P-51 internal fuel question

[Peter Gunn]

As In Mission Plan. If Recon in single ship or Element, no formation assembly required -Start and warm up at 1200 rpm at 20 gal/hr, taxi and take off at MEO, post takeoff and climb to cruise altitude leg at X/Gal Hr for 10 minutes, cruise leg at 60 gal per hour for 300 miles, Loiter at Z feet for 10 minutes at 40 gal/hour, Return leg of 300 miles at 60 gal/hr, Descend to 3000 feet at waypoint M - 40 miles from base, Account for 20 minutes loiter for bad weather, Land, fill out Form 1 - get a scotch at O-Club.

If Combat Escort of maximum effort Fighter Group, all the above but add 1.) takeoff and orbit field as elements of flights take off, form up for Flight, form flights up to squadron, repeat twice to get the Group formed. Add drop externals and fight for 20 minutes - return on fuel remaining.

Can I just skip to the highlighted part of the mission?

 

[GreenKnight121]

The RAF letter J jmcalli2 posted MIGHT be referring to imperial gallons - but that would still only equal 162.8 US gallons.

180 US gallons would be 154.8 imperial gallons.

 

[jmcalli2]

The RAF letter J jmcalli2 posted MIGHT be referring to imperial gallons - but that would still only equal 162.8 US gallons.

180 US gallons would be 154.8 imperial gallons.

I think you are correct, the 140 is Imperial gallons. The report lists 7.2 lbs/gal, and gasoline is about 6.3 lbs per US gallon.
The report does list 140 gallons as the maximum capacity.

Mustang I Testing

Good catch GreenKnight121!

 

[ColFord]

I would note that the A&AEE reports quoted above, were very early initial reports conducted using one of the first ten Mustang Mk.Is built, that carried notations that the aircraft did not meet the full production standard in a number of respects. This included non-production standard fuel tanks and fuel handling system, with futher tests being required on later production standard aircraft once they were received in the UK. The tanks in the first ten Mustang Mk.Is were literally hand built to meet the deadlines for initial handover and utilised construction methods to achieve the objective of stopping fuel leaks if punctured that reduced the internal capacity of the tanks - something that was addressed in the full production specification tanks. Also the fuel pickup arrangements in the bottom of the tanks were not fully satisfactory as not all fuel in the tanks was able to be used, significant quantities of fuel not being able to be used due to the design and placement of the pickups in the initial fuel tank design and as manufactured. Again, something fixed for subsequent full production standard aircraft. The first ten Mustang Mk.Is produced has annotations that they were not to be used for operational flying, they were to be used for flight testing and training roles only - unless they were subsequently modified to meet full production standard, something the aircraft paperwork indicates didn't happen for those 10 aircraft.

 

[jmcalli2]

I would note that the A&AEE reports quoted above, were very early initial reports conducted using one of the first ten Mustang Mk.Is built, that carried notations that the aircraft did not meet the full production standard in a number of respects. This included non-production standard fuel tanks and fuel handling system, with futher tests being required on later production standard aircraft once they were received in the UK. The tanks in the first ten Mustang Mk.Is were literally hand built to meet the deadlines for initial handover and utilised construction methods to achieve the objective of stopping fuel leaks if punctured that reduced the internal capacity of the tanks - something that was addressed in the full production specification tanks. Also the fuel pickup arrangements in the bottom of the tanks were not fully satisfactory as not all fuel in the tanks was able to be used, significant quantities of fuel not being able to be used due to the design and placement of the pickups in the initial fuel tank design and as manufactured. Again, something fixed for subsequent full production standard aircraft. The first ten Mustang Mk.Is produced has annotations that they were not to be used for operational flying, they were to be used for flight testing and training roles only - unless they were subsequently modified to meet full production standard, something the aircraft paperwork indicates didn't happen for those 10 aircraft.

Good information!