World Flight Altitude Record

(This thread is dedicated to all those who say I fly too high. )

Earlier this evening I scrambled to intercept what I thought was an RDP bomber, but turned out to be nothing - finding myself alone at 18,000 feet in the middle of France with nothing to do - as such I decided to see how high I could get the Spit to go:

Current World Flight Altitude Record:

Lt. Colonel Mario Pezzi - Italy - 22nd of October 1938 - Caproni Ca. 161 - 56,860 ft

1st Attempt:

Sq/Ldr M. J. Dixon - Britain - 23rd of July 1940 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk Ia - 41,615 ft

Gentlemen! It is my intention to attempt to best the current World Flight Altitude Record as set by Lt. Colonel Pezzi - by or before the end of the current conflict our Country finds itself in!

(Other than the highest I've flown in WW2OL, the 1st attempt is also the longest I've flown at Max RPM, Max Throttle - the total flight time being nearly 3 hours.)



May the best man win!

Might wanna wait for the Spit IXs before trying that again, mate!
Good job though!

U need to get out more ;-)

If you want to attempt it in a Spit, you'll have to wait for the Mk. XIX.
You may not be able to beat the 56,860 ft, but you have a change to fly really fast
I found this on http://www.spitfire.dk/ENG.htm

The Mk. XIX is probably the piston engined aircraft, which has flown at the highest speed and at the highest altitude. The official service ceiling of the XIX was 42,500 ft / 12,962 meters, but in Hong Kong, where a XIX was used for meteorological flights, a pilot nursed the aircraft up to 51,550 ft / 15,722 meters, where he kept it flying at stall speed (108 kts / 200 km/h). Suddenly a light came on warning the pilot of a pressure cabin problem. The pilot decided to get down to a safe altitude as quickly as possible. During the wild dive the elevators locked and he was not able to pull out of the dive until he pushed forward the stick instead of pulling it. When examining the meteorological equipment it was determined that he during the dive had reached Mach 0.94 (690 mph / 1104 km/h) at 15,000 ft / 4,575 meters.

2nd Attempt:

Grp/Cpt M. J. Dixon - Britain - 19th of March 1942 - Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb - 41,690 ft

Interestingly the Spit Vb only manages 75 feet more than a Spit I! That's progress for you.

Although it did manage Frankfurt to Ramsgate on only the 30 gallons remaining in the bottom tank (granted I had to glide from around Knokke)