Spitfire Landing Approach

[fiddler]

I was reading Spitfire Diary by E.A.W. Smith. Smith was a WWII Spitfire pilot and made the following comment on pages 63/64 concerning landing procedure.
"By this time, Red Leader is on the approach, in that rate two (planes) turn to port, all the way down to the deck that make Spitfire pilots seem crazy, to the
uninitiated. These are people who do not know that you cannot make a straight approach to land with a Spitfire. The cockpit is too far back to give forward
vision, so you have to get your line of sight to the landing strip around the port side, between the propeller and the leading edge of the wing."
I have always had difficulty with straight in landing with the Spit because of the problem of visibility over the nose. If I come in too flat then I can't see the
field and from higher, I can't bleed off enough speed for a smooth landing. I have repeatedly practiced Smiths method of coming at an angle to the strip as he
described and it made all the difference for a smooth landing. Angle in over the threshold at 100- mph. level the wings and a 3 point landing at 90/95 mph.
Hope this helps, it did for me.

[Dutch]

Well, one could argue that this only applies to a real Spitfire, in the real world, when that oh so reliable Merlin is popping and banging on the over-run and sounding like no other engine ever built......

In the game though, I find that it is part and parcel of the enjoyment to fly the aeroplanes in exactly the same manner which is described so fully and eloquently by the men who were actually there, in all of the biographies and autobiographies which are so freely available to all who care to read them.

On the other hand, when flying 'Cliffs of Dover', I've always found it necessary to throttle back really early and take a gentle curving approach. By the time I'm lined up for final, I have full 'up-trim' dialled in, with -500ft/min on the rate of climb gauge, or the 'variometer' in American parlance. The rest is instinctive, because we don't have a true 3D perspective on the runway. But man, I pride myself on my landings, three points, light as thistledown.

Unless of course 'Rolling Stoned' has followed me down and shot the shit out of my arse. That sort of stings, it really does......:D