Consoomer88 on Nostr: There was no other craft that was capable of doing what the 109 did to allow them to ...
There was no other craft that was capable of doing what the 109 did to allow them to accumulate such ridiculous kill counts.
The 109 pre-G model was a thoroughbred killing machine. There was literally nothing better in the world at the mission it was designed for.
The RAF even admitted that the design philosophy of “Make the smallest airframe possible and cram the biggest engine available into it” was something RAF designers should copy.
The only thing even close, the Spitfire, could outturn it but it was slower and couldn’t climb with it.
Even in ‘43, with the US fully committed the only competition it really had was from the Spit Mk V and the 190-and neither of them could stay with the 109 in a climb.
Such performance has its price. Pre and early war jagdflieger trainees had a much easier time of learning the 109 vs those at the end of the war, with 10 hours in a Storch, who were stuffed into a G-10 or a Kurfusrt and told to go dance with Zemkes Wolfpack, RAF Tempests and Spitfire XIV and La-5’s.
There are very few extreme high performance aircraft that aren’t dangerous to an inexperienced pilot.
See-F-104 lol
The 109 pre-G model was a thoroughbred killing machine. There was literally nothing better in the world at the mission it was designed for.
The RAF even admitted that the design philosophy of “Make the smallest airframe possible and cram the biggest engine available into it” was something RAF designers should copy.
The only thing even close, the Spitfire, could outturn it but it was slower and couldn’t climb with it.
Even in ‘43, with the US fully committed the only competition it really had was from the Spit Mk V and the 190-and neither of them could stay with the 109 in a climb.
Such performance has its price. Pre and early war jagdflieger trainees had a much easier time of learning the 109 vs those at the end of the war, with 10 hours in a Storch, who were stuffed into a G-10 or a Kurfusrt and told to go dance with Zemkes Wolfpack, RAF Tempests and Spitfire XIV and La-5’s.
There are very few extreme high performance aircraft that aren’t dangerous to an inexperienced pilot.
See-F-104 lol