F4U in Europe

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Thumpalumpacus said:
Another noted rocker who got his wings: Alex Lifeson from Rush.
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David Gilmour and Nick Mason, Pink Floyd and Nicko McBrain, Iron Maiden's drummer even...

Girmour owned his own aircraft leasing company, Intrepid Aviation at North Weald. He had a P-51, Beech Staggerwing, Yaks and various other things that he used to lease to various people who needed vintage aircraft.
 
Howard Gibson said:
Which Dawn Patrol, the 1931 version, or 1937?
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The later version with Errol Flynn. I've only seen clips of the 1931 version which was later renamed Flight Command(er) but that looked entertaining as well.
Dawn Patrol is an excellent movie and done so much better than movies like John Wayne's Flying Tigers…but so many movies of the mid to late '30s were excellent films and a pleasure to watch
Shortly after watching the Dawn Patrol, I (15 yo) was hiking near some hills and hearing a loud buzzing looked up to see about a dozen ultralights from the local club coming over the hill with the sun at there back and I remember replaying the movie in my mind as I watched these guys in their flying lawn mowers pass overhead. I was hooked.
 
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A twincharged corsair would have been perfect in the ETO but no they were ordered to fight japan
 
wuzak said:
What do you mean by "twincharged"?

Most F4Us were fitted with 2 stage supercharged R-2800s.

What do you think makes them "perfect for the ETO"?
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Twinchargeing is something group B rally cars did they used super and turbo chargers to reduce lag and make more power as far as perfect its speed and firepower and bombload
 
VA5124 said:
Twinchargeing is something group B rally cars did they used super and turbo chargers to reduce lag and make more power as far as perfect its speed and firepower and bombload
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No production F4Us used a turbochargers.

F4U speed wasn't outstanding in ETO terms until F4U-4, which only got into service in early 1945, or F4U-5, which didn't get into service until after the war.

Firepower was average for US fighters - same as P-51D, less than P-47 and P-38.

Bombload was more than P-51, less than P-38 and about the same as P-47?
 
Did your thunderbolt get cannon late production corsairs did
 
VA5124 said:
Twinchargeing is something group B rally cars did they used super and turbo chargers to reduce lag and make more power as far as perfect its speed and firepower and bombload
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First, where are you going to put the turbocharger? It's pretty snug inside the cowl already.

Second, perhaps look into the Mustang and its two stage two speed supercharger, I hear they were quite the perfect escort for the ETO.

There's nothing the Corsair has to offer that the Mustang and Thunderbolt don't already have covered like a jimmy-hat.

Simply put, the Mustang could do (and did) the Corsairs job, the Corsair could not do the Mustang's job.

The Thunderbolt could reasonably do the Mustangs job and could do (and did) the Corsairs job and the P-38 was sort of a jack of all trades being able to handle whatever was thrown at it reasonably well.

This is not to say the Corsair wasn't a fantastic fighter-bomber, it was and proved itself many times over and I'd rate it as one of the top 5 or 6 WWII fighters. What it wasn't going to be however was a premier long range escort in the toughest air to air theater of WWII.
 
Peter Gunn said:
There's nothing the Corsair has to offer that the Mustang and Thunderbolt don't already have covered like a jimmy-hat.
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I personally think the F4U could have been a slightly more effective fighter bomber than the P-47 in Europe. The Thunderbolt was basically unchallenged above 30000 feet, but didn't have great performance down low. Corsairs in that role would have had better low altitude performance, similar bombload, shorter takeoff distance on the hastily prepared frontline airfields, and if armed with 4x 20mm cannons, better firepower.
But ultimately, why bother? the P-47's were doing fine.
 
VA5124 said:
Twinchargeing is something group B rally cars did they used super and turbo chargers to reduce lag and make more power as far as perfect its speed and firepower and bombload
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Granted it didn't show up until after WW II but the Corsair did get these.

two superchargers in parallel then going through an inter cooler to feed the main supercharger.

something to consider when comparing WW fighters to 1970s and later race cars.

1, the race cars aren't trying to make power at 25,000ft or so where the air is about 1/2 a dense as sea level (or a few thousand ft). You need much bigger superchargers get the needed airflow for the same power.

2, The airplanes don't change engine speed that much once they go from cruise to either high climb rate, high speed or accelerating out of turns/maneuvers.
The engine speed stays constant or nearly so while the propeller changes the pitch/twist of the blades. There is no shifting of a gear box and no using the engine as a brake to slow down for corners like a car on race track.

3, On a plane like an F4F-4 you have a 644lb propeller that is over 13ft in diameter acting like a giant flywheel running about 1/2 engine speed.
What you do or don't do to the supercharger impellers is not going to change the throttle response of the engine to any great degree.
 
Agree 100%
 
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