Well, the 30's design were similar in many ways:
109 Yak-1 MC202 Spit XIV Yak-9
Length 8,95 8,5 8.85 9.14 8,55
Wingspan 9,93 10,0 10,58 11,23 9,74
Height 2,6 2,64 3,49 3,05 3,00
Not a lot of difference, really.
I read somewhere that some pilots did prefer the tight 109 cockpit as it prevented them from being pushed around in the cockpit by g-forces when flying combat. Don't know how reliable it is.
Where LW went wrong was not to start to develop newer types. Compare this to Typhoon (which started as the replacement for the hurricane) and others:
Typhoon Tempest P-47D FW-190 ME-262
L 9,73 10,26 11,0 10,2 10,6
W 12,67 12,49 12,42 10,5 12,6
H 4,66 4,9 4,47 3,35 3,5
So, I think it is a safe bet to conclude that the 109 was at its sell-by date.
The wing was always a problem and seriously getting to modify that would entail a new machine.
Solution: move on.
Interesting to see that that (in my opinion) the spit also overstayed its welcome.The very last types were hardly comparable to the late 1940's design (Tempest, P-47, Corsair, Me-262, etc).
Keeping on "improving" the design might be a stop-gap measure, but does not gain anything in the longer run. Of course Germany hardly had any "longer run" when we are lookig at 1943 onwards.
Ivan
109 Yak-1 MC202 Spit XIV Yak-9
Length 8,95 8,5 8.85 9.14 8,55
Wingspan 9,93 10,0 10,58 11,23 9,74
Height 2,6 2,64 3,49 3,05 3,00
Not a lot of difference, really.
I read somewhere that some pilots did prefer the tight 109 cockpit as it prevented them from being pushed around in the cockpit by g-forces when flying combat. Don't know how reliable it is.
Where LW went wrong was not to start to develop newer types. Compare this to Typhoon (which started as the replacement for the hurricane) and others:
Typhoon Tempest P-47D FW-190 ME-262
L 9,73 10,26 11,0 10,2 10,6
W 12,67 12,49 12,42 10,5 12,6
H 4,66 4,9 4,47 3,35 3,5
So, I think it is a safe bet to conclude that the 109 was at its sell-by date.
The wing was always a problem and seriously getting to modify that would entail a new machine.
Solution: move on.
Interesting to see that that (in my opinion) the spit also overstayed its welcome.The very last types were hardly comparable to the late 1940's design (Tempest, P-47, Corsair, Me-262, etc).
Keeping on "improving" the design might be a stop-gap measure, but does not gain anything in the longer run. Of course Germany hardly had any "longer run" when we are lookig at 1943 onwards.
Ivan