Osprey,

Yes, digitally analog or analogous digital: If you assign brake to a (joystick/keyboard)key, then that key increases braking power proportionally to how long you press it. Watch the gauge! What I do is "tapping" the key. Works just fine for me.

Could be that there's a difference between keyboard and joystick concerning the repeat rate (I have no idea if the repeat rate set in the windows keyboard configuration affects joystick buttons), so they may differ in their actual braking effect.

Haven't found a reliable source on the real life spitfire yet.

I'll try and look that up in the Morgan and Shacklady book.

I think I've been misunderstood. I'm not trying to get toe braking like on the axis aircraft but a brake control which is not on or off, ie the harder I press, the stronger the braking effect. I am well aware that this control was on the spade but the fact that I will assign this to my right toe brake on my controls is up to me.

Hello Osprey,

no offence meant, none taken.

Hunting for evidence I came across the following, so far:

"17. Wheel brakes.—The brake lever is fitted on the control column spade grip and a catch for retaining it in the on position for parking is fitted below the lever pivot."
(SPITFIRE IX, XI & XVI PILOTS NOTES, Page 12)

"Passing Duxford`s Land Warfare Hall brakes ON/OFF, change hands - throttle hand to stick, stick hand to undercarriage. Lever Down “one thousand, two thousand, three thousand”, undercarriage lever out of the gate"
(Description by Howard Cook, flying a Spitfire Mk V around the year 2001)

"The pneumatic brakes are not brilliant but, once you’re at ease with their ineffectiveness, you come to love the technique of combining footwork directional demand with pressure required being supplied by one or two fingers on your right hand squeezing the lever on the control column"
(Nigel Lamp flying a Spitfire Mk VIII)

"The pneumatic brakes, applied with a bicycle-like brake lever at the top of the stick, are feather light and very effective." and "Oh, and easy, very easy, on the brakes."
(Description by Mike Potter, flying a Spitfire)

Seems kind of inconclusive to me...

Artist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...HveCsos#t=612s

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-o...-Spitfire.html

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/arc...p?t-72714.html

???

Sokol1

Nice, Sokol1!
Well, looks more like what I do with my button (tap, tap instead of squeeze, squeeze :)) than being able to fine control the brake power with the lever position. But the wording of the other sources is confusing, espacially the last (found an additional "apply a touch of BRAKE to stop the wheels rotating").

Preliminary, tentative guess at this point - looking at the fact that (a) the lever controls a valve for compressed air, (b) that the way of the lever appears rather short, and (c) the contradictive wording within the same article: You probably could vary the brake power with the lever to a certain degree if you concentrated on it. But in real life they used the 0-100-0-100-0 squeezing.

Anybody knows anybody who has flown a Spit ot Hurri that we could ask?

Artist