What’s It Like to Fly a Spitfire for the First Time?

The fuel cut off ring needs to be pulled [similar to a mixture control] whilst running the fuel boost pumps for a few seconds. This pressurizes the lines and checks for correct function of the electric pump.

Using the KiGass fuel primer you manually pump the fuel into the engine until you achieve what physically registers as being six hard pumps (or two when the engine is hot). Getting this right is critical otherwise you’ll have too many flames coming out the exhaust stacks on start-up (whilst it has become normal for the public to expect flames on start up, it means you have put too much fuel in).

Then check the brakes are on, the throttle set, and the stick back; press the boost button closely followed by the start button to crank the engine. With the other hand (so holding the stick back with your knees) you switch on the mags.

“The Merlin gives an impressive roar as she comes to life, temporarily throwing some fumes into the cockpit but these quickly clear,” Andy says. “I guess you can almost taste a good start!

“Then, hand back on the throttle to set 800–1,000rpm whilst checking the oil pressure is on the move, you’re looking for 90psi. With the radiator flap set to open, you wait for the engine to warm up.

“In the summer this takes around 5 minutes, but you can’t leave it to too long before moving on to the power checks as you need to think ahead and balance oil temperature with an increasing radiator temperature so you don’t overheat it! The Merlin is all about engine management.”

Taxi
During taxi the tail is relatively light, Andy notes, as with many taildraggers you need to be careful about the relative wind and make sure you keep the stick in the correct position. And the nose is long! In fact, for taxiing purposes; it’s most definitely in the way!

“A bit of weaving is needed as you taxi forward to check it’s clear ahead, usually with your head poking out the side of the cockpit to help,” he says. “The canopy is usually kept back until ready for the power checks for this reason.”

Power Checks
“Facing into the wind, 1,800RPM set and stick back. Here you’re checking the oil pressure, mag drops, checking for smooth running, cycling the prop to check function of the variable pitch control as well as to induce some warm oil into the prop hub,” Andy explains.

“Plus, of course, there are the usual considerations of making sure the electrics are charging and all the other Ts and Ps [Temperatures and Pressures] are trending correctly. Once the final pre-take of checks are complete, including setting the elevator trim to neutral and rudder trim to full right, it’s time to line up!”

Take-off
The first rule in the Spitfire take-off roll: you MUST consider torque! You will need full right aileron (or less if departing with a left cross wind), and because of the slipstream effect from the prop you must be ready to confidently (but carefully) apply a lot of right pedal.

“With the stick full aft, you start increasing the power, initially to around 0 boost,” Andy says. “For the non-boost informed – that’s about half throttle!

“Eyes scanning the panel - check the oil pressure is within limits, then proceed with advancing the throttle towards +6 boost (about ¾ throttle)” he adds “Remember the engine is huge! So power is critically limited to the boost setting.”

Using more than about +7 boost starts to exponentially add stress to the engine block so this is best to avoid.

“As you accelerate down the runway, keeping it straight with rudder, the stick is slowly moved from fully aft to a neutral pitch position. The aileron input is also gradually removed as the airspeed increases. We are looking for the tail to rise around 2ft off the ground.”

NO - you still can’t see where you’re going! A nice take off is a balance of not forcing the aircraft into the air too soon, but you also don’t want to hold her on the ground either. The key to success here is waiting until she’s ready to fly.

“Do that right and she’ll gracefully rise off the runway,” Andy adds. “Now airborne; dab the brakes (lever on the back of the spade grip) to stop the wheels spinning, swap hands on the stick to free up the right hand to operate the undercarriage lever. This requires the right tempo of operation to avoid the risk of the undercarriage jamming!

“At this moment you need to hope you remembered to set the throttle friction as both hands are now busy with other jobs, so if the throttle starts backing off you have a problem on your hands. And NO, you STILL can’t really see where you’re going!”

Within seconds you need to swap hands back again, left hand now available for throttle and prop once more, and set the prop to 2,650rpm.

“Quickly swap hands again so you can use the right hand to reselect ‘up’ on the undercarriage to confirm it has fully retracted. Hands swapped back one last time so the left hand can select +4 Boost on the throttle and 2,400rpm on the prop. And….. relax before a bit of system monitoring and climbing away to conduct your sortie.”

If that’s just the Spitfire, my mind boggles at the thought of knowing that drill for each of the different types Andy flies. With that in mind, I was curious to gain a quick round up of his thoughts between some of his favourites. But that’s a future GA Buyer story... stay tuned.

For more information:

Buying / Selling / Advice on Vintage and Warbird aircraft: www.TASCvintage.com
Vintage and Warbird aircraft maintenance: www.AirLeasing.co.uk
Flying in a Warbird: www.warbirdflights.co.uk