Had the Spitfire not been introduced, what would have been the impact?
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No Spitfire
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 NoOneFamous |
No Spitfire |
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Posts: 1193 ( 6-May-2008 15:08:25) |
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stanger69 |
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Posts: 20 ( 6-May-2008 16:05:14) |
Would have shopped more American?
Warhawks, Lightnings, then Mustangs? |
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emc |
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Posts: 3732 ( 6-May-2008 16:29:37) |
My first question would be "what other aircraft were designed to the same RAF requirements?" Before foreign aircraft would be considered, especially
during the peacetime run-up to the war (the US could not be considered a reliable source in 1937 or '38), a domestic alternative would have been chosen.
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Getz |
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Posts: 385 ( 6-May-2008 18:32:07) |
There were plenty of other British high performance monoplane fighter projects at the time - perhaps the Martin Baker MB-2/3 or Miles M.20 might have born
fruit - and the Hurricane was certainly equal to the task in 1939-41.
If the Spitfire had not been chosen, then something Spitfire-ish from a different manufacturer would have been selected in it's place. |
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Red Admiral |
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Posts: 1862 ( 6-May-2008 19:39:25) |
Miles M.20, Gloster F.5/34, Bristol 146+ would be in production instead. I'd go with the M.20 as it has superior speed, firepower, range and is simple to
construct.
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BenRoethig |
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Posts: 1766 ( 6-May-2008 20:55:11) |
The UK would have fallen.
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Getz |
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Posts: 387 ( 7-May-2008 12:36:00) |
What utter rubbish - however good the Spitfire was the RAF could still have won the Battle of Britain equipped only with the Hurricane. The majority of the
RAF's fighter squadrons operated Hurricanes at this time anyway, and the Hurricane accounted for well over half the total RAF claims during the BoB.
The true significance of the Spitfire was that the RAF had in 1939 a aircraft that would remain on the cutting edge piston engined fighter technology for the entire war. |
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Obi Wan Russell |
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Posts: 205 ( 7-May-2008 14:59:43) |
Two thirds of fighter command's sqns in the Battle of Britain were Hurricanes, and in the hands of an experienced pilot they were an even match for the
Bf109s. With no Spitfire, there would either have been one of the alternatives from the list above or simply more Hurricanes. The outcome would have been the
same. Far more important to the outcome of the battle was the replacement of Chamberlain by Churchill months earlier. Neville would have sued for peace at some
point, Winston never would have. Also the German invasion plans (Sealion) were not just based on defeating the RAF, they were painfully aware that the RN had
over 80 destroyers waiting to pounce on any invasion force, and considering the converted river barges the Germans were planning to use, their force would have
been massacred before they were halfway across the channel. The Germans failed to appreciate that British fighter production had already swung into top gear,
and could not understand how the RAF didn't just run out of fighters. The Hurricane was certainly good enough for the BoB on it's own, though the final
tally of enemy aircraft shot down verses RAF aircraft lost may have been slightly different, the final result would be the same. The Spitfire was a greta
fighter aircraft, but wasn't light years ahead of the competition by any means.
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flyingdutchman1980 |
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Posts: 56 ( 7-May-2008 15:45:37) |
Getz wrote: Agree. Although the Spitfire was a generation ahead in construction compared to the Hurricane, the difference in performance wasn't stellar. But also thanks to the new construction (elleptic wings especially IIRC) the Spitfire was more expensive and (during the BoB more importantly) more difficult to repair. I've heard stories that the wings of Spitfires were hardly repairable and that groundcrews scoured crashsites to remove entire (good) wings to put on Spitfires with too damaged wings instead of repairing those as possible with a Hurricane. With regards to your last sentence I don't 100% agree; the RAF would have survived (although with more pilots lost which would be significant) with solely Hurricanes untill '41/42. It's not untill then that Hurricanes (was reminded of the losses in N-Africa in the ground attack version with bombs vs Bf-109E/F's) would desperately need a more modern successor as interceptor. You could even argue that newer Hurricanes with a better tropical filter, better tactics (and without heavy cannons/bombs) would do much better. |
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DonnieBaseball23 |
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Posts: 33 ( 7-May-2008 16:52:47) |
My concern would be the following scenario:
--RAF standardizes on Hurricane as day interceptor. --by 41/42, Typhoon is THE 1 and only successor. So RAF has as it's main interceptor an aircraft with unreliable engines, poor maneuverability, and a tendancy for the tail to break off. These issues take months/years to remedy... |
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CliffS |
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Posts: 508 ( 8-May-2008 08:52:48) |
DonnieBaseball23 wrote: If the Martin-Baker partnership hadn't been terminated by a fatal test-flight crash, I think the MB-2/MB-3 series would've been the way to go. The
design certainly had the performance to outclass the Bf-109E at the time of the BoB. It would also have meant extra supplies of Merlin engines (ergo, more
Hurricanes), and an increase in development effort on the Napier Sabre. Who knows - the Typhoon might not have seen the light of day, if the MB-3 & later
MB-5 had been adopted. I'm thinking more along the lines of the Hurricanes taking over the specialised ground-attack role much earlier, whilst the MB-3
was developed as a fighter. But whichever choice was made, I must agree that the Hurricane was the real key to winning the BoB. They could be strapped up
with sailcloth, given a coat of dope & be flying & fighting again within hours.
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