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First, you're looking at 330 mph without self sealing fuel tanks. Second, the F4F-4 with folding wings and six guns, the performance goes down to 318 mph. So added weight and guns decreases performance to 318 mph. Are you saying that the turbo and ducting is not going to decrease speed at low altitude? I agree that it will increase at high altitude, but most combat will be lower down. I think your figures are over optimistic.If drag remained the same and since we are using the intercooler that the Wildcat already had I can't see why drag would increase, here are the speed increases according to the cube formula:
SL speed increases from 278 to 286 (increase of 100 hp from 1100 to 1200)
Speed at 5500 goes from 295 to 308 (increase of 150 hp from 1050 to 1200)
Speed at 13000 goes from 313 to 332 (increase of 200 hp from 1000 to 1200)
Speed at 19000 goes from 330 to 350 (increase of 200 hp from 1000 to 1200)
Speed at 22000 goes from 326 to 351 (increase of 240 hp from 960 to 1200)
First, you're looking at 330 mph without self sealing fuel tanks. Second, the F4F-4 with folding wings and six guns, the performance goes down to 318 mph. So added weight and guns decreases performance to 318 mph. Are you saying that the turbo and ducting is not going to decrease speed at low altitude? I agree that it will increase at high altitude, but most combat will be lower down. I think your figures are over optimistic.
Was it ever tried?http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/f4f/f4f-3-detail-specification.pdf
There is the link to the F4F-3 test. The screen shot is from the middle of the test, if you look close it gives the weight of the armor and the self sealing fuel tank
Did you look at the figures I provided above? The ducting and the turbo are inside the airplane and might add 100 pounds. In exchange for that extra 100 pounds you get the extra horsepower at the levels I showed.
SL speed increases from 278 to 286 (increase of 100 hp from 1100 to 1200)
Speed at 5500 goes from 295 to 308 (increase of 150 hp from 1050 to 1200)
Speed at 13000 goes from 313 to 332 (increase of 200 hp from 1000 to 1200)
Speed at 19000 goes from 330 to 350 (increase of 200 hp from 1000 to 1200)
Speed at 22000 goes from 326 to 351 (increase of 240 hp from 960 to 1200)
Why wouldn't it be faster if it has an extra 100 hp, 150 hp or 200 hp? We are using the existing intercooler so where would extra drag come from?
Drag should be identical, F4F-3 already has an intercooler so just plumb turbo into existing intercooler
At 25000 feet HP jumps from 860 to 1200
Those abortions you pictured wouldn't be much of an improvement on Harriet's Bleriot. If you want to have a "lifting" tail, the only practical way to do it is a canard, a la Vari-eze, Starship, Ascender, or Shinden. Lifting tails aft of the main wing tend to have negative stability. Any increase in airspeed causes a pitch down; not a desirable behaviour. Various mechanisms have been devised over the years to reverse this tendency, but they generally entail weight and drag that defeats the performance gain sought by eliminating negative lift at the tail. FBW to the rescue!Well I did add this sentence after I first wrote it "This is for planes with one wing "
So we wouldn't get into things like.
View attachment 538005
or
View attachment 538006
View attachment 538007
Once you start using a secondary lifting surface then all bets are off on CG location (except it has to be between the two lifting surfaces and about where the balance of lift (?) would be.
What's the use? If you're just going to match horsepower, why mess around with a turbo? Or are you just trying to get a feel for relative intercooler effiencies? Any way you slice it, an intercooler to handle the greater heat of compression in the thinner air is going to be draggier and heavier than the stock item in the original Wildcat. Will the extra horsepower at altitude be enough to give a performance advantage despite the increased weight and drag? Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode!For instance, if the standard F4F-3 is at 2500 feet at 1100 hp and our mythical turbocharged F4F-3T is right beside it at 1100 hp, would the standard intercooler be enough to cool the turbocharged intake air?
What if they were both at 13,000 feet at 1000 hp? Or 19,000 feet at 1000 hp?