[RICHARD PAINE]

After spending most of the winter hibernating in the workshop to replace my 36 year old ME109E it comes the time to make the new 109 a "complete" airplane by actually flying it,
I must admit to being nervous about the flight so I decide to first fly my most difficult warbird for practice, a Top Flight Sea Fury, 13 plus lbs, 37 oz per square ft wing loading & little dihedral.
I made a poorly thought out, full flap, arcing turn to final, resulting in the plane always being pointed right at me . It is harder to judge the speed from that angle & I stalled it. I know better, no excuses !!!
Luckily the adjoining field is soft this time of year & the damage was minor.
Now I am really nervous about the maiden on the 109. The much lighter loaded 109 , [27 oz per sq ft] jumped into the air & flew well. The landing was a uneventful full flap, wheel landing. All my other warbirds have 5 to 8 degrees down elevator mixed with the flaps to prevent pitch up when selecting flaps.
For some reason the flaps on the 109 cause a pitch down rather than up. The 5 deg down I have mixed in furthers the pitch down. I will obviously delete the down mixing & perhaps try some up elevator mixed with the flaps.

[Max]

Beautiful, Richard!


Lets hope this one lasts another 30 years