[az_gila]

“He actually thought the Messerschmidt ME-109 was every bit as good and maybe even better.”

IIRC the early Spits had gravity-feed fuel tanks so if the pilot got in the wrong attitude for too long the engine would quit. German 109s had no such issue.

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This effect due to the Spitfires carb. vs. the ME-109 fuel injection came out in the 1969 Battle of Britain film.

They found that the Spitfire pilots would roll inverted before going into a powered dive. This would keep positive G on the carb. and prevent the engine from stuttering. It also kept the gravity fed header tank working....:^)

[PLMerite]

I have that movie on DVD. Adolf Galland was a "tactical and technical advisor" to the film.

They let him fly one of the Hispano "109s" at the end of the film, IIRC.

Which, IIRC, had a Merlin engine in it.

[jim_trent]

There was a partial solution worked out during the battle. Look up Miss Shillings Orifice to read about it.