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Daniel-Wales-Images In reply to DonDeCerveza [2019-04-25 23:45:43 +0000 UTC]

I'm afraid I find myself very much on the contrary to that. I'm a big fan of clipped Spits, they always look so sleek and purposeful to me. They are also significantly more potent in terms of performance, and it's noticeable when watching from the ground too. 

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DonDeCerveza In reply to Daniel-Wales-Images [2019-04-27 10:54:44 +0000 UTC]

I'm always impressed with the extent of incremental improvements of the Spit.  And, it carried a lot of original design to the end.  Probably the greatest performance increase within any design of the war.  For me aesthetically, there hits a point of an overengined Spit and the elegant "Spitness" was always the aerodynamically pure elliptical.  The Fury has a modified elliptical with a little clip, but to my eye it is more balanced.  
Keep up the great work.

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Daniel-Wales-Images In reply to DonDeCerveza [2019-04-27 12:26:50 +0000 UTC]

But then, what I would suggest is trying to forget about the Spitfire's earlier lineage when looking at the later variants. By which I mean that you should try to be subjective about each individual variant, without letting preconceptions interfering with your judgement.

For example, in a hypothetical world where the Spitfire only ever looked like the example below. Could you honestly say that it is anything other than beautiful? I'd personally put the design head and shoulders over the majority of aircraft ever designed. Does she look like the original Spitfire? No! But is she beautiful? Hell yes!

Admittedly the wings are not clipped, but I would extend those same feelings to Spitfires that have had their wings clipped. Do people think the Mustang is ugly because her wings are not curved? On the contrary in my experience, and I would agree with them.



I accept that I am a little different to most enthusiasts, I don't get too religious about aircraft in the same way many do, and in fact I usually find myself against the grain of thought on most matters aviation. My tag line below this comment rather says it all in that department. But even with my penchant for variations and unloved aircraft, I still think that even the most heavily modified of Spitfire is still drop dead gorgeous. Clipped, Low back, Griffon, Pointy wide tail. I love them all in their own right. At the end of the day we live in a world where we don't have to choose or rate one above the others. They all exist, and even in the modern world, a whole wide range of variants still fly today. 

I guess what I am saying is that next time you ask yourself "What was the best Spitfire?", I'd personally answer that question with "Which ever example I'm looking at!".

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DonDeCerveza In reply to Daniel-Wales-Images [2019-04-28 11:26:30 +0000 UTC]

Absolutely right.
Even the Mustang as most people recognize it is not the original incarnation.
The concept of a Lend Lease Allison powered attack plane to become the core US high altitude escort fighter.

The Spit was even more significant, considering it was a completely prewar design that operated into the postwar period.
When it comes to fighters, it may have been the only one to achieve that span of performance.

I am an aircraft junkie of all kinds.
But, like much of my life, my true loves are eccentric, Storch, Lysander, Skyraider, Canberra.
Few people see the Skyraider as a nuclear bomber or Canberra as a high performance spy plane.

As a young man, I ran with a bunch of Stearman pilots, most war time air personnel.
One of them was a US Army mechanic for Spits.
One of those little things you don't get in the mainstream books.
This little group of US airmen doing pre/post bombing photo recon.
To get in and out with minimum turmoil, running Mosquito style.
Solo, low and fast; in and out.  Because, if you got jumped by a flight of 109s you couldn't do much anyway.
Love the Spit in all her flavors.

I'm also an annoyingly pedantic individual.

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