Recent content by chris mcmillin

Thanks for the video link, Greg. I think Tom Mooney was piloting Spam Can when it was landed partially gear down. Hayate was flown by Mr. Lykins, I think. The Hayate was overhauled to flying condition by AirResearch at LAX. NAA guys and AirResearch guys restored the P-26 there too. Pratt&Whitney...

The OP asks were air cooled radials about as good as they could've been, I say yes with qualifier. After the war the P&W and Wright companies evolved their best most useful engines to airline/commercial abilities. This was a big step in power, operating envelope, and reliability. In my career...

Because the cam, followers, fingers of the Merlin head were so complicated. More time in assembly and set-up than the simpler Allison head. Supercharger on the -3,-7,-9 Packard V-1650 is essentially two blowers, equals more time yet.

Close enough. Modern operation is all Mustangs go 100 mph faster than Spitfires or Messerschmitts because they have so much more gas. 2450 rpm and 36 inches the Mustang burns 70 gph at 300 tas at 10,000. The Spit and BF are 200 tas at lower power settings (I dont know, never flew them, 2300/30...

I recall when I first saw this Corsair was when I'd been invited to an airshow near El Centro, CA and my Twin Beech I was flying needed a couple of exhaust fasteners. A local crop duster Mr. Wood I believe, allowed me and a mechanic friend into his hangar to sort through his stuff looking for...

On Merlins the first place to look for windshield oil is the prop seal. It is like the front seal on a car engine, where the prop shaft comes out of the reduction gearbox has a seal in there that at high power will push out or wear off enough to weep and leak Also a lifted head and bank can...

I share his birthday. Father of the six pack of flight instruments that allowed instrument flight by reference to them only. Winner of the Schneider Trophy, Bendix Trophy and Thompson Trophy, Shell Speed Dash, Fastest landplane record, and more. What a man. Chris...

Slide is reversed? Not a number on it, some guys are well versed on De Furia owned Canadian ships. Might find out something. Chris...

The fastest jet is the one with the most thrust. The Vampire has the most thrust. Chris...

I would contact them directly. It could be Sherman Williams colors for all anyone knows. Until the owner and maintenance team answer the question directly about their airplane one would be guessing. The idea that it is directly an FS color is simply guesswork too. It is a civilian airplane now...

Thanks!

Shortround6, Is the Allison -93 that low in critical altitude? My friend has one from a P-39 in his Jurca Spitfire replica and I thought it was around 16,000. Probably right about 150, and 100/130 was plenty to avoid the heat soak problems leading to detonation with which the poor PNG guys had...

Elmas, Quite right on all of your engineering of which we have had little difference. Engineers and pilots, yes the MD-80 cockpit engineers I hope spend eternity in one! One thing in which I would counter is the assumption that the airplane was to be made easy to fly by a new, low time pilot...

Obviously not. But the controls the same size and ratios, moments the same dimension, cg range the same limits. So you are thinking properly balanced the airplane handled well? Chris...

Yes, as a matter of fact I do. I express it in an actual, practical manner when I go to work and fly the big jets. With an ATP certificate and 30,000 hours over a life spanning flying since my first logbook entry at 9 signed off by my father, my experience indicates a typical CG range and...