[bongodriver]

I've got to step in to defend Crumpp on something......partially, let's be fair, you can't just nonsense everything someone says just because you are arguing with them.

spin training absolutely is done on aircraft 'cleared' for spinning, if an aircraft is not cleared for spinning it has been deemed so beause of some form of complexity in its recovery behaviour 'OR' it never went through spin trials for certification, as for the issue of spinning a hunter I hold my hands up and say 'I just can't comment', my belief is that the aircraft cannot be willfuly spun if it is placarded not to because those placards form a legal base that would be crazy to ignore, imagine the investigators sifting through a wreckage of a spin accident and finding the placard, insurers will just walk away and lawyers will be rubbing their hands together.

RAF pilots would have received spin training in the Tiger Moth, because spin recovery 'technique' is universal and it is a skill that can be applied to all aircraft.

But I am quite frankly amazed crumpp claims the Spitfire would 'break up' in a spin, if he really knows anything about this subject he would know a spin is 'not' a high stress manouvre, if an aircraft is going to break up in a spin it would break up in normal flight too, more than likely the Spitfire was found to have an undesireably long recovery time due to it's small rudder and/or it's neutral static stability, there really aren't many aircraft that can't actually be spun and recovered but they all have different behaviour, the clearance to spin would be granted on the basis of wether an 'average' pilot using standard recovery techniques can recover in a specified amount of time/altitude, if an aircraft can't do this it's just easier to not clear it than bring in a specialised spin training course for the aircraft.

some of my aerobatic experience is on the Military variant of the Slingsby T-67 Firefly both 160hp and 260hp(USAF T-3) variant, this aircraft was banned from spinning by the USAF and ultimately withdrawn from service after the loss of some aircraft and sadly some students and instructors too, the USAF said it was 'dangerous' and didn't recover........but I'm still alive despite having spun it countless times, the issue with the firefly is the spin recovery 'must' be done by the book but it is still just the standard technique and it will recover very predictably, get it wrong or be complacent and you beter hope you remembered the parachute if you didn't start with enough altitude, it is still cleared for spinning by the british military and civil aviation authority.