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Put those R2800 engines in F4U airframes with a supercharger / turbocharger suitable for the bomber escort mission. Or else fix P-38 for the bomber escort mission and use F4U for the multitude of missions taking place below 20,000 feet.
Some ideas: use the metal ailerons from starters, and make sure the air-frame is strong enough for dive pull-outs the 6-7 ton fighter might be doing. (Historically fixed with the P-47C) Big fighter with big engine needs great amount of fuel - use up all of the height above the main fuel tank ASAP, for 370 gals in fuselage...................... opt for a two-spar wing, retract the main wheels in front of the front spar, so there is ample space in the wings for consumables, predominantly fuel?
BTW, does anybody have data about the thickness of the S-3 wing profile found at the P-47s?
Even if you can come up with the better propeller sooner, you still need to improve the the engine sooner to handle all the weight you want to throw into the plane.
The paddle blade prop was about 120lbs heavier than the tooth-pick one. The 370 gallon fuel tank set up was 90lbs heavier than the 305 gal tank/s. Self sealing is not light and big square or oval tanks have more volume per unit of surface area than long skinny tanks in the wings.P-47N gained almost 900lbs over a late model bubble top D and the late model bubble top D was 300lbs heavier than a C and the C was 550lbs heavier than a B. These are empty weights without guns, gun sights, trapped oil, etc.
Expecting the early P-47 to perform with 3/4 of ton of "improvements" before you fill up the fuel tanks with only a 2000hp engine is asking for a lot.
Sure would have designed the wing to accommodate fuel early on, along with provision for wing racks
Put those R2800 engines in F4U airframes with a supercharger / turbocharger suitable for the bomber escort mission. Or else fix P-38 for the bomber escort mission and use F4U for the multitude of missions taking place below 20,000 feet.
The F4U used the best two stage supercharger the Americans had at the time and it wasn't good enough. There was NO mechanical drive supercharger, regardless of the number of stages, that would allow the R-2800 to make 2000hp at 25,000ft.
what you are able to put on it is going to be driven by the technology at that moment. you probably cant start out with a bubble canopy at the onset since they werent manufactured at that time...unless you are reseaching and developing that technology hand in hand with your plane.
Interesting point.
How did the US Army reconcile the P-38 P-47?
That is, why the need for two high altitude turbocharged fighters?
I'm not trying to make a 'P-47B' hauling 560 gals of fuel internally. Paddle blade prop was heavier, but it more than pulled it's own weight.
Does this mean that the F4U could in no way have provided high altitude escort in the ETO?
This has come up in other threads, but I've never seen it articulated this way.
(Not challenging the facts, just very interested.)
I don't know about "F4U could in no way" because the P-47 did not use exhaust thrust (early F4Us didn't use it very well either though) and was smaller in diameter fuselage Drag figures are still being argued.
What is true is that the turbo supplied enough air to the engine supercharger to allow the R-2800 to make 2000hp at 25,000 or above ( newer turbo models and controllers pushed it to over 30,000ft) because it used the power of the exhaust to drive the 1st stage compressor, While the two stage supercharger on the Navy engines took 350hp or so to run the 1st stage compressor high gear.
Please note it took until after the war for P&W to get this engine
View attachment 258196
To give 1800hp at 30,000ft using 115/145 fuel, two parallel superchargers feeding the main (2nd) stage for a total of 3 impellers and a variable hydraulic drive.
Standard F4U engine gave 1650hp at 22,500ft (no RAM) and the -18 engine in the F4U-4 could give 1800hp at 23,000ft.
If you want to add a 3rd stage mechanically driven you have to take the power from the crankshaft. The limit is how much power are you making in the cylinders and where is it going. To the prop or to drive the superchargers?