Kitehard said...
P51D Mustang! They had a two speed Super charger which gave them the horsepower to climb higher and faster than any other fighter in WW2. What a beautiful aircraft!

True, buuuuut, almost all of the WW2 military a/c engines had 2 stage superchargers. All of the P&W radials that I'm aware of, all of the Wright radials that I'm aware of, all of the Merlin and Griffon V12s for sure. The significant failure of most of the Alison V12s was because they were one of the few with only a single stage supercharger. In the P38 the Alisons were turbocharged. I can't think of any other turbo charged engines in common use during WW2. I'm not sure about the Hercules radial engines, but who cares anyway. They were the most abortionate heap of scrap metal ever bolted into an a/c wing.

pffft P40 was the sexiest aircraft



Col Pay's restoration in memory of bobby gibbs from No 3 squadron RAAF .


closely followed by the FB VI mossie

Republic P47.

Its ability to absorb battle damage gave it a 90% return rate.

Bit of a behemoth at 7 tons but would have been nice to know the crates going to get you home in those days.

Zeros don't have any fans it seems.
What about the Grumman Hellcat, not a beauty but a great performer.

I read someplace that when the P47 was replaced by the P51, the pilots were not very impressed.
The '47- granted- it was big, but they loved them. It hit hard, could dive faster than the German aircraft, and it would get them home.
I think beancounters might have had a bit to do with the adoption of the P51's as they were something like 1/4 of the price of a P47 to build.

It doesnt matter how good the aircraft, firearm tank or ship is- it comes down to how quick they can be built- and how many you can churn out.

A good example of all these are the American P51 Mustang fighter, the British STEN submachine gun, the American M4 Sherman and the Russian T34 tanks, and the American Liberty ships.

All were cheap, some downright nasty, a couple were gems- but importantly, they were able to be built cheaply, quickly and in huge numbers.
It was mostly the huge numbers the allies could put into battle that beat the AXIS in WW2- not necessarily the more skilled, or better technology (that came later)

Tractorguy said...

2400 hundred horses of grunt

Hard to fit them all into a plane?

dinsdale said...

ikw777 said...
The Merlin and the later development, the Griffon, sounded awesome too. Cop the engine note on this fly past of a Griffon engined Mark 19 at 5.52:

Gets my tail all bushy.

M-m-mate!! You ought to hear 'em in real life. Saw a fly past of Lancaster, 2 Spitties, a Hurricane and a P51D. I still get aroused just thinking about it . Was also on duty one day at Richmond RAAF base when we had a P51 showing off. A full speed run (nearly 400kts) 10' above the tarmac about 50' away, and then a 7g climb at the full 60" boost. I was most definitely born 30 years too late .

They are at least 3x as awesome as the jets. The sound is absolutely ****ing phenomenal, even while taxiing. The ground shakes.
It's akin to sitting on the shoulder at 10' pipe.

I forget what they are, and judging by this thread somebody will know, but the engines are something like 15 litres and 16 cylinders of mechanically fuel injected madness.

The Griffon eventually drove contra-rotating propellors:

sn said...

Tractorguy said...2400 hundred horses of grunt

the hawker tempests and typhoons had the Napier sabre engine, 2400hp, later got to 3500hp.
prototypes hit around 5500hp- (but tended to be disposable)
Pretty chuffed with the companies efforts (rellies of ours)
The Napier company ended up being absorbed by Rolls Royce/ Bentley.
being lumped in with common yobs like them lowered the family reputation a bit

stephen

twould seem that
24 hundred hundred is a lot though

Not exactly a fighter,( norWWii, first flew in 1946) but if you judge an aircraft by the sound it makes this one is up there. Back in about 1984 I was working on a project to evaluate airtankers for fighting bushfires. We contracted Conair to bring over a converted DC6B airtanker. Didn't get a ride but had a few beers with the crew, the mechanic used to drawl "This aircraft has multi parts, it's got 144 spark plugs".

We'd put out ice cream containers in the bush, the DC6 would do a low pass and drop a load of retardent. We'd then check on the distribution and try and guess if it would put out a bush fire.

We were worried about the wind affecting the drop. On a couple of runs I was up at canopy height in a cherry picker with an anemometer, as it did the flyover. You can hear it coming, here it comes, here it comes, but nothing can prepare you for the sound it makes as it goes overhead.

This could be exactly the same aircraft. I just checked the specs it has 4 by 2,500 hp Pratt and Whitney double Wasp 18 cylinder twin row radial engines. That checks out, 2 spark plugs per cylinder = 144.

Ian K said...
Not exactly a fighter,( norWWii, first flew in 1946) but if you judge an aircraft by the sound it makes this one is up there. Back in about 1984 I was working on a project to evaluate airtankers for fighting bushfires. We contracted Conair to bring over a converted DC6B airtanker. Didn't get a ride but had a few beers with the crew, the mechanic used to drawl "This aircraft has multi parts, it's got 144 spark plugs".

We'd put out ice cream containers in the bush, the DC6 would do a low pass and drop a load of retardent. We'd then check on the distribution and try and guess if it would put out a bush fire.

We were worried about the wind affecting the drop. On a couple of runs I was up at canopy height in a cherry picker with an anemometer, as it did the flyover. You can hear it coming, here it comes, here it comes, but nothing can prepare you for the sound it makes as it goes overhead.

This could be exactly the same aircraft. I just checked the specs it has 4 by 2,500 hp Pratt and Whitney double Wasp 18 cylinder twin row radial engines. That checks out, 2 spark plugs per cylinder = 144.

Whilst I do have a very soft spot for "round engines" (I used to fly Caribous and Dakotas), they really don't match the sound of huge V12 - or 4.

Rex said...

dinsdale said...
(I used to fly Caribous and Dakotas)

Oh man you win! I loved the sound of the Caribou that used to fly out of Pearce air base. Got a taste again recently when the Grumman Albatross was flying around.

Yea, I spent a couple of years at Pearce too, but that was before they paid off "Mamma" our beloved Gooney Bird (102). That's where I got my hours up on Goonies. Mamma still had <50,000hrs on her when they paid her off. She was maintained better than a new one. The Caribou had a much better exhaust note due to the exhaust augmenters. I had a flight (as a passenger) on a Neptune (2 x Wright Compound 3300) from Pearce to Townsville via Eyre's Rock. I spent most of the trip sitting in perspex nose. One of my most memorable trips. Whilst on the topic of "round engine" powered a/c, I also had a jolly once in a Winjeel.

I still like the V12s.

Aaaargh eee ooo Aaaargh!!


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silbervogel

dinsdale said...

Whilst I do have a very soft spot for "round engines" (I used to fly Caribous and Dakotas), they really don't match the sound of huge V12 - or 4.

First aircraft I was ever flown in was a Douglas Dakota DC3 when I was 4 years old. I asked to be and was taken up to the cockpit and sat in the pilots lap and he stuck his hand out the window and showed me the water droplets on his hand even though it was not raining.

I was med-evaced from an island off the north west coast in 1973 in a Caribou.

Those two aircraft have to be the best utility planes our military has ever had. The Caribou has to be the best twin piston engined aircraft ever built.

Also have flown on the Vickers Viscount and Lockheed Electra back in the late 50s/early 60s.

The Electra is one of the most enduring aircraft ever built as we still use them in the guise of the Orion.

86-87, Americas cup fever at boiling point in Perth,
I was working in the rooftop air conditioning plant room of the Orchard hotel (Wellington street)
My offsider and myself were trying to track down a rumbly noise that didnt belong.
Couldnt track down the noise- so we stepped out onto the roof for a break- (a lot cooler- and usually a lot quieter out there)
Promptly found our rumbly noise.
A DC3 was overhead- pointed directly into a hefty Fremantle Doctor, and rapidly getting nowhere.
It took ages to get out of sight- and when it banked around, the tailwind made it scream past in no time at all.

sounded awesome.
note to self, must cadge a ride in one of those beauties one day.

stephen

stephen