I read Eric "Winkle" Brown's biography several years ago, and one of the main things I remember from the book is when he was testing trans sonic flight in Spitfires
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Basically when going trans sonic speeds, shockwaves build up around the tail and control surfaces of conventional tail aircraft, and it makes maneuvering incredibly heavy and difficult. So actual super sonic flight in Spitfires is almost impossible to recover from.
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The Royal Aircraft Establishment did scientific testing with Spitfires in WWII, and Squadron Leader Anthony F. Martindale managed to reach 620 mph (1000 kph) (mach 0.92) in one test. He lost the propeller in the process, and had to pull so hard out of the dive that he blacked out and gave the wings an extra couple of degrees of dihedral. I think he had to pull with over 85kg of back pressure on the stick or something to exit the dive. But I can't verify that as the Wikipedia article I'm reading doesn't have much info on it.
@Solent Dives.
The instrument used to measure air speed at the time (pilot tube?) can give inaccurate readings at such speed due to compression.
Aircraft at that time would lose control at transonic speeds due to aerodynamic fuckery.
@MIGFOXHOUND31BSM26 Right, right. That.
@Graingy pitot tube
@jamesPLANESii You too?!
I read Eric "Winkle" Brown's biography several years ago, and one of the main things I remember from the book is when he was testing trans sonic flight in Spitfires
.
Basically when going trans sonic speeds, shockwaves build up around the tail and control surfaces of conventional tail aircraft, and it makes maneuvering incredibly heavy and difficult. So actual super sonic flight in Spitfires is almost impossible to recover from.
.
The Royal Aircraft Establishment did scientific testing with Spitfires in WWII, and Squadron Leader Anthony F. Martindale managed to reach 620 mph (1000 kph) (mach 0.92) in one test. He lost the propeller in the process, and had to pull so hard out of the dive that he blacked out and gave the wings an extra couple of degrees of dihedral. I think he had to pull with over 85kg of back pressure on the stick or something to exit the dive. But I can't verify that as the Wikipedia article I'm reading doesn't have much info on it.
@Solent Dives.
The instrument used to measure air speed at the time (pilot tube?) can give inaccurate readings at such speed due to compression.
Aircraft at that time would lose control at transonic speeds due to aerodynamic fuckery.
with a f-ing propeller?
idk how that's supposed to work