Help me land the Spitfire

How did pilots in the RAF who sometimes flew with 8 hours of training not crash these things constantly on landing?

They crashed a few, for sure. You have to remember during both world wars, flying accidents during training were common, and many were killed and injured. In addition, pilots were generally very young and with only a handful of hours before being sent into combat.

I just realized you’re right. I am talking about the Corsair not the spitfire. My bad, mis read the title of thread. Well if anyone needs help with the Corsair that’s how you do it lol

i just found inposible to take off its always skid off the runway left.

In fact, I have seen a number of videos from the Shuttleworth Collection that say that more pilots died in accidents than in combat in both WW I and WWII.

If you haven’t already done it, and you are interested in vintage aircraft, book a day off, and watch all their videos!! :innocent:

(3) Shuttleworth Collection - YouTube

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Stu Goldspink is one of the collection pilots - the training accident quote you refer to. I was there for his ‘Pilot Chat’, regarding the clipped wing Spitfire. He is a very knowledgeable man and well versed on numerous types - he would be someone I would place certain authority in, regarding aircraft history. Fantastic bloke too.

Rob Millinship is someone else who is extensively knowledgeable (they pretty much all are at Shuttleworth - have to be when handling aircraft that old). His chat about flying the Bleriot XI is very insightful.

I envy you. It has become one of my life’s goals to see the Shuttleworth collection, and hopefully be there for a flight demonstration that includes Rob Millinship flying the Bleriot.

In fact I found the videos in the search of how to fly the Bleriot.

Hi there, I’m certainly no professional, but like you i love the spitfire. i’ve clocked about 40 hours in it so far, and my landings are getting pretty smooth. All settings on full real, over the fence at around 100mph with full flaps. Hold off just above the ground as long as possible (so practice on long runways to start) until it touches down gently with not enough speed to fly. as soon as you’re on the ground hold the stick back really hard to keep the tail down and be very gentle with rudder , although you can brake fairly hard like this. Be ready for aileron input if it tips when you use the rudder. I’m very careful about which runway I use, and will fly to another airfield if the wind is too strong across.
Likewise with takeoff, I usually use 50% rudder trim, and hold the stick back quite hard, easing forward as it starts to lift and being ready for sudden veering. I hope this helps!

Here are some great links I’ve found about tail draggers landing (like the spitfire), you should glance over this information :slight_smile:

Enjoy :wink:

Thank you for posting these. Shamefully this was a first day purchase and I’ve let her collect dust since.

Thanks all! I am getting better with practice. My takeoffs and landings can get a bit touch and go, but I don’t usually crash anymore.

To add to this interesting discussion - also remember that they had done their basic flight training in the Tiger Moth (typically) and then completed the complex training (I know that the Texan was used for this by the RAF at the time but not sure what else). So typically something like 70 hours before they got their hands on a Spitfire. Not much for sure; but the training was also by all accounts pretty rigorous and only those with obvious aptitude got through to train on fighters.

The best account of RAF training at this time that I’ve read is in ‘First Light’ by Geoffrey Wellum - he covers the training he went through in detail. Highly recommended if you’re interested! (not the film though … it skips all of this part of the book).

Hi, just wanted to add my experiances taking off and landing this plane.

I’ve had it a couple of months now and at first could only manage a 30-50% success rate in takeoffs (up from no-chance-what-so-ever before reading some of the advise above) and about the same with landings, especially at first. I can now manage more like 90% of takeoffs and even better in landings even with decent crosswinds, so thought I’d share in case it could help someone.

This is without doubt a more challening plane to takeoff and land than any other in the game but sooo satesfying when you start to get it right! Anyway…

TAKEOFF:

  1. Line up with runway, set parking brake to ON (default setting if thats where you spawn), no flaps or trim set at all.
  2. Set throttle to 25%, wait for revs to stabalise.
  3. Release parking brake, let the plane roll forward for a few seconds
  4. Important Bit: Start tapping the throttle up in the smallest increments you have, no more than one tap every 0.5 to 1.0 seconds (I use a PS4 controller, so this is a button for me, but with a throttle control I gues just tap up in small increments or in a slow, smooth motion)
  5. Keep doing that until you feel the tail lift off the ground, at that point you can go to 90% or even full throttle and the plane will immediately lift off the ground, use a little rudder and roll to keep it steady as it climbs.

You should only need minimal rudder inputs to keep in centred on the runway while on the ground, it may lurch a bit as it comes off the ground, but you shouldn’t need to max out any of the controls to keep it on track.

SPICY TAKEOFF:
Same as above but instead of starting at 25% throttle, start at 50% and release the parking brake just as the plane tips forward, catching it before it face-plants.
Most important bit is still the small taps to throttle after you start moving.

LANDING:
Main problem I found with landing this plane is that you are sitting in the middle of the plane, so if you try to hold a standard glide slope you won’t be able to see a thing. Using a steeper glide slope is much easier. The flaps on this Spitfire are 10% flaps, 90% airbrake, so they will allow you to do this safely.

  1. Get lined up on the runway, at about twice the normal glide-slope angle.
  2. Bring throttle to idle and use the flaps to bring your speed down to about 80-90 and keep it there until you are ready to flare just before touchdown. Drop the gear once you are below about 120 or so.
  3. Keep the start of the runway in sight all the way down to the flare, if you find yourself dropping too much speed take the flaps off and you will speed up without losing much height, reapply them when you’ve got the speed back. They really are more brake than flap. If you are too low for this just apply some power, 25% should be enough.
  4. Keep your nose up after the flare to avoid prop-strike, you will probably bounce a couple of times before you settle on the runway.
  5. Once on the runway, take off the flaps and apply backwards pressure on the stick to help keep the wings level. You may need to counteract roll once you get on the ground and start to slow down, but if you keep pulling back to force the tail down you will find this much easier.

If you start to run out of runway, gently apply brakes, don’t put them on full or you will face-plant.
If you do need heavy braking, watch for the plane pitching forward and release the brakes immeidately if it does.

Once you have slowed right down, you can taxi off the runway.

Personally I find the Spitfire behaves itself pretty well in taxi, just don’t go too fast.

Disclaimer: I’m an armchair pilot only, these steps are just what I found the most reliable for me to get this plane off and back onto the ground safely in this sim.

By the way, according to this early report on the plane, takeoffs and landings weren’t seen as a particular problem for the aircraft, the only gripe was that it was too fast for landing, but I’m assuming their recommendations around the flaps were taken on for later models, certainly for the version modelled here!

This is hands-down my favourite plane in this sim. Once in the air it’s so much fun, and because takeoff and landings are so challenging, every successful one gives you (well, me anyway!) a real sense of satisfaction.

Hope that helps!

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