Interesting reading
North American's Lightweight Mustangs (P-51H/P-51M/P-51L)
Sounds like Edgar Schmeud wasn't to happy with his P51's climb rate compared to the spitfire
I know the P51B/C wasn't bad in that area, but the Heavy D model suffered. A shame because if
this plane came out with the British specifications, this plane would have been unbeatable
The fastest Mustangs to be built owed their existence to Mustang designer's Edgar Schmeud's exploration of weight issues with American aircraft; e.g. that they were too heavy. Upon being notified by the Air Force of this concern, Schmeud had North American's Field Service Department in England check with the British aircraft manufacturers, especially Supermarine to obtain detailed weight statements of their aircraft.
To Schmeud's surprise, no British company at the time had any detailed weight statement for their aircraft; they literally did not know how much specific parts of their aircraft weighed! To solve this problem, Schmeud had NAA's Field Service Department go out to where Spitfires were repaired and had them start to weigh all of the parts they could obtain, and soon Schmeud finally got a weight statement for the Spitfire.
Studying the statement, Schmeud finally learned why British aircraft turned out to be lighter than American aircraft built for the same roles and requirements.
1.) The Angle of Attack Load Factor in the USAAF was 12.0, while in the RAF it was only 11.0
2.) The Side-Load Factor on the engine in the USAAF was 2.0 g's, while the British did not have this requirement; due to side loading on the engine mount not being a real problem in normal flight.
3.) The Landing Gear Load Factor in the USAAF was 6.0 g's, but only 4.0 in the RAF.
Armed with this information, Schmeud began to design a lightweight Mustang built around RAF requirements, not USAAF requirements. This project resulted in the XP-51F and the XP-51G Mustang.
While the XP-51F resembled the earlier Mustangs externally; internally it was a virtually new aircraft structurally, with an empty weight 2,000 pounds less than a P-51D and carrying the same powerplant as the earlier P-51D, rated at 1,695 hp. The refinements in the -51F gave it a top speed 26 MPH higher than the P-51D, some 4,000 feet higher; and it first flew in February 1944.
North American's Lightweight Mustangs (P-51H/P-51M/P-51L)
Sounds like Edgar Schmeud wasn't to happy with his P51's climb rate compared to the spitfire
I know the P51B/C wasn't bad in that area, but the Heavy D model suffered. A shame because if
this plane came out with the British specifications, this plane would have been unbeatable