Thank you all for your messages, it truly means a lot! I love the community here. Thank you too for sharing those wonderful screenshots, Brad! In particular, I really enjoyed seeing your "Piece of Cake" inspired images in the screenshots thread.
Shotgunshack - I finally put some real time on the newly updated FlyingIron Spitfire last night and this morning. I am mostly impressed, but there are still some issues. At first, I was concerned that the torque was way over the top on takeoff, but if I keep the stick back with the tail held down until the airspeed reaches 60 mph, and then ease the stick forward, I don't notice much torque at all (with full right rudder trim dialed in). I found that it is however very ill-advised to try and takeoff with any moderate crosswind. A real Mk.IX Spitfire won't be nearly as affected by a crosswind as the sim version is (perhaps due more to MSFS itself than FlyingIron's work?). In the product's pilot manual, and in the update, they mention using 1 notch nose down/forward trim for takeoff. I've found in other references that this is a good takeoff trim setting in the Mk.IX if you are only using half fuel in the internal tanks (which is the case by default in the sim (with the slipper tank removed)), and/or you are taking off from a grass airfield where you want to lighten the load on the tailwheel. What's not mentioned is that it is also recommended at times to use 1 notch nose up/aft trim for takeoff in the Mk.IX if you have full internal fuel and/or you are taking off from a hard runway and prefer to takeoff in a more three-point attitude. With the last couple of updates to the FlyingIron Spitfire, I've noticed the ailerons "feel" heavier/more stiff than they were before, which I think has made it more accurate. I've always heard that, although the Spitfire has brilliant flying qualities, it doesn't have very good ailerons, as they're rather heavy/stiff (made better with the clipped-wing variants). It also seems harder than ever to get it slowed down to gear speed, even when using the standard overhead break procedure. I used to only have to power it back to -2 boost in the break to downwind, but now I'm finding I have to bring the throttle back quite a bit more in order to get it down to the 160 mph gear speed. There is only one pilot report I recall reading that has ever touched on it being hard to get a Spitfire slowed down, and that was with the Mk.XVIII, written by Jim Beasley, who said that it was a challenge when landing to try and get it slowed down to gear speed and then keeping it slowed down, while also trying to make sure the power wasn't set too low for too long that it would cause spark plug fouling. The noticeable pitch down when lowering the flaps is a very welcome and accurate improvement to the flight dynamics, though the drag cause by the flaps seems to be way, way too much now, requiring you to use way too much power just to keep the airplane's speed up on final (you should be able to lower the flaps while on downwind, just before turning onto base, and not have to carry much power). I've also noticed, following the latest FlyingIron update, that the Becker VHF Comm control head is no longer functioning, and ever since SU5, if you start out with the aircraft already running (starting out on a runway), one of the mag switches is always off.