Sure, external ordinance means more drag and thus reduced range. Still that is 900 miles round trip plus combat time (normally figured at ~20 minutes).
Also keep in mind USA range figures usually include 1 hour of reserve flight time. Most other countries include half that or less. Soviet ranges include no reserve at all.
seen as how unladen the J model could do 2,200 round trip on internal fuel I think a range drop of 1,850miles for a few thousand lbs of bombs is a little dodgy....
seen as how unladen the J model could do 2,200 round trip on internal fuel I think a range drop of 1,850miles for a few thousand lbs of bombs is a little dodgy....
I think the range was more like 1100 miles round trip on internal fuel, not counting reserve time (typcially 1 hour which is about another 250 miles). 2200 miles is probably the round trip range with drop tanks.
Fully fueled, the 'J' carried 1,010 gallons, and had a maximum range of 2,260 miles (12 hours). In the Pacific Theater of Operations, more efficient power settings were devised, and the range was extended to 2,300 miles (this included takeoff, formation, climb-out, cruise to target, combat maneuvers, and landing).
More vulernable how? Do you mean it could take less battle damage, or that it was more likely to sustain battle damage?
The fact is, wood was often quite resilient. The Mossies were made of plywood and held up surprisingly well to small arms and even smaller cannon.
I'd guess they were about the same as far as ability to absorb damage, maybe the Mossie even had a slight edge (it's a lot bigger). But clearly the P-38 was the plane more likely to evade enemy fighters.
i believe the mossie has the advantage as it was wood, if it get's hit it'll merely splinter, if a sheet of the P-38 was hit it would split and the whole pannel would have to be repaired..........
i believe the mossie has the advantage as it was wood, if it get's hit it'll merely splinter, if a sheet of the P-38 was hit it would split and the whole pannel would have to be repaired..........
Looking down at the two planes the Mossie is a much larger target. The projection from any angle is larger.
??? Often when sheet aluminum is hit all that happens is a hole. Plywood often shatters or splits when hit even by a small caliber round, it depends on lots of little factors. Once wood is damaged, the damage often spreads widely, this is much less common (though it happens) with alluminum and steel.
Wood was used because it was cheap. Usually wood planes were over-built to compensate for the negative aspects of wood, which gave them some added resiliancy. But they also were heavier than their metal counterparts.
So you think it is approprate to compare one of the very early model Mossies with the very late model P-38? As available engine power increases, planes tend to get heavier.