Quote:
Originally Posted by EAF51/155_TonyR
Im climbing and at low speed. The 109 has a little more energy. For a chance to hit it i have to get up the nose a bit more. So i extend the flaps.
Sorry for my bad english
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actually, and I am no spitfire expert, the extension of flaps (such as the spitfires landing flaps) can be quite destructive in combat situations, because the landing flaps are equally designed to reduce aircraft speed and increase drag and lift. Thing is, you have to remember this drag is offset from the aircraft center of mass and may actually cause a nose pitch-down effect, even if the amount of lift increases.
Generally a high-wing aircraft will pitch up after deploying landing flaps, whilst a low-wing aircraft, will pitch down, even if the aircraft actually gains altitude from this.
I only base this on my aerodynamics education from the airforce..
Maybe somebody else can back me up more on this.
Edit: nvm here:
http://www.key.aero/view_feature.asp...ection=general
Quoted from article :
" After several graceful, sweeping turns, I slowly reduced power, lowered the undercarriage and dropped the flaps. As John had indicated, there is a marked pitch down with flap selection, and also significant deceleration. "
"Abeam the numbers, I pulled the power back to minus four on the boost gauge, waited for the speed to drop below 140mph, then lowered the flaps and added some more nose-up trim before curving back towards the runway."
I think it speaks that spifire had flaps ONLY intended for Landing Purposes!
I read somewhere that some versions of the seafire had 3 settings, UP, TakeOff and Landing to reduce the excessive drag on takeoff from carriers when previously using "Landing" flaps
Hope this answers your questions!