On Fri, 06 May 2005 16:30:22 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

The standard defensive maneuver used by 109 pilots at that point in the war was
a split-ess or bump over into a dive. They didn't have to change a thing against
the Lightnings. They were forced to use other tactics against the P-47 -- it
could stay with them in a dive and didn't have the temporary power loss problem
that British aircraft had initiating a dive.

That diving difficulty the Spitfires and Hurricane's had existed only
during the Battle of Britain. After that British engineers devised a
method of negating the engine cutting out from starvation from pushing
the nose down suddenly to follow a Messerschmitt doing the same thing
(the British called the maneuver a "bunt"). They installed a sheet of
metal across the top of the carburetor's float chamber that had an
orifice drilled in it. In effect, it was like a fuel tanks baffle
that prevents the fuel from ramming from one side to the other when
the wing's are banked.

With this plate/orifice installed, enough fuel remained over the jets
during this beyond zero G maneuver to keep the engine running.

Me 109's could still dive away from Spitfires anyway though, because
the Spitfire had a higher wing loading and simply could not keep up in
the dive.

But you're right, the Me 109 pilots had to come up with something else
to escape the P-47's, nothing outdove them.

Corky Scott