Barks wrote:
>
> I thought that the P51's long range came from drop tanks - which was
> a new idea for fighters.
Uh, again off topic thread. Well, just a short one: P51 Mustang had a
lot of fuel because it holds it into wings instead in a fuselage
(typically between an engine and a cockpit). Drop tanks were by any
means not new at that time/1943/ (Bf-109, Spitfire, Zero..), but the
Mustang had them TWO under wings.
Finally they installed one more fuel tank behind a pilot seat and the
legend was born. This tank made the Mustang almost unstable for flying
and the first hour or two it actually flew like a brick but by spending
all the fuel from that tank the stability improved dramatically.
It is not that other allied WW2 fighters were inferior to the Mustang in
range (last models of P38 Lightning and P47 Thunderbolt were equal or
even better) but that the Mustang had that range available to the USAAF
8AF just when it was most needed (after dramatic beating of unescorted
bombers over Germany).
Incidentally, given just several more months the 8AF "other" fighter
escorts might had just as well fill the bill, as both Lightnings and
Thunderbolts were much improved in both range and overall fighting
capability. Moreover, the USAAF preferred those because they were both
"true American" fighters and the Mustang was "British".
--
Regards,
Emil Pozar
epozar@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.geocities.com/photoemil
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