Exercising a Spitfire (Aerobatics)

[Music] Five Guys [Music] [Music] what a day the flight a Spitfire and there's Joe getting into the hurricane looks like he's gonna beat me [Applause] I think Mike needs to eat more fatty food yeah nice super foreign both panels red flap override switch I'm going to leave in the auto position because we're cold if you go head sweatshirts off pre-order has been accomplished fuel pump is off radio master switch is off the batteries on 22 volts not great fuel pressure light is on red flap override switch is yeah possession nav light switch is going to off we're not going to need those we've got two green lights automatic pump switch works it's an auto automatic Reservoir pressure is huge right now it's great trims your Garmin says hello full right trim one two and a bit back Care Bear filter cycle and I'll leave it filter on on this cold day fuel quantity we are full fuel crackling what's going on for up field switches on for down for on supercharger is not functional on the carriage handle is down up in the gate when fuel switches are forward low down lever is vertical light controls free and correct fuel cutoff lever is aft boost pump switch is going [Applause] fuel cut off lever is run full forward throttle half an inch rough lever cycle once pull forward the friction will be set later Prime went out of a hot hanger nothing happening yet I don't know if I'm getting anything there or not there's not much feeling in the primer I'll sneak up on it from there see what happens Navigator switches are both too on parking brake set and the pressure is good so if I have a stack fire reach over there shut that off where [Music] I'm not shocked correct hi Dave Hadfield here and we've got a blue sky day and a mission coming up the Spitfire needs some exercise and so do I the Merlin sure started well but the fuel pressure warning light has my attention it's taking longer than normal to go out and I'm wondering if I should shut the engine down but the logbook indicated that they had been working on that system so I'll keep an eye on it and decide at the end of the run-up now Spitfire has no direct reading fuel pressure gauge the hurricane and the hybrid are also out because in three days we'll be formation flying over Parliament Hill and the national war memorial for Remembrance Day but for now we're going to proceed independently we haven't been in the saddle for a while we'll do a farm trip tomorrow when I do a head Bob like that it's in response to the salute of the ground crew Andre I haven't got a hand free to acknowledge it any other way but we are very definitely all in this together foreign the outside air temperature today is 4 degrees Celsius Spitfires tend to overheat on the ground but not on November 9th the radiator doors are closed but I like to get the oil up to about 30 Celsius before the run-up and it takes a while so I'll skip over that warm-up period [Music] well the fuel low pressure light is not coming on that's a good thing there's no problem there run up check is complete move to the pre-takeout check nav lights not required pedo heat not required because it's dry fuel boost pump switch going on trims set carb air filter normal prop lever pull forward throttle friction will tighten up later lap lever up fuel up or on quantity full always full in a Spitfire shoulder harness locked controls free and correct the rest will get at the button of the runway call Gatineau radio get a transponder code type it in and also preset Ottawa terminal radio frequency it's a lot easier to do that here on the ground than go heads down when we're flying this is a brand new taxiway at dot note a parallel taxiway great idea it's a bit narrow I do have to stick my head out the side to see where I'm going or who I'm about to hit I think Gatineau has the busiest flight school in Quebec right now quite a challenge to mix Cessnas with Spitfires and make it all work certainly keeps you on your toes you can taxi a Spitfire fast you just can't stop it fast foreign let's run through that takeoff one more time have a good look for airplanes tractors deer and geese then line up throttle tension to the maximum so it won't creep back right aileron and your right foot primed stick hard back ease up the power to six pounds of boost keep it straight although a Spitfire is good that way [Applause] let the tail come up about eight inches and wait for it to fly itself off then squeeze the brakes with your right hand swap hands on the stick so you can raise the gear lever power back to four pounds of boost and 2600 RPM look for traffic start a turn and check the two red lights that shows the gear went to the up locked position quick scan of the temperatures and pressures lowered the seat a couple of notches pull the cockpit door into the latch position Slide the hood forward trim as required and then catch your breath you're flying a Spitfire comms are difficult in all these World War II airplanes say again say again say again the ambient noise in the cockpit is huge there's no heat either and the surface temperature was four degrees Celsius so I overdressed I didn't think I'd be pulling my gloves off and opening the vent anyway I got a clearance for a block of air space from three to five overhead the field so it's time to enjoy the airplane [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] roles can be done with cruise power but for a loop you need a bit more smash foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] well now comes the hard part trying to get into the landing pattern when it's full of Cessna 150s and that's just a little amusing because I used to be one of the instructors in one of those Cessna 150s anyway it's good that there's a busy flight school here it's good for aviation in general but it makes it a little challenging for me there's pretty much no chance of the preferred method which is a low pass down the runway and then a break up into the downwind leg and we prefer that because with these high performance engines we never want to yank the throttle to idle it's bad for them and Gatineau doesn't have a control tower they have a mandatory frequency Arrangement there's no positive ATC control and no clearances so what I'm doing is holding on the upwind side of the field waiting for a gap right about here ATC says if you can do a right base there's an opening but I was too high and hot for that so I replied just give me half a mile to slow down and I'll take it a 270 to the left with some G on got the speed back to the point where I could drop the gear which is 160 in a Spitfire and supplied enough drag that it all worked out fine from there a little unorthodox perhaps but we do have to share the airspace foreign [Music] keeping the nose pointed Off The Runway heading because there is a Cessna rolling out and I'm trying to judge when he's going to be clear my speed Target is 110 miles an hour while maneuvering and 90 over the threshold foreign we always plan a three-point Landing in a Spitfire the prop blades are long the gear legs are short and the tail is light foreign oops well it's a lot better for this to happen on a taxiway than in the air [Music] thank you thanks a lot thanks giraffe shoot Masters off oh that was nice oh good unless you see a puddle foreign there he is looking to see if I broke his airplane what a sweetheart my gosh you're rising from the land that stood alone against the night my only the few ER with me being now they'd lost the precious fight but her beauty and her power rang true within the land that's stood alone against the dark this one won her finest hour

Channel: dave hadfield

Views: 6,693

Keywords: Spitfire, Supermarine, Hawker Hurricane, P-51 Mustang, corsair, ME-109, FW-190, hadfield, vintage wings, Harvard, stearman, tiger moth, de havilland, aerobatics

Id: IHdEbb1VXew

Length: 27min 24sec (1644 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 19 2022