All right guys,
Went out yesterday here in the high desert with 2 of my 3 PZ warbirds, just to have a fresh look at characteristics re FW-190 and the new Spitfire. Had brand-new batts for both (min 3 charge cycles) and flew them one after the other, 2 flights each.
Wind: slightly windy, gusts up to 15 mph
Temp: 74 F
Alititude: approx 2000 ft above sea level
Observations: The FW-190, being 3 oz. heavier than the Spifire, handled the wind a bit better. Hand launch was fairly easy with freshly charged batteries on both, but the nod definitely goes to the Spifire for better climb-out rates. While nowhere near 'unlimited vertical' the Spit seems very eager to get up in the sky. Just a touch of up elevator and it enters into a nice climb. The FW-190 takes a bit more attention and straight and level flight before you begin climb-out.
Rolls are a bit tighter and faster with the Focke-Wulf, maybe due to the huge wing area of the Spit? Loops with the Spit seem a little easier to maintain a straight line with, will have to check trims to be sure it's the plane and not my thumbs
. The Spit is definitely the easiest to maintain a glide with, went almost 2 minutes in and out of thermals (with motor off) with very little altitude loss.
My Mustang is just waiting for a new wing (ripped out push-wire guides on a hard landing) and I'll try and get all 3 of them to the field for a true one-to-one-to-one comparison.
Any other thoughts and comments welcome!
Cheers,
Joel