Quote:
Originally Posted by SEE
"Even a child could fly one!" no guesses who made that famous remark!
The simple truth is that many of the pilots who flew these highly advanced machines were just kids fresh out of school with no combat experience.
That remark is testament to Mitchells excellent design - a damned good fighter that a kid and young men could, and bloody well had to, fly against overwhelming odds, excellent Axis fighters and adversaries with more combat experience!
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One question asked at the time was "could the average RAF pilot go to war in this". Answer, born out by the many interviews you can still find on Discovery, History, etc channels is "Yes" and "you didn't get into a Spitfire you strapped it on, it was a delight to fly" (Bob Doe I believe). Adolph Galland, comparing it to the Me109: "The Spitfire was ridiculously easy to land".
On the subject of 'E' state, performance, is it right? etc.. A decent flight model will take all that into account. The data for power, weight, drag factors etc have to be correct and the environment data, including gravity, is modelled in.
In simplistic terms 'E' at 500 feet is essentially the same as 'E' at 10,000 feet for the same true speed. E=MC^2. Its when you change altitude, power etc that E changes. Potential E is another matter, you have the potential to develop much more E at 10,000 feet (by diving) than you do at 500 feet, also you have the potential to develop more E by putting up the power.