Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempest123
5.33 g's for a spitfire max g-limit? Where does this information come from? For example the F8F Bearcat was restricted to 7.5 g's after failures of its wingtip ejection system, I highly doubt that a lighter and smaller fighter which saw exponentially more combat than the Bearcat, and with no history of chronic failures would have a limit of 5.33 g's. The g-limit would vary between aircraft, not between countries.
|
Now according to what I've read British aerospace std. requirement was a limit load factor of 5.33 G for their fighter aircraft, and the Spitfire was designed & built according to this. The German aerospace std. limit load factor was by comparison 8 G's and the US std. was 7.33 G's
The advantage of the lower British std. was the ability to build their aircraft somewhat lighter.
The ultimate design load factor is usually found by multiplying the design limit load factor by 1.5, at which point you arrive at the designs breaking point. So the Spitfire should be able to take 7.99 G's before breaking up, whilst aircraft such as the Bf-109, P-51 & Fw190 could take between 11 to 12 G's before breaking up.