Hello everyone!
So, let's talk about Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VB. It took off for the first time in December 1940. Spitfires V were relatively old planes by the time the battle of Kuban begun in Spring 1943.
"VB" variant was armed with two 20 mm Hispano Mk. II guns and four Browning .303 machine guns. The guns were magazine-fed, 60 rounds per gun, while machine guns had 350 rounds per gun. The lend-lease aircraft sent to the USSR did not have bomb-carrying capabilities, some other equipment was also removed - gun camera, landing lights, IFF transponder, etc. Thanks to this, the aircraft became lighter roughly by 40 kilograms. The special snowguard was installed in front of the engine supercharger to protect it from dust or snow while taking off. Most of the planes sent to the USSR had Merlin 46 engine, but roughly one-fifth of them was equipped with Merlin 45. They differed by critical altitudes - Merlin 46 was designed for higher altitudes like 4-5 kilometers, where it was more powerful, but it was 80-100 HP weaker than Merlin 45 near the ground. Our sim will represent both engines (Merlin 45 will be a modification).
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You can see full text and visual materials on our forum:
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/?p=482640