Can we please stop hotlinking pics?

I went to the copart auction lot yesterday to see what was available and stumbled across the section of cars damaged in the wildfires

NickD said:

 

It was most certainly a better bird than the Brewster Buffalo.

The Finnish would very much disagree.  They had great success (against the Russians) with the Buffalo.  I think the primary issue with the Buffalo is that once they added all the armor to it, it got a bit "pigish" which is similar to the Wildcat. A lot of it's reputation I think came from when they where relegated to semi-neglected training aircraft. The issue with most of the pre-war stuff is poor attitude performance because of only single stage superchargers which was not much of a concern in Finland since it was all about low altitude tactical support stuff. 

I also wanted to point out that the P47 was the ultimate "tuner" plane, and was, despite popular belief, the fasted US plane of the war.  Why? The turbo system was very tunable.  The waste gate was easily adjustable.   The P51 may be pretty, but if your ass is on the line, the P47 was a much better choice (and in late war versions could make the same range)

In reply to aircooled :

Read this book about 1/2 dozen times as a kid.  Robert S. Johnson would agree with you.  

Johnson claimed that the only weakness of the Thunderbolt (remedied with the later mammoth belly tanks) was range.  He claimed with the later paddle prop, it would outclimb a Spit or a 109 and hang with the FW-190.  It would outdive any other plane flying, which was the automatic "get out of jail free" card if the numbers or position got bad in a dogfight.  He also maintained that one of it's biggest advantages is the only the greenest of noobs would complete a head on pass since the Jug could trade damage with any other plane flying and come out on top.  Getting your enemy to break first was still a huge advantage.  A lot of his then record kills started out with head on passes and ended when the opponent would try to break and dive away.  I'll have to see if I can dig that book out.  

This is another recommendation if you're into WWII allied aviation: 

In reply to 11GTCS :

I think the Mosquito is my favorite aircraft of all time. 
 

I am pretty sure I read Fly for you Life years ago.

For the early Pacific war, I can highly recommend this:

aircooled said:

I also wanted to point out that the P47 was the ultimate "tuner" plane, and was, despite popular belief, the fasted US plane of the war.  Why? The turbo system was very tunable.  The waste gate was easily adjustable.   The P51 may be pretty, but if your ass is on the line, the P47 was a much better choice (and in late war versions could make the same range)

 

Weren't all WWII planes basically limited by fuel octane?

There was some fascinating research into detonation reducing fuels in the prewar and war era.  The octane ratings suffered a bit from Gross Horsepower Syndrome, with some fuels rated as high as 270, although numbers like 115/130 were common.  Lower number for "severe" engines and higher number for "mild".  It's been a long time since I did any reading into it (and some nagging feeling says 115/145 was a common number?) but IIRC aircooled engines were considered severe and liquid cooled were considered mild.

The wildly variable numbering systems had some pilots balking because they could only access 115 octane at whatever airfield vs. 130 available elsewhere, because of the power capability.  And sometimes they were the same fuel anyway....

Initial D / manga style paint job:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Weren't all WWII planes basically limited by fuel octane?

 

There was some fascinating research into detonation reducing fuels in the prewar and war era.  The octane ratings suffered a bit from Gross Horsepower Syndrome, with some fuels rated as high as 270, although numbers like 115/130 were common.  Lower number for "severe" engines and higher number for "mild".  It's been a long time since I did any reading into it (and some nagging feeling says 115/145 was a common number?) but IIRC aircooled engines were considered severe and liquid cooled were considered mild.

 

The wildly variable numbering systems had some pilots balking because they could only access 115 octane at whatever airfield vs. 130 available elsewhere, because of the power capability.  And sometimes they were the same fuel anyway....

Certainly, and as I am sure you know, the prime reason why the allies seemed to make so much power so easily was the access to high octane fuel.  There was a also a lot of water injection going on on the American side (Germans also, and even using nitrous in the late war!)

The tuning they could do on the P47 I am sure was not what the factory would want (much like car tuning).  But these are pretty basic, obviously fully mechanical, systems, that could be more optimized for particular conditions.  Any detonation will be deadly of course since you are very unlikely to hear it.  Messing around with boost pressures, intercooler settings and mixture could certainly get you some gains though.

Interesting enough though, turbocharging was not much of a "thing" post war as far as I know (accessibility to appropriate turbos I am sure was a big issue), while mechanical supercharging did seem to be far more popular. 

That's a BIG freakin' turbo:

Peabody said:

aircooled said:

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

Weren't all WWII planes basically limited by fuel octane?

 

There was some fascinating research into detonation reducing fuels in the prewar and war era.  The octane ratings suffered a bit from Gross Horsepower Syndrome, with some fuels rated as high as 270, although numbers like 115/130 were common.  Lower number for "severe" engines and higher number for "mild".  It's been a long time since I did any reading into it (and some nagging feeling says 115/145 was a common number?) but IIRC aircooled engines were considered severe and liquid cooled were considered mild.

 

The wildly variable numbering systems had some pilots balking because they could only access 115 octane at whatever airfield vs. 130 available elsewhere, because of the power capability.  And sometimes they were the same fuel anyway....

Certainly, and as I am sure you know, the prime reason why the allies seemed to make so much power so easily was the access to high octane fuel.  There was a also a lot of water injection going on on the American side (Germans also, and even using nitrous in the late war!)

The tuning they could do on the P47 I am sure was not what the factory would want (much like car tuning).  But these are pretty basic, obviously fully mechanical, systems, that could be more optimized for particular conditions.  Any detonation will be deadly of course since you are very unlikely to hear it.  Messing around with boost pressures, intercooler settings and mixture could certainly get you some gains though.

Interesting enough though, turbocharging was not much of a "thing" post war as far as I know (accessibility to appropriate turbos I am sure was a big issue), while mechanical supercharging did seem to be far more popular. 

That's a BIG freakin' turbo:

That's awesome.  I'd seen this diagram before but never the full assembly.   And yes, that's a big ass turbo!

Appleseed said:

Oh, were talking ultimate twins, huh?

(My only tattoo)

Ink worthy for sure!

In reply to aircooled :

If you check out the USENET article archive at yarchive.net, there are posts from the 90s from people who flew those old warbirds when they were new warbirds.  Have seen a few negative comments about the "turbosupercharger" and its vulnerability to enemy fire. 

I had the day off today, but I drove over to Daytona to get caught up on some tasks at the office. 

I'd rather stay out of town if I'm not at work, since it's Boomers on Harleys Week in Daytona Beach (full disclosure, I'm a 1955 model myself).

I passed these on the way there, had to turn around and check them out.

There are plenty of opportunities to make jokes about the electrical system, but in fact the trouble was the modern electric fan wasn't working. The car was running fine.

1965 Morgan.

1985 Morgan.

They were on their way to a Morgan get together at the Morgan dealer.

I know, there's such a thing as a Morgan dealer in the United States? I had no idea!

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

I love Morgans.

(As well as Porsche 356 Outlaws )

Unrelated, but I'm obligated:

(I love Fangio '39 Chevy rally coupes as well).

In reply to Peabody :

I'm not sure what to think about that.

I've got this to offer...

Duke said:

In reply to 11GTCS :

I think the Mosquito is my favorite aircraft of all time. 
 

The Mosquito was most certainly the more successful design but this was my favorite as a kid.

Because car forum.

A little weirdness from France 

My dad had a ‘73.  Slant 4, 4 speed, fully independent suspension and 4 wheel disc brakes.  Pretty advanced for the time.