4 bladed Hellcat props

[Schweik]

I couldn't find my photos, I think they are maybe on an old hard drive, but I found this online, I believe this is one of them

 

[Capt. Vick]

Dayum!

 

[Capt. Vick]

What is that fuselage below the A-1D, another A-1D? A P-47?

It's such a weirdly compelling image I can't stop looking at it.

For a while when I had to commute I used to stop at this one small rural airfield where they had some old Lockheed PV1 (or maybe PV2) Venturas, still with their engines, guns and everything, partly broken up just sitting out in the weeds and the weather. I told a guy on a forum who was obsessed with Venturas, and he told me they were probably 'just' Hudsons, as if that wasn't cool. He said he knew where all the Venturas were in the world. His whole website devoted to them.

Next time I made that commute, I went out there again, walked a half mile through the snake infested weeds in the heat, and took pictures. They were Venturas, it said so on the fuselage. I sent the pics to him and he acknowledged it, but I never heard back and I stopped having to make that commute shortly afterward. I always wondered if he put a buyer in touch with the airport and came and collected them. I have mixed feelings on that, since it was kind of cool to see them out there (you could spot them from the highway, just barely). But it would of course be better if they ended up restored etc..

I belive that is a NAA F-86 (D?) Sabre Dog (missing its radime), lying on its side, belly towards the camera. You can see the landing gear.

 

[Schweik]

I belive that is a NAA F-86 (D?) Sabre Dog (missing its radime), lying on its side, belly towards the camera. You can see the landing gear.

Not the one on it's side, the one right above that one.

 

[BiffF15]

Capt Vick I believe you are right, that does appear to be a radome equipped F-86, sans radome and doors down its right side, laying next to the Spad. I'm curious what's laying next to it. Assuming North is up in the picture, there appears to be the Spad we can all agree on, then south of it an F-86 fuselage (ID'd by Capt Vick), and then two more radial powered beasts. The first one south of the Sabre looks to either be a single seat Spad or a P-47 (going by shape of the cowl as compared to the Spad). Anyone? It actually looks more to be a P-47 based on the forward windscreen not being rectangular (as can be seen in the picture).

 

[Schweik]

That is what I was thinking. Late model P-47

 

[hobbes154]

Sorry for the necromancy, but back to the original topic - the strange thing is why the B-26 with only the 1-stage supercharger and even bigger 13'6 prop did get the 4 blades?

 

[GregP]

It's not the weight of the prop. it's the weight of the airframe between the Hellcat and the Bearcat.
An F6F weighs about 9200lbs empty, AN F8F-2 weighs about 7650lbs empty. The F6F has a 334 sq ft wing, one of the largest (in not the largest on any single engine fighter in large scale use) compared to the F8Fs 244sq ft.
The Fuselage is sort of in proportion being almost 6 feet longer on the F6F.
Bigger fuel tank/s and so on.
Loaded it just gets worse.

You can put drag slicks on a 1968 427 Impala
View attachment 468275
Doesn't mean you are going to come close to a 68 427 Corvette.

I've actually seen one win that race. But he wasn't running anywhere near a stock engine. Extra horsepower and torque make a huge difference.

Power to weight ratio Is kinda of important.

Myself, I'd have picked a lighter car to run it in, but the one I saw did the quarter-mile in the low 12's, which wasn't in the cards for most 1968 cars because the tires were not anywhere NEAR as developed as they were a few years later. They's spin the tires instead of breaking differential gears, driveshafts, and clutches like they were doing a few years down the road with the same cars with updated tires.

I used to like Uniroyal Tiger Paws until I realized they'd leave a black rubber trail every time you goosed the gas ... they had short lifespans under a big-block car! They got great traction by leaving a lot of the the tread on the ground ... and turning a lot of old, original Sunoco 260 into noise.

 

[SaparotRob]

Tiger Paws, Sunoco 260, watching the gas dispensed meter on the pump spin faster than the price. Good times.

 

[Zipper730]

XF6F-6, two built using the same engine as the F4U-4. Production canceled with the end of the war.

If the aircraft flew, was there any flight-test data on the aircraft? If it didn't, was there any projected data?

A B-50D used a 16'8" prop

The B-29 had the same propeller size right?

Prop clearance, level stance:
- F6F: 7.31 in
- F4U: 9.1 in
- P-47 (with 13 ft prop): 4.15 in; roughly all the pre-1944 P-47s were with 12 ft 2 in prop

So the P-47 with the 12'2" would be 14.15"?