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Post by oldpop2000 on Apr 11, 2023 17:14:28 GMT -6
The P-38 shot down 1800 Japanese aircraft including Admiral Yamamoto.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Apr 12, 2023 8:43:43 GMT -6
List of WW2 US Aircraft Air to Air Victories ranked by total victories - Word format
Unless there is a question about aerodynamics, aircraft or what-ever, this ends this thread.
BTW, if you have a suggestion for a thread, put it up here or send me a message.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Apr 13, 2023 9:56:07 GMT -6
I am currently watching a good 1960's movie with David McCallum titled Mosquito Squadron.
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Post by vonfriedman on Apr 14, 2023 1:58:18 GMT -6
On the whole, twin-engine fighters served a useful purpose for air forces. As the war progressed twin-engine fighters would find further uses, with aircraft such as the Grumman Tigercat and the de Havilland Sea Hornet (much prized by famed pilot "Winkle" Brown). The Savoia Marchetti SM91 was inspired by the P38 Lightning, which the Italians knew well (in 1943 an intact P38 landed in Sardinia) and the SM92 was independently designed similar to the North American P82 Twin Mustang. Unlike this, the SM92 also had a rear-firing machine gun. |
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Post by oldpop2000 on Apr 14, 2023 6:14:26 GMT -6
On the whole, twin-engine fighters served a useful purpose for air forces. As the war progressed twin-engine fighters would find further uses, with aircraft such as the Grumman Tigercat and the de Havilland Sea Hornet (much prized by famed pilot "Winkle" Brown). The Savoia Marchetti SM91 was inspired by the P38 Lightning, which the Italians knew well (in 1943 an intact P38 landed in Sardinia) and the SM92 was independently designed similar to the North American P82 Twin Mustang. Unlike this, the SM92 also had a rear-firing machine gun. This is very true, I believe that engine power and recent studies in aerodynames along with airborne radar developmenmt probably helped to make the twin-engine fighter a more valuable weapon. The close-support and anti-shipping missions became more importatnt as the war progressed. Fighter versus fighter lessened later in the war. Airborne radar is more effective and accurate. It can be installed above the nose guns although installing the guns in the wings is a better idea.
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Post by oldpop2000 on Apr 16, 2023 6:51:28 GMT -6
There was always the question as to why the P-38 did not get the Packard Merlin like the P-51. Here is the answer from an aeronautical engineer.
Why? Because it would have been pointless, for three reasons:
The Turbocharged Allison engine in the P-38 produced marginally higher power at altitude than the Merlin. Replacing them with Merlins would not have added any power.
The P-38’s limiting factor was not its engine(s). It was its wing. The P-38’s wing had a highly cambered leading edge which resulted in compressibility problems which resulted in “mach tuck”. The P-38’s critical mach number was .68, at which point the mach shock wave on the upper wing moved the center of lift aft, resulting in an uncontrolled dive.
The two engine configuration with the engines on the wing resulted in a high polar moment of inertia in the roll axis. This meant instantaneous roll rate was rather low for a dog fighting fighter.
The P-38’s sustained turn rate was excellent and the controls were very forgiving. It was easy to push the plane to the very edge of its flight envelope and the plane had no surprises when pushed beyond the edge of its envelope. The compressibility problems were overcome, but It took some time to figure out what was causing the alarming dive problems. (USAAF was convinced it was a tail flutter problem and forced Lockheed to waste a lot of time chasing that down.) By the time the problem was solved the airplane had a bad reputation within USAAF that it had trouble shaking. But its pilots loved it.
The only real “gotcha” the P-38 had for its pilot was engine failure at takeoff. The P-38 had a fairly high Vmca (minimum controllable airspeed for single engine operation). The plane would easily take off with less then full power and well below Vmca. So if an engine failed shortly after take off the natural instinct for the pilot was to firewall the good engine. Being below Vmca with high assymetric thrust, the airplane would yaw, roll, and fly inverted into the ground. Not survivable. The pilots needed to be trained to ignore instinct and reduce power on the good engine, feather the prop of the dead engine, and then gradually and slowly add power to the good engine till they reached a stable airspeed.
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