28 Mar 2024, 06:13 [ UTC - 5; DST ]
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 23 Feb 2021, 00:49 |
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Joined: 04/06/11 Posts: 7894 Post Likes: +3908
Aircraft: Warbirds
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As much as I live in WWII aviation I have the ability to have worked on many different types over the years. With this experience I subscribe to the KISS system. There is something about Less Complex that works so well with lighter weight. My point of reference ends up being the Merlin Powered P-51B, C and D/K. The P-51H was quite an improvement but without a combat record to show. It was lighter than the earlier models with higher horsepower. The others mentioned never made it to production. Bigger, heavier aren’t necessarily improvements. Higher Straight line speed in level flight or a dive doesn’t necessarily transfer to maneuvering improvements. All A/C designing is making compromises.
_________________ Be careful what you ask for, your mechanic wants to sleep at night.
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 23 Feb 2021, 11:40 |
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Joined: 08/26/15 Posts: 9514 Post Likes: +8745 Company: airlines (*CRJ,A320) Location: Florida panhandle
Aircraft: Travel Air,T-6B,etc*
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Username Protected wrote: ... The last minute made me laugh a bit- I think he used the variable speed fluid drive as a springboard to elevator controls and people, Italian cars and mechanics' attitudes towards them, and "different" systems design frustrating people who have only known one way. Speaking of cars from opposite sides of the pond, I thought SU carburetors were positively brilliant in their simplicity once I learned to understand them. The long term issues were that they are extremely sensitive to air leaks (particularly around the throttle shaft bushings BTW) and to jet and needle wear- watch out for those problems and address them accordingly with proper maintenance and the rest of the device is quite trouble-free. You have a single fuel jet for mixture adjustment, an idle stop adjustment, and an auxiliary jet for cold starting (casually referred to as the "choke"). Much different philosophy than most American carburetors with an idle jet, a main jet, and a power jet, an accelerator pump, separate butterflies for throttle and choke, a vacuum thingy to crack the choke open a bit if you flooded the engine with the accelerator pump... Which one is better? You can find knowledgable mechanics for either kind and who will handily get the car to run well. Finding a good one isn't always easy, although it's certainly easy to find a mechanic who is bad at one or the other and who will tell you what a piece of junk it is. You know you've found a great mechanic when you find one who doesn't curse or disparage a system that's different to them, but instead refers you to someone who knows that system.
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 25 Feb 2021, 15:35 |
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Joined: 12/08/12 Posts: 810 Post Likes: +954 Location: Ukiah, California
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Username Protected wrote: As much as I live in WWII aviation I have the ability to have worked on many different types over the years. With this experience I subscribe to the KISS system. There is something about Less Complex that works so well with lighter weight. My point of reference ends up being the Merlin Powered P-51B, C and D/K. The P-51H was quite an improvement but without a combat record to show. It was lighter than the earlier models with higher horsepower. The others mentioned never made it to production. Bigger, heavier aren’t necessarily improvements. Higher Straight line speed in level flight or a dive doesn’t necessarily transfer to maneuvering improvements. All A/C designing is making compromises. Out of 555 P-51H that were built, only a few have survived and only one that I know of that is flying (Mike Couches, now being flown by his grandson I believe). I have had the opportunity to see this one fly a few times and the difference between the H and all other previous Mustang versions is obvious. The high speed flybys that took place at the Nut Tree Airport back in 2014 still brings chills. Dan
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 25 Feb 2021, 19:23 |
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Joined: 04/06/11 Posts: 7894 Post Likes: +3908
Aircraft: Warbirds
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Username Protected wrote: As much as I live in WWII aviation I have the ability to have worked on many different types over the years. With this experience I subscribe to the KISS system. There is something about Less Complex that works so well with lighter weight. My point of reference ends up being the Merlin Powered P-51B, C and D/K. The P-51H was quite an improvement but without a combat record to show. It was lighter than the earlier models with higher horsepower. The others mentioned never made it to production. Bigger, heavier aren’t necessarily improvements. Higher Straight line speed in level flight or a dive doesn’t necessarily transfer to maneuvering improvements. All A/C designing is making compromises. Out of 555 P-51H that were built, only a few have survived and only one that I know of that is flying (Mike Couches, now being flown by his grandson I believe). I have had the opportunity to see this one fly a few times and the difference between the H and all other previous Mustang versions is obvious. The high speed flybys that took place at the Nut Tree Airport back in 2014 still brings chills. Dan Yup, Mike had a Bearcat as well as the H. Once the H was flying he parked the Bearcat, that was the early 70s. He said the H did everything the Bearcat could do in performance with less fuel used so why keep both flying. I believe the Bearcat is currently for sale. Very low time.
_________________ Be careful what you ask for, your mechanic wants to sleep at night.
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 26 Feb 2021, 13:45 |
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Joined: 04/06/11 Posts: 7894 Post Likes: +3908
Aircraft: Warbirds
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Username Protected wrote: Any time I see these magnificent war birds I think of the young WW ll pilots who flew them. They got checked out in them with about 250 hours total flight time, then sent into combat to shoot it out with a Luftwaffe pilot who might have 250 hours also.
I think when I had 250 hours I was checking out in a Beech Debonair to get the commercial ticket and thought what a high performance plane it was.
Those young pilots sure earned the title The Greatest Generation. The training loss rate was incredibly high too. The US and Canada trained 10s of thousands of pilots and crews. It was that training, combined with a culture that produced great thinking skills and can do attitudes, that allowed them to be successful in combat. The Allied war machine produced the war machines in incredible numbers. The combination changed the world in the 40s.
_________________ Be careful what you ask for, your mechanic wants to sleep at night.
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 26 Feb 2021, 21:47 |
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Joined: 12/08/12 Posts: 810 Post Likes: +954 Location: Ukiah, California
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Username Protected wrote: Yup, Mike had a Bearcat as well as the H. Once the H was flying he parked the Bearcat, that was the early 70s. He said the H did everything the Bearcat could do in performance with less fuel used so why keep both flying. I believe the Bearcat is currently for sale. Very low time. This could be the one for sale out of Livermore (992 TTSN)
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 26 Feb 2021, 23:30 |
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Joined: 04/06/11 Posts: 7894 Post Likes: +3908
Aircraft: Warbirds
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Username Protected wrote: Yup, Mike had a Bearcat as well as the H. Once the H was flying he parked the Bearcat, that was the early 70s. He said the H did everything the Bearcat could do in performance with less fuel used so why keep both flying. I believe the Bearcat is currently for sale. Very low time. This could be the one for sale out of Livermore (992 TTSN) That’s it
_________________ Be careful what you ask for, your mechanic wants to sleep at night.
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Post subject: Re: “Super” WW2 Fighters ... Posted: 27 Feb 2021, 18:40 |
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Joined: 04/22/10 Posts: 1176 Post Likes: +1969 Location: Port Vila and sometimes Brisbane
Aircraft: A36 Bonanza
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Quote: Yup, Mike had a Bearcat as well as the H. Once the H was flying he parked the Bearcat, that was the early 70s. He said the H did everything the Bearcat could do in performance with less fuel used so why keep both flying. I believe the Bearcat is currently for sale. Very low time. Some days I almost prefer the old civilian schemes on the warbirds. That Bearcat has been just parked in the back of a hangar for almost 50 years? Thats amazing.
_________________ Chuck Perry A36 VH-EZU B737-800NG Redcliffe QLd, Australia
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