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Old 5th Oct 2019, 18:50
  #42 (permalink)  
NutLoose
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Chug,
Take your point about Spitfire, etc, rebuilds but it is not the engineering standards that worry me. It is the aircraft themselves, their design limitations, their systems and engines. No amount of meticulous restoration can alter the fact that performance and reliability are determined by technology that is over half a century out of date.
Chug, The Spitfire is a metal construction alloy skin nailed to an alloy frame, something that is used in metal aircraft to the present day, there are the odd thing that ten no longer used I will give you that, such as air operated drum brakes, Piston engines are what they are, a reliable engine, take the Griffon that is proven in over 70 years of operation and used in a myriad types including the Spitfire. Dont be fooled a lot of Spits are more or less new builds.
The Spitfires control system is cable operated and is actually safer than a civilian puddle jumper such as a Cessna or Piper fresh out of the factory, being a military aircraft the majority have dual control cable circuits for built in redundancy, you seem to think that just because something was built 70 years ago it has no relevance today.
Ever flown in a Cessna 152 or a Piper Tomahawk? many have and still do today being hauled around the sky behind a Lycoming 0-235, that engine first ran in 1941 and is still in production for a myriad of aircraft.
Take the C-46 commando, The DC-3 still used the world over, some converted to turboprops, they would still be used in the UK as freighters if probably for one thing, and possibly the one thing that may bring an end to large piston aircraft, a readily available supply of Avgas of sufficient rating.
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