Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/01/15

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Subject: [Leica] Re: There's something about German design ...
From: marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)
Date: Mon Jan 15 13:55:05 2007
References: <bf5.dd88d61.32dd4f13@aol.com>

At 04:41 PM 1/15/2007, ISILVERMN@aol.com wrote:

 >The Messerschmidt Bf-109, also an advanced design for its time, lacked the
 >ability to carry drop tanks, nor could the design be easily adapted.
 >During the
 >Battle of Britain, they were forced to turn back just as the bombers were
 >starting their bomb runs, giving the ???few??? a clear approach to
 >attack them.  On
 >the other hand, the Spitfire was designed from the start for growth, and
 >evolved throughout the war to remain at or near the state of the art.
 >Reg Mitchell
 >was a genius.

The ME-109 from the Emil onwards could carry drop 
tanks, but Germany was slow to provide these in 
sufficient quantity to make them utile.  The 
Spitfire did not accomodate drop tanks until the 
V, which appeared some months after the 
Bf-109E.  I believe that the Hurricane could 
carry drop tanks on a version which appeared a bit earlier.

The Allies were more inclined to use drop tanks 
than were the Germans as we had a lot more steel 
at hand than did the Axis.  And our drop tanks, 
early in the war, could be dropped over the UK 
and could be recovered, while the Germans lost theirs forever.

Later in the War, it was the practice of Allied 
fighters to fly from their tail tanks first, as 
these affected handling.  When these were 
exhausted, the pilot would switch to the drop 
tanks, and only use the remaining wing and body 
tanks at the end.  If the Allied fighters got 
bounced early in their sortie, they would dump 
all the fuel out of their tail tanks and drop off 
the underbody tank so that they could fight.

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!



In reply to: Message from ISILVERMN at aol.com (ISILVERMN@aol.com) ([Leica] Re: There's something about German design ...)