Check out the profile of a Mustang aerofoil... especially the ailerons that flare out at the trailing edge... they were/are laminar flow designOriginally Posted by James Deuce
sem fiddy pilot
Check out the profile of a Mustang aerofoil... especially the ailerons that flare out at the trailing edge... they were/are laminar flow design
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Read biographies. A lot of the documentaries are extremely superficial. The myth that the RAF were responsible for the Mustang going into production persists to this day, thanks to a lot of "historians" regurgitating accepted rumours as facts.The thing that I find rather frustrating is the conflicting info, in both doco's & online text, some completely contradict others
The interesting thing about reading the biographies of the pilots is that they all believed that their personal mount was the best thing in the sky. They had to. But that belief often uncovered capabilities that go well beyond accepted performance parameters, or the history relayed by the victors. Remember the winners get to write the accepted version of history.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
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Design yes. But mass production and the demands of wartime operations meant that they didn't remain laminar flow aerofoil sections for long. The Brits did a huge amount of research with the Supermarine Spiteful and couldn't get it to work as expected thanks mainly to bug impacts and condensation on the leading edge of the aerofoil.
As you've already pointed out, the weird chord of a laminar flow wing meant ugly stall departure characteristics.
The Mustang was quicker than its horsepower would suggest mainly because of the Meredith Effect, not the aerofoil.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
sem fiddy pilot
The specific NACA section of the P-51 wing is laminar... and the Spitfire had more of a "lift" wing section than the P-51. Which is why it could turn tighter, but had less speed. My steed would probably only do 200 knots even with 1300 hp under the bonnet because of the section
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a RR merlin sound better than the Packard versions....dont know why,or if it is a spitfire with a RR merlin sounds better than a mustang with a packard merlin
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The different propellers give that effect.
The Spitfire had a Dowty-Rotol propeller with wooden blades (funnily enough, all Spitfires flying today have blades made by Hoffmann...in Germany), whereas the Mustang had a metal bladed Hamilton Standard propeller
Edit: The Mk XVI Spitfire and the P-51D both had Packard built Merlins in them, but sound quite different
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makes sense,at wanaka one year, the spitfire(griffon i think) but might have been a earlier one did sound nicer(to me any way) than the mustang
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Yep, the Mk XIV had the Griffon (rotated opposite the Merlin, too)
I saw the late Tom Middleton display the Mk XIV in Nelson in 1995.... I reckon the Griffon sounded more like a 400hp Fletcher than a Spitfire!
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The Packard Merlins did not garner a positive operational reputation in the RAF. I had a Spitfire pilot living around the corner from me who flew in the BoB, Burma, and back in Europe at the end of the war, and his favourite Spit was the Mk VIII. He finished the war flying Mk XIVs, but spent a small amount of time in XVIs prior to that and was disgusted to find his Erks working through the night after every operation, due to the low usage hour ratings of the Packard Merlins.
The Merlin 61s in the Mk VIIIs on the other hand were barely looked at, despite working in a dusty, hot tropical environment.
The US struggled with UK imperial measurements and Euro metric measurements throughout the war. They botched making their own version of the Oerlikon 20mm cannon thanks to trying to make the chambers conform to US armory (sic) measurement standards.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
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Haha! Got to beg to differ with you there, James!
The Packard was a FAR superior engine than the pommy built version!
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For whom the bell tolls
Is it also true that Packard Merlins weren't finished to the same standard as the RR ones - I heard that Packard didn't clean the castings up whereas RR did.
Don't the Reno guys prefer the Packard's over the RR's.
KiwiBitcher
where opinion holds more weight than fact.
It's better to not pass and know that you could have than to pass and find out that you can't. Wait for the straight.
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I'll dig some hard data up. You might be shocked. The Packard Merlin 266 in particular generated more more RTBs due to engine trouble than the Merlin 66, by a large margin.
I have the stats here somewhere. Also specific power outputs suffer in comparison, again particularly the 266 compared to the 66.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
sem fiddy pilot
Packards were built to better tolerances than the hand finished Rolls Royce ones were, despite being manufactured by automotive mass production techniques
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Because they can easily get bits. I have a mate working for a company that does nothing but new build Packard Merlins and Pratt & Whitney R2800 radials. The biggest job they did was re-engineering R3350s for a B29 called Fifi, incorporating crank oil feed improvements drawn up but not implemented on WW2 aircraft.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
sem fiddy pilot
A technicolour debrief, huh?I'll give him a debriefing! (could be a chunky one)
So James, are you saying "eyes front" at all times? Ooooooooooer I can feel the G's
A well executed barrell roll is barely discernable (I'm VERY rusty on aerobatics, so not referring to moi as pilot!) to the bod.
It's great fun, T.G.W!
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