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Great victory day

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Re: Great victory day
Post by Relax   » Fri May 22, 2015 12:50 am

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C. Lindberg brought his knowledge to long distance flying to the P-38. Allowing them to fly +++1800 mile round trip flights to bomb, yes bomb, Rabaul in the S. Pacific. Before that, they were limited to a mere ~900 miles round trip or so. This knowledge was passed to the European theater and the P-38 became the predominant recon plane along with the mosquito as both had the horses to simply run away from trouble unlike the mustang loaded with recon gear. Especially as they were fitted with Allison engines as all of the super chargers were placed on the radials and Merlin engines of that time crippling said engine and all airplanes using them. Simply could not build enough superchargers due to lack of Nickel due to war time demands. Were using essentially straight nickel alloys for the high temperature and high stress blades.

EDIT: Hmm think the 1800 mile trips were to Truk, not Rabaul. Rabaul was earier in the war I believe.

EDIT EDIT: Nope, was Rabaul in 43 when drop tanks showed up for the first time.
Last edited by Relax on Fri May 22, 2015 7:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Great victory day
Post by HB of CJ   » Fri May 22, 2015 3:27 am

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It was more like just one (1) hour of extended time aloft, which may or many not result in additional range and then only when using the big duel drop tanks. The Japanese took a couple of weeks to adapt.

He did it by running about 25% more turbo boost than recommended and reducing the cruising rpm way down to around 1500-1600 from around 2000. He also leaned out the carb almost to detonation.

This only worked because of the newly available 130 octane gas. It would not have worked with the older 100 octane. There is still debate today what was happening inside those Alision engines.

But ... there was a war going on. I think I have hijacked this post again. Sorry. Getting back on track, changing the academy training during war still would have been politically non correct. HB
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Re: Great victory day
Post by Relax   » Fri May 22, 2015 7:08 am

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Yup, saved ~100 gal or so. One bomb one drop tank.

Makes one think of what would have happened if the airforce had allowed Republic to change the production lines by putting fuel tanks in the wings of the P47 like they had been requesting for years(finally happened for P47N 1300 built). Somehow I doubt we would have been hearing, "P51 is best fighter of WWII" with all of its overinflated stats due to kills of airplanes on the ground or taking off. P47 was faster, dived better, turned the same, and climbed slower at high altitude till wing grew on D and later model, and it had more armor with an engine that didn't go kaput with a single bullet in its cooler, and carried more ordinance than Mustangs, Spits etc.

Only real reason P38/P51 had the range to start with was because of their built in wing tanks and why the Spitfire pretty much did nothing after the Battle of Britain and why it was shuffled off into secondary theaters. No legs. Spit, while a great fighter, had no range and its wing structure was so complex they could not add internal wing tanks other than very small ones along the leading edge, and one can't fight with a drop tank attached... Much has been made about the so called 'laminar' wing on the P51. It is a bunch of baloney. Did it help? Yes. Not that much. ~10% extra range. It was the internal fuel storage built into the wings that allowed extra fuel to be placed in the fuselage and drop tanks added giving it its range.
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Re: Great victory day
Post by Daryl   » Fri May 22, 2015 8:07 am

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My dad flew Spitfires in Ww2 Pacific, and he said that on long flights they used an oil drop tank as well. The Merlin was an amazing engine, but being British it leaked oil badly. They had a little hand pump to top up the sump.
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Re: Great victory day
Post by HB of CJ   » Fri May 22, 2015 2:18 pm

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Simply not true. British stuff does not just leak oil! I will have you know my 1968 Norton 710cc twin not ONLY leaked oil ... it leaked gasoline from those somewhat good Amal carbs, leaked gear oil from the transmission, leaked primary chain lube from the primary and also leaked air from the rear tire.

Seems the back spokes stretched from all of that torque and the sharp ends would poke through the boot and nick the tire tube. And all of this was in 1970! And ... I have hijacked another fine thread AGAIN!! Yikes!! But I was young then and had survived all sorts of stuff and had too much money.

Trying to get back on subject here ... if the Manties tried to cut out all the "BS" from the navy academy, people would have screamed. "Do not mess with our traditions"! But ... I suppose if the enemy had reached the gates, they might have changed their tunes. HB of CJ (old coot) :)
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Re: Great victory day
Post by thinkstoomuch   » Mon May 25, 2015 11:34 am

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Posting from my phablet in a campground fot the first time.

What a british motorcycle post. And no mention of Lucas Prince of Darkness. Of course only reason I know about it is the Italians were stupid enough to import Lucas stuff for their bikes.

By the way my hats off to anyone who posts from a phone. This is a pain in the butt that I don't intend to do often.Just tuckered out from a forest service road with a bunch of creek crossings yesterday.

Having fun,
T2M
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Q: “How can something be worth more than it costs? Isn’t everything ‘worth’ what it costs?”
A: “No. That’s just the price. ...
Christopher Anvil from Top Line in "War Games"
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Re: Great victory day
Post by Bruno Behrends   » Wed May 27, 2015 6:22 am

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How did the topic change this much? :lol:

Now I have to add my 2 cents also: I have a Triumph bike built in 2010 and it runs great. It also does not leak much of anything.
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Re: Great victory day
Post by Daryl   » Wed May 27, 2015 6:32 am

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That's why the British lost their early lead in computing. Couldn't work out how to make them leak oil.

Lord Lucas - Prince of Darkness
Lucas light switch - three settings, off, dim and dimmer
First anti theft device, Lucas distributor


Bruno Behrends wrote:How did the topic change this much? :lol:

Now I have to add my 2 cents also: I have a Triumph bike built in 2010 and it runs great. It also does not leak much of anything.
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Ah ... Lucas ... The Price Of Darknes ...
Post by HB of CJ   » Wed May 27, 2015 7:13 pm

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You know you have an old British motor bike when the necessary spare parts kit is large and heavy enough that the young beautiful chick can not go for a ride with you. Either one or the other.

One must decide either the girl or the spare parts kit which included ... two spare headlight bulbs, one spare tail light bulb, one brake light bulb, two breaker point assemblies, two plugs, two condensors.

One spare front brake cable, one spare brake or clutch lever, three+ rear spare spokes, a BIG patch kit, 3 aluminum tire irons, a spoke wrench, a small bike air pump, one quart of engine make up oil, chain lube,

A set of special non SAE non metric Went Worth spanners. plug wrench, a small adjustable wrench, various spare nuts and bolts. A tiny tube of blue Locktite, cotter pins, a hunk of spare chain, chain links,

A chain breaker. Small draw file, complete set of fuzes, a small roll of wire, more bailing wire, duct tape, carb main jets, spare carb needles, owners manual, cuss words in Gallaic, flashlight, etc..

But ... all and all for its time a very good road bike. Had a vibration free sweet spot at around 65 mph. Would top out at around 110 mph laying down on it. Geared down slightly. Long ago and far away.

HB of CJ (old coot) You eventually used all the aforementioned. :)
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