the thing that always impresses me about aeroplanes like the Spitfire is just how they keep going up, and up, and up and over.
I remember visiting Duxford years ago when our Chippy was there for an annual and Mark Hanna arrived in a Spit. He ran in at high speed and low level, then pitched up, and up , and up, and eventually over the top of an enormous loop, the aeroplane which moments before had looked substantial, now a tiny inverted cross in the sky at the top of the manouvre.
Oh! to be able to do that in a Chippy (or even a Yak!).