Spitfire ground loops

[Knarley-Bob]

How does one avoid this dilemma? Is there a different brake set up on them? I have the right and left brakes set up, and they work on the P-51 and P-47, but don't seem to work on the British birds.

[THERION]

8 minutes ago, Knarley-Bob said:

How does one avoid this dilemma? Is there a different brake set up on them? I have the right and left brakes set up, and they work on the P-51 and P-47, but don't seem to work on the British birds.

 

The British and Russian birds use a differential brake system - this means to brake left or right, they had to push the rudder accordingly and use the brake lever on

their steering column (joystick nowadays). They didn't have brake pedals like the German birds and those others you mentioned. 

[cardboard_killer]

The spitfires and tempest use a single break key. To break left or right, you need to hold the key down while using the rudder in the direction you wish to break, ie for differential breaking. This is also the way on many of the soviet planes like the Yaks. On the intstament panel there is a guage showing the breaking of each break. See Requiem's video on the two spits.

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

11 hours ago, Knarley-Bob said:

How does one avoid this dilemma?

 

Note that even with proper use of breaking, I still ground loop the spit on landing more often than not. However, I don't fly them as often as I do the Russian planes (and I'm developing a love of the Tempest as well).

[UFA_Bagel]

There's a dicussion already. Have a look. 

 

 

My personal experience and recommendations:

- try to touch down with minimal speed (85mph) and the plane aligned with the runway so you do not need to make too much correction at high speed once you landed;

- keep an eye on the slip gauge and counter it immediately as it starts. Use the rudder at higher speeds and the differential brakes at lower speeds. That helped me the most, and before that, I was always too late with my response. I guess in real life the pilot would feel the slip with their guts but we have the vision only;

- keep the throttle at about 10% until you are really slow and are about to fully stop with breaks but you do not really need it if you succeded with the previous two steps
 

Cheers

Edited June 13, 2020 by 159BAG_elegz

[Knarley-Bob]

My ground crew is getting quite good at replacing ailerons....

[No.85_Camm]

On 6/12/2020 at 10:46 PM, Knarley-Bob said:

How does one avoid this dilemma? Is there a different brake set up on them? I have the right and left brakes set up, and they work on the P-51 and P-47, but don't seem to work on the British birds.

Try having your prop pitch set at no more than 70% for take off/Taxi and go easy on the throttle