![]() ![]() The FW pilot, however, reclined in an airy, ergonomically correct cockpit that, in both comfort and layout, wasn’t matched by the Allies until after the war. The various controls were crude and scattered around the cockpit. Worse, he had to search for his enemy through a birdcage maze of canopy framing. The Messerschmitt cockpit was claustrophobic and a medium-sized man felt scrunched into position with his shoulders touching the sides. Fully 30% of ME-109 production was lost due to takeoff or landing accidents, while the FW was considered a pussycat in the same situation. ![]() In the case of the FW, the difference was dramatic. The FW and the Mustang were both much easier to fly. The older designs were difficult to handle on the ground, partially because they were intended to be flown by military career professionals. The FW-190 was to replace the 109 and the Mustang the P-40 and P-38 and the generational differences were obvious in both cases although the earlier airplanes were only a few years old. The FW-190 was quite possibly the world’s first truly modern fighter.īoth the Mustang and the FW were designed to replace older designs. The problem was, the FW-190 had been in combat for two years when the first Mustangs arrived. It represented a whole new world of performance that was only just beginning to show up in the US in the form of the then-new Mustang. It was light, rolled like lightning and climbed like an artillery shell. When Grumman engineering pilots climbed out of a captured FW-190A in England after their first flight, they were astounded: it made their beloved Hellcat look like a plow horse. ![]()
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