I Saw Some Nice WWII Planes Today

[Tail_Gunner]

tg....you know why the allison engines where doggies?

The Allisons lost a lot of their power at higher altitudes. The Merlins kept a lot more power at altitude, maybe they had a better turbo/super charger?? I learned in school that some WWII era recip's had two stage superchargers. A low speed setting for low altitude, and a high altitude/overdrive setting for high altitude. I don't know if that was the reason for the Merlin's high altitude performance though.

Because of their high altiude handicap, early P-51A's with the Allisons were givien more ground attack missions. They were flown by the British and were sold as a replacement & improvement to the older P-40. Because of their liquid cooling system, P-51's were vulnerable in the ground attack role. One small bullet hole in the cooling system and the airplane was in big trouble.

But once they British tried the Merlin in the P-51, it vastly surpassed it's performance estimates. While it was still used in ground attack roles, it really shined in the high altitude bomber escort role.

 

[02SilverStroke]

Many of the B-24's were built by Ford. According to Wikipedia, its mass production was started by Ford at the Willow Run facility. Peak production reached one B-24 per hour and 650 per month in 1944.

 

[DaveBen]

The Allisons lost a lot of their power at higher altitudes. The Merlins kept a lot more power at altitude, maybe they had a better turbo/super charger?? I learned in school that some WWII era recip's had two stage superchargers. A low speed setting for low altitude, and a high altitude/overdrive setting for high altitude. I don't know if that was the reason for the Merlin's high altitude performance though.

Because of their high altiude handicap, early P-51A's with the Allisons were givien more ground attack missions. They were flown by the British and were sold as a replacement & improvement to the older P-40. Because of their liquid cooling system, P-51's were vulnerable in the ground attack role. One small bullet hole in the cooling system and the airplane was in big trouble.

But once they British tried the Merlin in the P-51, it vastly surpassed it's performance estimates. While it was still used in ground attack roles, it really shined in the high altitude bomber escort role.

My Col friend told me that he thought of his plane "as made by the lowest bidder", every time he went on a mission. He was downed several times, and sometimes even shot down.

Dave

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Many of the B-24's were built by Ford. According to Wikipedia, its mass production was started by Ford at the Willow Run facility. Peak production reached one B-24 per hour and 650 per month in 1944.

I know B-24's were built at at least two plants, one was Willow Run. The other was in Fort Worth on the other side of the runway opposite from NAS Fort Worth formerly Carswell AFB. After WWII, B-36, B-58, F-111 and F-16 were built in the same plant. I think the F-35 is now being built there.

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Is it just me, or does Tacit Blue look like an RV with wings?

Put it under a big car port and it'll look just like Robert's place!!

 

[Stroked68]

Too bad you couldnt find a P51 barn find haha

 

[JLDickmon]

I've seen that B24
The Commemorative Air Force brought it, and a B29 to the Air Zoo a few years ago.

The bombers of the late 1940's and 1950's always intrigue me, because they were in service just a short time..
The B36, the B45 (first all jet engine), the B47...

Then you have other airframes, like the B58 (Hustler), which to me seems like the inspiration for he B-1; and the B66, in service for just two years..
The B-111.. which when looking at it's fighter cousin, I never dreamed it could carry 37,000 lbs of weaponry...

f*ck it.
I dreamed I was a guitar player, too...

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Once they were equiped with P-51 Mustang, the renouned Tuskegee Airman, began escorting bombers on their missions. Some bomber crew members expressed outrage at being escorted by fighters piloted by blacks. But in short order, they got the reputation of protecting their bombers very, very well. Before long, bomber units were specifically requesting the Tuskegee P-51 squadrons to be their escorts.
Not a single bomber under their escort was lost to German fighters. They were the only fighter unit in WWII to achieve such a record.

FWIW, Right now I am watching the movie "The Tuskegee Airman" on the GMC network. It starts again at 9 P.M. EDT.

 

[JRNOLL]

As I remember the " Sentimenal Journey's home field is Falcon field in Mesa, Arizona.


I also own a P-38 ------ Can opener, aquired it in basic training and I still use it once in a while.