WIX Archives

Rogue aircraft

Posted by Cees Broere on Thu Mar 20, 2003 10:42:46 AM

Hi all,

A question that has been in my mind for years is why certain individual aircraft can have a highter performance then the general performance as achieved by testing.

I can understand that there were aircraft with lower performance as a result of low workmanship such as the Spitfires flying one wing low or having bad flying characteristics because the trailing edge of the stabilizers were distorted etc.

But for instance (here we go again) Halifax LV907, the famous Friday the Thirteenth when tested after having come from the production line was considered to be above average on performance. One would expect that there is a limit to the performance of a certain aircraft type and the known performance figures (just look into any book) were the highest attainable.

Or are there other factors that enable a certain aircraft to attain a higher performance than the rest of the production batch.

Cheers

Cees

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