P-51 "Glamorous Gal"

P-51 "Glamorous Gal" flying out of the Grumman "Iron Works", Calverton, NY

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• WWII
• Aircraft
• Airshows
• Airplane
• Aviation

[rg184511]

Would someone sane please advise when they went to a 4 blade prop? Korea?

[J14021]

@rg184511 Rolls Royce installed Merlin two stage supercharged engines in several MK I Mustangs in 1942 creating Mustang Mk X. With the Merlin engine they used a four blade (10') prop from the Spitfire. Later evolutions used the 4 blade Hamilton Standard prop.

[minuteman3]

@Scharfschutzen1 OH GAWD, I am the son of a Mustang Pilot, a 20 year veteran of the USAF with extensive experience in CCC, Combat Operations, and Space Operations, I have talked to my Father and other WWII Mustang Aces extensively, about it, all I said was it was a great fighter, not the greatest because that would lead to too much speculation from the peanut gallery . Fact is it was a great high altitude long range fighter and propaganda has nothing to do with that. So don't give me that BS

[minuteman3]

@Scharfschutzen1 Plus German pilots were in the war for the duration. American Pilots were rotated home after 50 missions. During 1945 some didn't even see a German Airplane because the Luftwaffe  was so decimated and there was not only a lack of live pilots, but of fuel, serviceable airplanes, and parts. Before you spout any of your propaganda here, why don't you read Gunter Ralls' (who was a great ace) book "Mein Flugbuch ", because you are just starting to sound ignorant.

[luisardas]

P51 CADILLAC OF SKIES!!

[Hiei2k7]

@minuteman3

North American (a subsidiary of General Motors out of Dallas Texas) engineered that airframe.

The British did engineer the motors for it, but the Packard version of it sounds a lot meaner and had better performance than the matching Allison engine, plus all parts were machine tooled/cast and mass produced, so they could be repaired faster than the Rolls-Royce counterpart which was hand made.

All I know is that somewhere, some neo-nazi skinhead is shitting himself at the sound!

[nibbler125]

its amazing how people ran in fear just from hearing that plane fly over

[stratobagster]

I have to say that is the most stunning aircraft I've ever seen. Simply beautiful. As I understand it, the decision to quit the o.d. green and camo paint schemes went away after air superiority was established in Europe. The highly polished bare metal was much more cost effective several years into a devastating conflict. Anybody know better? Thank you!

[couteau86]

@minuteman3

The Heinkel He219 A7/R1 had this engine. Ok, it was just a very smal number of planes, but they had this engine. Or whats up with the Messerschmitt Me410??? She had DB603A engines with 1750 PS ... and just by the way, the V-1650-9A of the P-51H had 1830 PS, not 2200. This was the V-1650-11 engine that never was instaled in a series version of the P-51 ...

[minuteman3]

@couteau86 I think you are actually talking about the prototypes. the Daimler-Benz DB603G engine never produced that type of power above 20k, plus with the horrible Gasoline the Germans where using towards the end of the war, there is no way to ever achieve that rating. Besides by that time the P-51H with 2200hp was actually starting to roll off the assembly lines. The DB 603g specifically never went into production You do understand the difference between Operational and Prototype right?

[couteau86]

@minuteman3

The Daimler-Benz DB603G engine, for example, had a power of 1900 PS and this was a engine that fit in a airframe of a Bf109. So, the power of the engine was nothing special. A other v-engine with a equal size and power also had can do the job. In the end it was the realy good aerodynamics of the airframe and wings ;-)

[minuteman3]

@rg184511 4 blade prop came into effect when the RR-Merlin engine was installed in WWII in the P-51B and C models.

[minuteman3]

@couteau86 Thats where you are wrong. The engine was special because it was able to make 1680 HP at sea level and at 25k ft. Because of the two stage supercharger, it had the greatest power to displacement ratio of any American fighter. Plus the other engines that had over 2000 HP gulped massive amounts of fuel compared to the Mustangs. The Mustang was great because of all of the factors, engine, airframe, and the new laminar flow wing.