Shortround6
Major General
The directions for figuring out the "ball park" combat radius of action as used by the USAAF are as follows
A, Warm up and take off equivalent to 5 minutes at normal rated power.
B, Climb to 25,000ft at normal rate of power. (distance covered in the climb not included in the radius.)
C, Cruise out at 25,000ft and 210 I.A.S.
D, Drop external tanks and/or bombs before entering combat.
E, Combat at 5 minutes at war emergency rating and 15 minutes at military rating.
F, Cruise back at 25,000ft and 210 I.A.S.
G, No account is taken of decreased fuel consumption during decent
H. allowance is made for 30 minutes reserve at minimum cruise power.
I, no allowance is made for formation flight or for evasion action other than 20 minutes combat.
The charts shown are in 25 miles increments.
These are not flight plans.
But they are useful comparison tools between planes or between planes with different tank systems.
Original poster wants to see how the F4U compared, then figure out the steps above (as best you can) and compare to P-38, P-47, P-51 with the tank set up of your choice.
Or trying using a Spitfire with rear tank and/or drop tank.
Or try using a P-40F ( probably won't make 210 IAS at 25,000ft at less than max cruise speed? )
Actual missions would have zig zag patterns, would include wind for a given day and a few other details. and actual mission distance would be shorter than the chart shows.
However once a proponent of a certain aircraft starts fiddling with the numbers (Using climb to attitude as part of the radius or using shorter than specified reserve for "landing" ) then you aren't comparing apples to apples anymore.
Also using planes that will not make a decent amount of combat power at 25,000ft (over and above 'cruise' power) is not going to end for the pilots.
A, Warm up and take off equivalent to 5 minutes at normal rated power.
B, Climb to 25,000ft at normal rate of power. (distance covered in the climb not included in the radius.)
C, Cruise out at 25,000ft and 210 I.A.S.
D, Drop external tanks and/or bombs before entering combat.
E, Combat at 5 minutes at war emergency rating and 15 minutes at military rating.
F, Cruise back at 25,000ft and 210 I.A.S.
G, No account is taken of decreased fuel consumption during decent
H. allowance is made for 30 minutes reserve at minimum cruise power.
I, no allowance is made for formation flight or for evasion action other than 20 minutes combat.
The charts shown are in 25 miles increments.
These are not flight plans.
But they are useful comparison tools between planes or between planes with different tank systems.
Original poster wants to see how the F4U compared, then figure out the steps above (as best you can) and compare to P-38, P-47, P-51 with the tank set up of your choice.
Or trying using a Spitfire with rear tank and/or drop tank.
Or try using a P-40F ( probably won't make 210 IAS at 25,000ft at less than max cruise speed? )
Actual missions would have zig zag patterns, would include wind for a given day and a few other details. and actual mission distance would be shorter than the chart shows.
However once a proponent of a certain aircraft starts fiddling with the numbers (Using climb to attitude as part of the radius or using shorter than specified reserve for "landing" ) then you aren't comparing apples to apples anymore.
Also using planes that will not make a decent amount of combat power at 25,000ft (over and above 'cruise' power) is not going to end for the pilots.
