Nobody will doubt that airflow was the same on both sides of the iron curtain. The same phenomenon has happened many times - for instance in the late forties when piston-driven fighters were on the eclipse whilst at the same team reaching the pinnacle of design, soon to be replaced by jets. New airfoils and bigger and stronger engines continued to dictate design features. So, to counter increased torque and decreased forward visibility on a taildragger, designers at Grumman, Boeing and Hawker, to name but a few, seem to have come to the same solutions. Increase the tail section area for better stability, widen the undercarriage track to improve handling and raise the pilot for better visibility. These common conclusions resulted in elegant and powerful machines like the F8F, the Boeing XF8B-1 and the Sea Fury. Vickers-Supermarine was no exception to this trend, by now making a last effort to breathe further life into the venerable Spitfire design.
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