Recent content by PAT303

Why make the Hurricane or Merlin XX after 1941, the RAF were better of buying P40's, if they prioritized Spitfire production they wouldn't have needed the intrim models, have Hawker fit Merlin 45's into MkII's and 60 series in MkV and leave Supermarine to make MkVIII's and XIV's.

I'd rather less better quality planes, why was materials and especially Merlin engines and experienced pilots wasted on the Hurricane?, why couldn't Hawker change over to say Spitfire MkVIII production?, yes there would have been a delay in production but what did Hurricanes achieve after the...

We are going around in circles, the rear tank is burnt off first so why is it such a problem to fly hands on for the first 30 minutes?

So did American pilots flying normal run of the mill P51's, later they had to switch between the wing tanks and drop tanks, even later still balance the fuel between the wing tanks, drop tanks and rear tank, the more this thread goes on the more I'm realising just how much better the American...

The argument against building fighters that are needed because it causes interruptions in production is lost if the fighters that are needed are delivered after the war has finished, what's even worse was Hawker was still building Hurricanes in 1944.

Like I have already posted, make the tank to the seat profile between members 11 and 12 with a simple pump that feeds to the top tank, done, no COG issue's plus it becomes spaced armor for the pilot once empty.

Massive understatement in my opinion, the P51 gets the girls but the war was won with the P40, the single most influential American fighter of the ar.

What was needed over Asia were LF models, the RAF fought a low to medium altitude fight with fighters optimized for high altitude, Mk V LF's would have made a huge difference and as for the Hurricane, sending pilots out in those things in 1942-43 as a death sentence.

Yep, that old chestnut.

Below 15,000ft the Ki 43's totally dominated the MkV's we had over Darwin, the Merlin 46's were limited to 9psi boost so they couldn't climb turn or run away, it was only above 20,000ft that the Spitfires had an advantage.

The RAAF could have used every one of those MkVIII's.

It must have been humbling watching American fighters taking off from English fields on their way to Germany.

There's no negative's to adding internal/external fuel capacity to fighters which is why every frontline fighter ended the war with more capacity than it started with for benifits more than just an increase in range, the MkV as an example when they fitted slippers used the extra fuel to fly at...

It doesn't have to be a tank, the same leading edge was used as a wet wing on the PR variants, or split the tank so it saddles the rib.

They could have just extended the leading edge tanks to rib 4 and have 40G on the COG and no handling issue's, you shake your head at their thinking.