MIL Spec performance vs civilian

[grampi]

I'm curious how much the performance of a given A/C improves with all of the guns, ammo, armament, etc, removed as compared to the same A/C in a wartime configuration. For example, how much better does a P-51D climb in a civilian configuration as compared to the wartime version? One would think they would be considerably lighter in the civilian form...

 

[chuter]

But they're stuck with low lead 100 octane fuel (blue gas) which effectively limits the P-51, for example, to 55 inches boost. You're right, though, it would be neat comparing numbers at like boost settings. I would think the biggest difference would be climb, speed not so much.

 

[Glider]

Civilian aircraft would also be limited in the way the engine is handled after all, in the military you don't pay the repair bills

Edit I went to see the BBF the other day and all the Merlin spitfires, Hurricanes and the Lancaster use the Merlin 45 as it makes a huge difference to the maintenance workload.