all the engines' carbs and the problems disappeared.

I don't know if Allisons had that float carb or not, but regardless they did not have the negative G cutout.
in any case a float carb will cut gas un neg G's so the planes with them should lose power when in neg G's because it will cut the gas so much the engine will lean its self out giving the engine a high rpm then a stall.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: MiloMorai on November 09, 2011, 05:05:11 PM
Not all float carbs cut out in negative G. It was an issue with the gas feed in those Merlin engines specifically. The Spit Mk.XII had a similar issue at first and pilots were quite upset. They were told the cutout was a thing of the past and yet were still experiencing it. A rep from the factory came out (a lady on a bicycle the story goes) and replaced a rubber diaphram in all the engines' carbs and the problems disappeared.

I don't know if Allisons had that float carb or not, but regardless they did not have the negative G cutout.

Yes they will! The lady was a Beatrice 'Tilly' Shilling and the fixed was named Miss Tilley's Orfice. Miss Shilling with a small team travelled around the countryside in early 1941 fitting the restrictors, giving priority to front-line units.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: morfiend on November 09, 2011, 07:44:46 PM
in any case a float carb will cut gas un neg G's so the planes with them should lose power when in neg G's because it will cut the gas so much the engine will lean its self out giving the engine a high rpm then a stall.


 Actually you have this backwards,the float bowls don't get fuel because the floats are at their highest point so the carb doesn't demand fuel from the system.What fuel is in the carb gets used up and the engine is fuel starved and cuts out.

  It doesn't run lean,that would be a mixture setting and has nothing to do with what happens under neg.G's


  1 of the biggest issues with the flat spin/inverted spin in the spitMk1 is caused by combat trim!  Once the plane enters at stall CT dials in full up elevator,much like in the TA152 and this causes you to have problems getting enough down elevator to pitch the nose down.

 Turning off CT and giving full down elevator trim can help alot,so can lowering the gear! If you lowered flaps you've made the situation worse,this also dials in full up elevator trim and can make recovery all but impossible.


   YMMV!


   :salute
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: olds442 on November 10, 2011, 05:18:13 PM

 Actually you have this backwards,the float bowls don't get fuel because the floats are at their highest point so the carb doesn't demand fuel from the system.What fuel is in the carb gets used up and the engine is fuel starved and cuts out.

  It doesn't run lean,that would be a mixture setting and has nothing to do with what happens under neg.G's


  1 of the biggest issues with the flat spin/inverted spin in the spitMk1 is caused by combat trim!  Once the plane enters at stall CT dials in full up elevator,much like in the TA152 and this causes you to have problems getting enough down elevator to pitch the nose down.

 Turning off CT and giving full down elevator trim can help alot,so can lowering the gear! If you lowered flaps you've made the situation worse,this also dials in full up elevator trim and can make recovery all but impossible.


   YMMV!


   :salute
in neg g's the float goes up making the gas cut out. thats exactly what i said
and it will run lean. to much air and to little gas= lean.  when your float goes up in neg G's that engine gets fuel starved BUT not air starved. that means lean.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: DMVIAGRA on November 10, 2011, 05:34:00 PM
RAF after realising how clumsy the Spitfire was.

(http://www.vord.net/609/spitfires/spitfire_crash.jpg)
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: morfiend on November 10, 2011, 06:09:18 PM
in neg g's the float goes up making the gas cut out. thats exactly what i said
and it will run lean. to much air and to little gas= lean.  when your float goes up in neg G's that engine gets fuel starved BUT not air starved. that means lean.


  Ok..... :rolleyes:   when the float bowls are empty the engine runs lean,oh and increases rpm.

  So if you shut off fuel flow will the engine also run lean? After all it will still get air just no fuel so as you explain it it must run lean.




   :salute

 PS: I suppose you'll tell me the fixed it with fuel injection.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: RTHolmes on November 10, 2011, 06:55:58 PM
looks like I'm not the only one that cant recover the spit I tailslide o death  :uhoh
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: Oldman731 on November 10, 2011, 07:42:52 PM
looks like I'm not the only one that cant recover the spit I tailslide o death 


Take comfort.  I have never been able to recover from it, and I believe I have tried all the solutions proffered in this thread.

The moral is not to get slow at the top of the loop. 

- oldman
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: olds442 on November 11, 2011, 06:43:59 PM

  Ok..... :rolleyes:   when the float bowls are empty the engine runs lean,oh and increases rpm.

  So if you shut off fuel flow will the engine also run lean? After all it will still get air just no fuel so as you explain it it must run lean.




   :salute

 PS: I suppose you'll tell me the fixed it with fuel injection.
lets do this 5=hgihest 0=lowest

so at first lets do a unrealistic 3 gas to 3 air
now you go negative g's the gas goes to 1 and air goes to 3 this is lean and engine is still running
now your upside down and this is what happens 0 gas to 3 air now this is not lean because the engine sshut off.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: morfiend on November 11, 2011, 07:07:30 PM
^^^^

  what???



  The engine doesn't lean out,it's fuel starved there is a difference. The float bowls don't control fuel mixture so I'm not understanding where you get the leans out part.


  Under neg G the floats.....float.... and are at the top of the bowl{s} this tells the system to stop pumping fuel so that the carb doesn't flood itself. Then when all the fuel in the carb is used up the engine stops because it has no fuel.


  5 highest 0lowest notwithstanding,3 air 3 fuel,good luck getting that to run. :rofl the average fuel air mixture is around 12 to 1,go down to 10 to 1 and that's lean,got up to 14 and that's fat.


   Now go ahead and share more of your wisdom with me. :old:





   :salute
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 12, 2011, 03:35:12 AM
I've been reading up on this problem and it was actually a little more involved. The carburetter was employed in the Spitfire in place of fuel injection because they believed it increased the effectiveness of the supercharger and hence gave more power (the Germans were forced to employ fuel injection because they went and built their engine upside down in the first place (http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/rwrk2/facepalm.gif)).

The early versions used an SU carburetter. When bunting, the fuel was forced to the top of the float chambers causing the initial fuel starvation (spluttering and loss of power). If the negative G manoeuvre was sustained then the fuel would accumulate in the top of the float chamber and push the float downwards opening the SU's needle valve to maximum, flooding the engine and shutting it down completely.

Tilly's orifice was fitted to the fuel lines which restricted the flow and allowed just enough fuel for maximum power (clever eh?) it even came in two settings, for boosted and normal engines. The needles of the carburetters were also modified and the fuel feed moved from the bottom to the side of the float chamber.

These solutions allowed the Spitty pilots to follow the dastardly Hun through his cowardly bunting escapes and fill the blighter full of 303, preferably aiming for his knockwurst [1]. These problems were completely resolved with the introduction of the Bendix pressurised carburettors in '42.



[1] "Bag the Hun: Estimation of Range & Angle Off". Air Ministry - 1943 [http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,297962.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,297962.0.html)]

Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: LCADolby on November 12, 2011, 09:08:45 AM
, preferably aiming for his knockwurst

Not the one containing the fallen madonna with the big... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OM-Hj3JEmY&feature=player_detailpage#t=367s
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 12, 2011, 09:34:14 AM
Not the one containing the fallen madonna with the big...

 :rofl
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: PR3D4TOR on November 12, 2011, 09:35:15 AM
(the Germans were forced to employ fuel injection because they went and built their engine upside down in the first place (http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/rwrk2/facepalm.gif)).

The DB 601 was a fuel injected improvement over the carburetor fed DB 600. Both were of inverted-V design and I really don't understand why you would think that the orientation of the cylinders has any bearing on what fuel system they can use. Most if not all American radial engines used during the war used carburetors. The reason why the DB 600 series used an inverted-V design was because it is aerodynamically desirable. The reason why the DB 601 and its developments used direct fuel injection was because that's what the RLM decided they wanted.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 12, 2011, 05:07:33 PM
I really don't understand why you would think that the orientation of the cylinders has any bearing on what fuel system they can use.

 :rofl (http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/k526/rwrk2/stirpot.gif)
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: PR3D4TOR on November 12, 2011, 05:52:23 PM
Oh you!  :furious
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 13, 2011, 01:38:19 AM
Hey! Someone corrected the Wikipedia page about Tilly's Orifice since yesterday. Yesterday it said the orifice was fitted to the float chamber and now it says (correctly) it was fitted to the fuel lines and mentions the flooding problem I researched. Was it one of you lot? Jolly good show if it was  :salute

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Spitfire#Carburettor_versus_fuel_injection

Sorry PR3D4TOR but one of my hobbies is making fun of German engineering. I actually do know rather a lot about internal combustion engines. All light hearted stuff though. Achtung Schpitfire  :old:

Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: PR3D4TOR on November 13, 2011, 09:00:04 AM
No harm done, except to my carpal tunnels ;)
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: LCADolby on November 13, 2011, 12:32:03 PM


Sorry PR3D4TOR but one of my hobbies is making fun of German engineering. I actually do know rather a lot about internal combustion engines. All light hearted stuff though. Achtung Schpitfire  :old:


But the Germans are so ingenius http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cqrQkF2ISE&feature=related  :D
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: nrshida on November 13, 2011, 01:28:09 PM
 :rofl check out his pyjamas!  :rock
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: Devonai on November 13, 2011, 04:49:46 PM
I have been flying the Mk 1 exclusively this tour, and so far this has only happened to me once.  I went up and over hoping for an easy kill on a P-39D and watched in horror as my airspeed dropped to zero.  I tried all my spin recover tricks but was forced to bail at 1500 feet.  Somebody got a free kill, but I blame myself.  Now I'm far more cautious about my vertical maneuvering.
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: RTHolmes on November 13, 2011, 04:53:21 PM
Ive had 2 sorties in the MkI this tour, got a kill both times, and both times my sortie was ended by auto puffy ack removing a wing first burst. grrrr. :bhead
Title: Re: Number 1 Spitfire Inverted Flat Spin Recovery
Post by: olds442 on November 15, 2011, 06:54:14 AM
^^^^

  what???



  The engine doesn't lean out,it's fuel starved there is a difference. The float bowls don't control fuel mixture so I'm not understanding where you get the leans out part.


  Under neg G the floats.....float.... and are at the top of the bowl{s} this tells the system to stop pumping fuel so that the carb doesn't flood itself. Then when all the fuel in the carb is used up the engine stops because it has no fuel.


  5 highest 0lowest notwithstanding,3 air 3 fuel,good luck getting that to run. :rofl the average fuel air mixture is around 12 to 1,go down to 10 to 1 and that's lean,got up to 14 and that's fat.


   Now go ahead and share more of your wisdom with me. :old:





   :salute
i was playing it simple so people did not have to google stuff just to stay with us...

and when you go into lets say neg .1 gs the floats go up not all the way but some thus the engine is now leans and would stay lean if u keep it at .1 G's constantly till the engine overheats due to it being to lean
now if u go to lets say neg .6 gs the engine is starved and dies. still if the engine somehow could run it would be lean.