BOB aircraft armour

[Graham Boak]

[quote=Smithy;62073]Back armour was initially not included on the Spitfire I and Hurricane I as the powers that were at the Air Ministry thought that its inclusion would adversely affect the balance of the aircraft.

I've seem that written, but it is a very odd statement. Calculation of the movement of an aircraft's cg caused by the fitting of a new piece of kit, or any specific weapon or modification, is one of the simplest and most common calculations in aviation. The range of permissible cg positions is determined early in the flight test programme: so checking that fitting the armour was within the acceptable range must have been a doddle.

Had the cg moved outside the the acceptable range, then it is a matter of adding/removing ballast to compensate.