Gee Slash 1200 tailwheel time? that's only 2 or 3 times the total time that the average Spitfire pilot finished the war with!
When I can get the time free from work for a week or two next year I'm heading down to OZ to fly a P51. I won't get to fly it solo but I will be in the front seat for as many hours as I care to pay for. About 3K Ozzy/hour flight time.
My father has many hours in Spits, P51, Corsair, Bearcat all logged in the the 50s.
He first flew the Spit(MK9) pre wings parade in the RAF circa about 1949/50. Where he was learning to fly they had several Spits on hand as Flying Instructor sanity machines, in those days of course the RAF still had many many squadrons of late model Spitfires in service. He mentioned in passing to his Instructor one day how much he would love to fly the Spitfire and his instructors reply was "well here's the pilot notes, come back when you think you know them". He was finished the wings course and awaiting the Wings Parade before being posted to a Fighter OTU(Meteors). He came back the next day, his instructor asked him a bunch of questions while he sat in it and away he went.
A couple of his class mates who were similarly at a lose end for a week or two snaffled two more Spits on the field and and they spent the next 10 days roaring all over Southern England and across to the French coast playing tag and what have you. His log book shows 20+ hours in that time, LUCKY LUCKY BA$TARD!!!
His thoughts on the aircraft closely echo those in one of the above threads, he reckoned it landed like a big Tiger Moth.
Post RAF(it was National Service) he joined the French Foriegn Legion in a bit of a spiv deal they had going to bolster pilot numbers in the French Airforce operating in Indochina and flew the F4U7 and the F8F on active service.
Post Dien Bien Phu he immigrated to OZ(following the rest of his family out) and joined the RAAF and was posted to 1 Squadron on Lincolns. Guess what? They had a squadron hack P51 at Tengah and he wangled a few hours in that too from time to time!!! Mate we were definately born 30 years to late!!! <img src="frown.gif" border="0">
His opinion of all those fighters was they are not difficult to fly at all. They are designed as gun platforms, that's there reason for existence, an unstable gun platform is usless!
A Check Captain who I flew with at NJS flew the Shuttleworth Hurricane in the 70s, his opinion was the same.
Col Pay is quoted as saying "No-one flys my Spitfire without showing me their stuff in my C185 first" apparently. Well of my 1000 odd tailwheel time 700 is 185/180, the rest scattered around DH82/Helio Courier/Chipmunk. Before I start paying for Mustang time I'm going to brush the cobwebs off my feet in a mates 180, then some T6 time(again with my mate). Dad reckons after about 200 hours in a Spit/Mustang you're about ready to tackle a Harvard
These aircraft are only flown these days by a lucky few, generally(but not always) very experienced professionals. Those that aren't flown by wealthy PPLs owners that is! Not because they are hard to fly but because they are relatively rare and worth heaps! All the WW2 era Spit pilots I ever met finished WW2 with less than 1000 hours total time.
So go for it! And then write about it here...I'll do the same for the Mustang next year!
Chuckles.
[ 25 December 2001: Message edited by: Chimbu chuckles ]</p>