WWII Aircraft Facts |
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hoadie
Moderator Group Joined: March 16 2006 Location: Niagara/Canada Status: Offline Points: 9003 |
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Awful lot of casualties due to carbon monoxide poisoning..an issue they never resolved.Just shows, saftey took a back seat to numbers.The earlier models had a tail separation problem(The tail plane would separate from the rest of the kite)So they put re-enforcing clamps on 'em to hold it together! Napier-Sabre engine had HUGE development issues, as well.(I wonder if anyone kept any of them, or if they all went for scrap?)
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Loose wimmen tightened here
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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Years back I worked as a volunteer at a privately owned warbird museum in Gloucester, they had both a Tempest & a Mossie.
That Sabre engine was a horror story, even just starting it was an exercise in futility!
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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muffett.2008
Senior Member Joined: December 09 2011 Location: scone. nsw Status: Offline Points: 751 |
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We have a Warbirds Museum here, it's pretty easy to get distracted when the boys are playing.
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25-5
Special Member Donating Member Joined: February 19 2013 Location: 1945 Status: Offline Points: 286 |
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These are what my uncle flew. C-46 (left) and C-47 (right) over the "Hump" in the CBI, forgotten theater of war. In SAC he flew the B-29 tanker. I think he is flying now up there, but I am sure he chose a Lear Jet and no mountains,
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For the pikes must be together at the rising of the moon.
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Shamu
Admin Group Logo Designer / Donating Member Joined: April 25 2007 Location: MD, USA. Status: Offline Points: 17603 |
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If you want some fantastic pictures & video of warbirds flying google "North Wales, the Mach Loop". Its an area in Wales where every flyable warbird in the U. K. gets to strut its stuff through a series of valleys & reservoirs. The spectators are sometimes level with them as they go past.
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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303Guy
Senior Member Joined: July 10 2012 Location: Auckland Status: Offline Points: 495 |
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My Dad flew Dakota's from North Africa into Europe delivering supplies behind the iron curtain. He had a passport issued by Moscow to allow allied pilots to fly in. He said that in Budapest there was a Russian official stamping the crates delivered as 'made in Russia'. When questioned this fellow replied that they were made in Russia and that the Dakota delivering them was made in Russia. Well, Dacota's were supplied to Russia in parts for assembly but no doubt these guys were 'not being told the truth' exactly.
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303Guy
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Shamu
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Sounds very Soviet to me. IIRC they claimed to have "invented" sex, sliced bread & the wheel as well.
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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LE Owner
Senior Member Joined: December 04 2009 Status: Offline Points: 1047 |
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The Russians built many copies of the DC3, with beefed up airframe and extra tough landing gear for flying out of rough air strips or pasteurs and such.
They may still build these, or at least build parts for refurbing them. PS After watching a documentary about the Horten flying wing I rembered the Northrop flying wing. Turns out Northrup had been developing the idea since the 30's and had a few prop engined prototypes by 44. No jet engines though, that came later.
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303Guy
Senior Member Joined: July 10 2012 Location: Auckland Status: Offline Points: 495 |
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A question always on my mind is how do the Spitfire and Mustang compare? Two marvellous planes, different yet similar. Both beautiful.
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303Guy
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hoadie
Moderator Group Joined: March 16 2006 Location: Niagara/Canada Status: Offline Points: 9003 |
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The Spit was instrumental in development of the Mustang.
Primary Mustangs were Allison powered on a P-40 frame. Tweaking the P-40 frame, & adding the Merlin, allowed for increased performance. Putting fuel tanks behind the pilot, & allowing for a new idea of "drop tanks" gave the 'tang the long range the Spit didn't have.(Also the internal tanks were self sealing.) Further improvments-like moving the intake from the cowl & putting it under the fuselage increased speed & gave less drag. They kept on tweaking it, & it kept getting faster. One thing to remember tho..by the time Mustangs were into the theater in serious numbers - the best of the Luftwaffe had already been decimated.Therefore-its hard to actually say how well she would have done if they still had skilled veteran pilots with 190's & 109's. Hoadie |
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EnfieldNut82
Senior Member Joined: January 25 2013 Location: Wisconsin Status: Offline Points: 121 |
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If I am not mistaken didn't the US build the mustang for the british during ww2? I personally like the spitfire better myself.
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hoadie
Moderator Group Joined: March 16 2006 Location: Niagara/Canada Status: Offline Points: 9003 |
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The Air Ministry approached the U.S. for help in developing an aircraft to replace the Spit.Spit was an awesome kite-but she lacked the range.Britain was maxed out in wartime production (so was Canada). The US hadn't entered the war yet-so had excess production capabilities.When they came to see what the states had developed-it was dissapointing.A slightly tweaked P-40, with an Allison engine..It just didn't cut it.BUT..rather than abandon the project-someone in the ministry saw the potential of the airframe & had 6 sent to Blighty WITHOUT engines.Once in Britain-they tweaked a few things(balance points & trusses etc) & added a MERLIN engine.This proved to be the answere-although was very difficult to fly at first.(Balances were off-giving her the propensity to flip end over end, among other things)After crashing a few, they had the answeres needed..& 1st 'Tangs went into production.They just kept getting better as aerodynamics & power plant improvements kept coming.
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Zed
Special Member Donating Member Joined: May 01 2012 Location: France Status: Offline Points: 5585 |
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The last Spitfires were fitted with the Rolls-Royce Griffin engine which was 36 litres instead of the Merlins 27 litres. The photo reconaissance model Mk19 had a pressurized cabin (and no side door) and had an operational ceiling of 45,000 feet. They had larger fuel tanks in the wings because they had no guns .
One of my clients owns and fly's one of these Mk19's. It is magnificent. Probably one of the most recognizable and beautiful sounds in the mechanical world! (in my opinion)
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!
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muffett.2008
Senior Member Joined: December 09 2011 Location: scone. nsw Status: Offline Points: 751 |
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hoadie
Moderator Group Joined: March 16 2006 Location: Niagara/Canada Status: Offline Points: 9003 |
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I believe the Mk19 also had a TWO stage supercharger, to allow it to gain the extra altitude
Hoadie |
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Shamu
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That was one of the big differences between the Merlin & the Griffon.
One thing the Gridffon was supposed to do was give a performance bost over the Merlin at low altitude. Because of that goal the Griffons were originally fitted with single-stage blowers, not 2-stage, like the Merlins. If I'm lucky I may get to a merlin this weekend, I'm off to the Air & space museum at Dulles airport. I'll see if I can get pics as they have an engine gallery there.
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Don't shoot till you see the whites of their thighs. (Unofficial motto of the Royal Air Force)
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