Improve That Design: How Aircraft Could Have Been Made Better

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Oh no!!! They're talking about removing my armour plate and reducing my weight again!!!! Do I really look that overweight? All this discussion about my weight and ability to climb is affecting my ego. Time for another session with my therapist. MAKE THE BAD MEN STOP!!!!!!!

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Delete those 100lb plates right behind the propeller. Plane would need reballasting by moving the radio up from the tail cone to above the engine right behind the pilot, or some other means. After all, Bell was able to balance the plane with both the 37mm cannon and the 20mm cannon which weighed 140lbs less. Other WWII fighters didn't have armor for their nose reduction gears.
 
Huh? It was the coast watchers that provided early warning of incoming Japanese raids, so the P-39's were up at altitude waiting for the raiders. It was the Japanese that had no early warning system and were blind to incoming raids over New Guinea in 1942.(

Not in 1942.
 
Delete those 100lb plates right behind the propeller. Plane would need reballasting by moving the radio up from the tail cone to above the engine right behind the pilot, or some other means. After all, Bell was able to balance the plane with both the 37mm cannon and the 20mm cannon which weighed 140lbs less. Other WWII fighters didn't have armor for their nose reduction gears.

To be honest, and using 20/20 hind sight, I'd drop the armor behind the oil tank and replace the 37mm with another .50cal. Save another 200lbs.
 
Other WWII fighters didn't have armor for their nose reduction gears.
Of course not. Their reduction gears were integral to the engine and not vulnerable from the rear quarter unless the entire engine was penetrated. A hit from the front would likewise take out the engine, likely allowing pilot survival.
Propeller driveshafts are notorious for having balance and torsional flexing problems leading to fatigue failures. A piston engine doesn't rotate smoothly, but in a series of impulses, like a hammer drill. Now connect that to a smoothly rotating propeller via a rotary tuning fork subject to 1100 HP worth of torque impulses at 3,000 RPM which passes right under the pilot's seat. Now imagine at full throttle this contraption takes a hit to the reduction gearbox, which either decouples the propeller, instantly way overreving and blowing the engine, or seizes the gearbox, snapping the shaft with the same result. Given that the engine is practically in the cockpit, and emergency egress is awkward at best, what does that say for survivability? Armor that gearbox, but "don't give me a P39!"
 
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Reading those reports can give a lot of "peripheral" information that makes you go, "Hmm!"

Like, why did the AAF stop testing maximum speed on the P-43 at 15,000 feet when it was supposed to operate from 20,000-25,000 feet? Hmm.
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top speed of the P43 was listed at 352-356 at 25,000 feet. I wish they had given time to climb up to 30,000 feet along with top speed at 30,000 feet. I like the P43 myself. If it had fuel tanks (just regular tanks that didn't leak, not to mention self sealing) and a bit of pilot armor I think it would have done well against the Zero and KI43 in the Pacific using hit and run tactics.
 
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top speed of the P43 was listed at 352-356 at 25,000 feet. I wish they had given time to climb up to 30,000 feet along with top speed at 30,000 feet. I like the P43 myself. If it had fuel tanks (just regular tanks that didn't leak, not to mention self sealing) and a bit of pilot armor I think it would have done well against the Zero and KI43 in the Pacific using hit and run tactics.

It's hard to tell if the graph was testing or extrapolation neither the graph nor the report have dates on them.
The report only gives 339 at 15,000' as the max speed.
Another mystery...
 
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Delete those 100lb plates right behind the propeller. Plane would need reballasting by moving the radio up from the tail cone to above the engine right behind the pilot, or some other means. After all, Bell was able to balance the plane with both the 37mm cannon and the 20mm cannon which weighed 140lbs less. Other WWII fighters didn't have armor for their nose reduction gears.

Other planes had engines in front of the pilot. Perhaps that's a reason for the armor there
 
Delete those 100lb plates right behind the propeller. Plane would need reballasting by moving the radio up from the tail cone to above the engine right behind the pilot, or some other means. After all, Bell was able to balance the plane with both the 37mm cannon and the 20mm cannon which weighed 140lbs less. Other WWII fighters didn't have armor for their nose reduction gears.

I thought the radio was so far aft to prevent interference from the engine?
 
Please, enlighten us on which aircraft type (I assume Allied) downed the most enemy aircraft, then.

For an American made fighter it would have to be the P-51.

Are you implying that our esteemed allies on the eastern front would stoop so low as to over-claim air-to-air kills? Tsk, tsk, come on now, be nice!

Overclaiming was hardly unique to either the Soviets or to the Eastern Front.
 
I thought the radio was so far aft to prevent interference from the engine?
I think some P-39s and P-63s had some of their radio equipment behind the pilot's head;
EMI shielding, like everything else evolves over time. Metal jacketed resistor spark plugs, shielded ignition harnesses, generator noise filters, and grounded electronic chassis enclosures each play their part.
 
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For an American made fighter it would have to be the P-51.



Overclaiming was hardly unique to either the Soviets or to the Eastern Front.
I think some P-39s and P-63s had some of their radio equipment behind the pilot's head;View attachment 607742View attachment 607743View attachment 607744
That's identified as the IFF in some cutaways.
In the WW2 era radios were usually two different parts, receiver and transmitter, one was much heavier and delicate than the other.
That has the receiver mounted right over the engine, I think that's actually the transmitter, or the IFF.
The receiver were usually mounted on bungee cords, etc., and as far from the engine as they could be located.
I may have the receiver and transmitter confused as to which was heavier, and delicate, but in most WW2 aircraft they were separate assemblies, and sometimes mounted in separate locations.
 
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Of course not. Their reduction gears were integral to the engine and not vulnerable from the rear quarter unless the entire engine was penetrated. A hit from the front would likewise take out the engine, likely allowing pilot survival.
Propeller driveshafts are notorious for having balance and torsional flexing problems leading to fatigue failures. A piston engine doesn't rotate smoothly, but in a series of impulses. Now connect that to a smoothly rotating propeller via a rotary tuning fork subject to 1100 HP worth of torque impulses at 3,000 RPM which passes right under the pilot's seat. Now imagine at full throttle this contraption takes a hit to the reduction gearbox, which either decouples the propeller, instantly way overreving and blowing the engine, or seizes the gearbox, snapping the shaft with the same result. Given that the engine is practically in the cockpit, and emergency egress is awkward at best, what does that say for survivability? Armor that gearbox, but "don't give me a P39!"
A hit in the reduction gearbox is the same whether it was mounted on the engine or remotely like the P-39. No other reduction gearboxes were armored.
 

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