Why so rough

[Paul S.]

I suppose so, when I used to work on BBMF, I often wondered why the pilots didn't flog the Spitfires. Answer being, for what reason, we know how fast and how tight they can turn. They have nothing to prove. Suppose it's just comes down to personal preference.

Or more likely, the Spitfires are 70+ year old 'geriatrics'. Why risk overstressing an airframe just to show how fast and furious you can fly?

I remember reading in Douglas Bader's biography, Reach for the Sky, that he forbade his pilots doing victory loops after witnessing a pilot die after having the tail section of his Spitfire come off whilst doing one after returning from a combat sortie. Mind you, I could be mistaken about the source as I read the book some 50 years ago.