Quote:
Originally Posted by raymo
Its not a straightforward comparison, each aircraft had advantages over the other, and the marks of Spitfire in service when the 190 was introduced
were outclassed, by both the 190 and the 109G. Later marks redressed the imbalance.
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Agreed,
I don't know if Australia has Amazon Prime Video or not, but the doco "Air Wars" can't be missed if you are a WWII "fan"...
Ep 1 - Supermarine Spitfire
Ep 2 – Hawker Hurricane
Ep 3 – Messerschmitt BF109
Ep 4 - Focke Wulf 190
What a lot of people don't know is that the Spitfire was outmatched against the FW190 until the American's developed a 100 Octane with the Mk-IX Spitfire (with the new Merlin 2-stage intercooler), at which point the Brit's regained air supremacy due to increased HP.
The FW190 was then designed with a Methanol-Water cooler which improved the performance…just. By that time, the American’s and British were on daily bombing runs, which prevented the further development of the FW190 series.