Recent content by RpR

J-7FS

https://www.pearlharboraviationmuseum.org/blog/douglas-sbd-dauntless-scout-dive-bomber/

AM-1 Mauler

In Hun in Sun attacks, age of aircraft means nothing, firepower of aircraft is everything. Many early aircraft were terribly under armed. In a dog fight , the agility of the aircraft and skill of pilot determines who goes home. Not age of aircraft. When Stanley "Swede" Vejtasa was attacked...

It worked just fine but the gov. told Curtis Wright to move it. If you want to know why Curtis Wright really did what is did, read Curtiss -Wright-- Greatness and Decline. Their being U.S Armies leading supplier was a great part of what destroyed them as the people running the company put money...

As far as V-1710 and Curtiss. The engine was made by Allison but for all practical purposes was a government engine. What gov. dick head wanted was what was done Curtiss was run by money fools with quantity over quality, which is why all the half-arsed P-40 improvements (P-60) except for the Q...

This was the most advanced F-105 but R. Strange McNamara shut down the F-105 prod. line so he could force the F-111 on the Air Force. It could fly blind. Experience in Vietnam demonstrated the need for a better visual and blind bombing capability. In March 1968, the Air Force ordered...

As far as speed penalty, the P-36 and xp-40 had wheel spats that covered the tires in flight. This may have made a difference in top speed in the long run.

Greg: You say the Merlin is not a Merlin because all the parts are not original. A Dart or Bill Mitchell Chebby is still called a Chebby. With today's CNC ability has any considered custom heads or after market rods etc.. I know this stuff is not even remotely related to cheap but the racers...

At what altitude?

As P-60s were second thought aircraft from the the death of the P-53 due its engine not being available and as the P-53 and P-60 were simply a modified P-40, the Q, had it not been the least favorite son of Curtiss would have easily been the better. Better Allison engines existed but were not...

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For the Q to have been built, Curtiss would have had to not waste time on the P-53 and all the 60s that followed when the P-53 died with the engine it was supposed to have. The P-53 and follow ups were built off of modified P-40 airframes but if Berlin had had his way the P-40 would have had...

The P-47M was flying a year before the first V-1 launch and did not arrive until after the V-1 threat was gone. When they first arrived they had engine reliability problems but after replacing all engines things started to work better. It was actually the fastest U.S. fighter in Europe by a...

As this is all conjecture, I am wondering if Japan had taken Midway and Johnston, with the U.S. in no position for some months anyway to mount an major assault, would the Allies possibly have made a truly major thrust in China-Burma to make the Japanese take their attention off of any idea of...