Spit IIa

Mh. I think the pilots were taught to fly their planes after the handbook.

With experience and in battle they started to feel the plane and forgot about the handbook resulting perhaps in situations where they were closer to the edge than written in the handbook. One should remember that air behaviour depends on much more than just velocity and angle of attack. It may well depend on current temperature, roughness of the skin of the plane, winds and gusts, air humidity ...