Poll Results
The 109E vs. Battle of France and Battle of Britain Spitifres won the poll 61 percent to 39. Interestingly the poll on youtube was the opposite, but as you folks know, it's the Patreon poll that counts. I really appreciate all your support and your help in the poll.
The next video will be on starting the engine in WW2 planes, which will also serve as a basic system review, then the 109E vs Spit video will be up shortly after.
Greg
Comments (5)
While there are conflicting opinions on which fighter was best, there is NO doubt which came 1st. That was the 109. Its British contemporary was the Gloucester Gladiator biplane! And NO doubt on which was cheapest to produce. The 109 was by far the least expensive to produce, so much so that some say it was in a way the equivalent of a "V" weapon. Given the fact that it was an older design and the 1st 'modern" fighter [monoplane, all metal, enclosed cockpit, retractable landing gear] and inexpensive I say the 109 or the P51 was the best fighter of the war. As Gunther Rall said, "the 109 could do anything a P51 could do. The 109 could do it for 90 minutes, the P51 for 8 hours". The Spitfire on the other hand was one of the most expensive single engine fighters of the war. And we see today in Iran & Ukraine that cost is a huge factor, as cheap drones and missiles are showing. The 109's relative ease of production is one of the reasons they made 35,000+. And as Thomas Callaghan said, "Quantity has a Quality of its own". And there seemed to be almost no limit to its potential for upgrades. The next 109 version would have had among other things Scimitar propeller blades and a top speed of close to 470mph. All on low octane gas! Other things that made it great was its reclined seat which consequently allowed the pilot to handle higher g-forces, and the seat position and recline set the pilot lower in the cockpit which gave the pilot extra protection. And the 109 was from start to finish the best climber of the war [again on low octane gas] and one of the best in a dive. And when the Brits were using 30 caliber and the USA 50 caliber machine guns, the 109 had a 20mm autocannon! When it comes to being the 1st modern fighter you can say that Willy Messerschmidt got it right the 1st time! Kind of like the Fender Telcaster! Also, consider this. In 1941 the RAF began fighter sweeps over France in an attempt to help the USSR. They would claim to have shot down 711 Luftwaffe fighters for the loss of 600 RAF fighters. But after the war when the official records became available the actual Luftwaffe losses were ~103 fighters for all reasons including accidents! The RAF loss rate was > 6:1. That's right, 6 RAF fighters lost for every 1 Luftwaffe fighter lost! Of course, not all the planes involved were 109s or Spitfires but this points out that when the ACTUAL records are available the RAF's claims are suspect. IMHO...
Patreon for the win!
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109E v Spitfire is a subject covered many times, but I'm sure you will find something extra that everyone else has missed. And on starting WW2 planes, if you can show how to start the I-16 consistently in DCS then that would be a unique video on Youtube.
Sweeeeeeet!