Congrats on tackling CEM it can be daunting at first but is probably the most satisfying aspect of this sim.
For a self confessed newbie you seem to be doing fine and have the basics sorted.
The Mk1 isnt easy to fly becouse of that horrible prop, the frustration you have with the Spits Mk1 performance is shared by all. However if you want to fly a spit online your stuck with the Mk1 and Mk1a coz most servers dont allow the MkII due to its performance advantages. Its due to this that many online RAF fliers now use the Rotol Hurricane just to get the more efficient prop/engine management and better rate of climb.
If you do use the Spit I am by no means an expert but I can pass on a few ideas that I have found to work for me
Flaps are only used for landing with the spit not for takeoff
Warm your engine before taking off this is essential
Set your compass and course setter whilst waiting for your engines to warm, its very easy to get lost on a realistic setting server with no map help.
In theory its rich mix for takeoff and lean at height and for cruising, but its a bit bugged and seems to change with various patches to be honest i havnt got a clue what is rich and what is lean anymore I just use whatever the engine seems to prefer, its certainly less critical than it was before all the patches so just experiment, its a bit like setting a carb up in real life, if the revs pick up the engine likes that mix, if it coughs splutters or farts it dont.
Open your cockpit canopy for better view.
Open your Rad for takeoff, but once up and flying close it to 50% ish and just watch your temps and open and close accordingly.
After takeoff Dont try to climb immediatly, set course pitch stay low and get some speed up, the engine revs will drop, but you will eventually go faster. You will find that with coursepitch in level flight you will only get anywhere near max revs @ about 16000 ft, this is due to air density. Its very easy to over rev in a dive, so coursepitch throttle back.
If your engine starts to "bog down" and you cant get any revs switch to fine pitch and climb a bit or keep in course pitch and dive a bit, obviously not at low alttitude
Really the only way you will blow your engine is by overeving it 2850 is my max revs for safety, or overheating it so watch your temps, to be honest I have never killed an engine by overboosting it but then again i have never "gone thru the gate"
If you have to climb hard, set fine pitch and rev that engine, For some reason I find it better to climb in "steps" rather than a constant climb, I dont know if this is real or just my perception but it seems to work for me, so I climb hard fine pitch, level out coursepitch, pick some speed up then climb hard again and this for me works when chasing high bombers, it also avoids arriving at the bombers from below whilst climbing
slowly in full view of them rear gunners, instead I do a final claw for height behind them then attack at speed then after the attack convert that speed back into height ready for another go.
The rotol is so much easier to use, basics are you set your throttle and use your prop pitch to keep the engine in the sweet spot, after that horrible prop in the Mk1 its a total joy to use.
hope this helps
BTW im a terrible pilot and even worse shot, in truth I prefer bombers (lets not go there with Clod) so I just play with fighters to give others some target practice, im just happy to survive a mission.
Have fun
In time this is going to be a great game
If it can just survive its difficult birth.
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