Clay_Allison
Staff Sergeant
- 1,154
- Dec 24, 2008
I agree with you, I was just stating that there was no reason to change anything about the komet if it was going to be disposable anyway.
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I agree with you, I was just stating that there was no reason to change anything about the komet if it was going to be disposable anyway.When I said the speeds would be fatal to the Komet, I meant the speeds the V2 travelled would be terminal and literally rip the Komet apart!
The V2 could achieve a maximum speed of 3,545 miles an hour. Building a piloted aircraft that could handle that was far beyond any technology at the time.
One of the reasons people never heard the V2 on it's approach to target was because it was supersonic. At least with the V1, you could tell when it was ready to attack...the engine would shut down which started it's dive sequence.
Grew up believing the Spitfire was best so I've naturally gone the other way since:
Beautiful lines spoiled by the chunky radiator intakes under the wings (compare with the sleek 109's).
andExpensive wing design - were there any performance benefits when most other fighters were nonelliptical?
Why on earth were the guns scattered across the wings when every other designer was doing their best to keep armament as close to the centreline as possible?
I always thought the P-51's laminar flow wings and Meredith Effect cooler gave it the lowest drag pound for pound.This is purely subjective to the individual of course, but to my eyes the Spitfire looked much better when the Mk IX saw the SAME radiators mounted under each wing, balancing its appearance. I always thought the various lumps and bumps blighted the 109 like warts, where the Spitfire always retained the smooth a graceful appearance. The sole exception for me being the XVIe which just looks wrong.
and
According to Mitchell the elliptical wing was not a deliberate design aim, it, and the spread of the guns, were merely the result of putting 8 guns into the thinnest possible wing, this wing allowed the spitfire to have the lowest drag of any other piston fighter and was the fastest piston aircraft ever recorded in a dive, so it probably halped a bit. It also had benefits in agility.
Agree with the rest, and welcome
I've read that that was only true for the first series. A mechanical problem which was corrected soon after. But the idea that you could tell when it was going down stuck. My dad told me that that's what they had been told, and that must have been at the end of 1944 when they were attacking Antwerp.At least with the V1, you could tell when it was ready to attack...the engine would shut down which started it's dive sequence.
That was it's designWhat's a Meredith Effect cooler?
I've read that that was only true for the first series. A mechanical problem which was corrected soon after. But the idea that you could tell when it was going down stuck. My dad told me that that's what they had been told, and that must have been at the end of 1944 when they were attacking Antwerp.
Kris
What's a Meredith Effect cooler?
Kris
The design followed the best conventional practice of the era, but included two new features. One was a new NACA-designed laminar flow wing, which was associated with very low drag at high speeds.[4][5] Another was the use of a new radiator design (one Curtiss had been unable to make work) that used the heated air exiting the radiator as a form of jet thrust in what is referred to as the "Meredith Effect."
The employment of the principle of low velocity cooling avoids the necessity for an increasing expenditure of power with increasing speed provided the exit conditions are adjusted to suit the speed. Further the combined effects of compressibility and heat transfer from the radiator may reduce the power consumption to nothing if the size of the radiator is adequate. By the use of the heat of the exhaust, in addition, and appreciable thrust may be expected from the presence of the cooling stream.
I always thought the P-51's laminar flow wings and Meredith Effect cooler gave it the lowest drag pound for pound.
I have read that the Mustang was some 30 mph faster than an equally engined spitfire. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the reference.
there are also the laminar flow wings.Flight test data from spitfireperformance show that the Spitfire IX pulling 18# (67") had a top speed of 330 mph at SL. The P-51D pulling 67" had a top speed of 375 mph at SL. While the heat exchanger may have helped, it is doubtful that it made that big a difference.
there are also the laminar flow wings.
I also found it on wiki: While this was originally intended to be a power dive, in practice the dive caused the fuel flow to cease, which stopped the engine. The sudden silence after the buzzing alerted listeners of the impending impact. The fuel problem was quickly fixed, and when the last V-1 fell, the majority impacted under power.That was it's design
It flew a certain amount of distance, held on course by it's gyros...then, when it reached it's destination, the engine shut off, and the guidance system commenced the dive to earth.
I always thought the P-51's laminar flow wings and Meredith Effect cooler gave it the lowest drag pound for pound.
The Spit also had a lower t/c ratio which would help.edit to add. Having seen the other replies I had better add, I am specifically talking about what was found during terminal velocity dive tests and not at level flight speeds, it was that the Spitfire was somehow less dramatically affected by the rapid rise in transonic drag than the others, I don't know why that would be the case so I can't argue the point, just reporting it.
Agree with the rest, and welcome
I always thought the various lumps and bumps blighted the 109 like warts, where the Spitfire always retained the smooth a graceful appearance.
the spread of the guns, were merely the result of putting 8 guns into the thinnest possible wing
Have to say I quite like the warts - the Germans seemed to fiddle with their designs more than the Allies, trying to extract every last ounce(gram) of performance out of their machines. For me it makes for more interesting reading.
That's understandable in the early marks. But how come there were still .303 'rattles' in the outer wings years later? They should have handed over the Spit to Kurt Tank for a makeover - he'd have sorted her out with wingroot synchronised cannons rüstsätze kits in a jiffy..
That's understandable in the early marks. But how come there were still .303 'rattles' in the outer wings years later? They should have handed over the Spit to Kurt Tank for a makeover - he'd have sorted her out with wingroot synchronised cannons rüstsätze kits in a jiffy..