P-51s tricky to fly? (3 Viewers)

[OldGeezer]

Looking through a manual titled "Briefing for P-51 Pilot Instructors" dated 8 August 1945, I was particularly interested to read the introductory materials relating to the evolution of the P-51 all the way up to the K model, and some surprising (to me) cautionary text about limitations and adverse flight characteristics. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I'm sure the admins will know where to move it, if it needs relocation. Maybe this is all common knowledge anyway but I sure didn't know a lot of it.

 

[PAT303]

The FW190 was the same, one foot over the line on the edge of it's performance envelope and it fell from the sky. There is a good interview with a red tail pilot and he said quite a few pilots went in when fully fueled, he said he flew as straight as a die until the weight burned off.

 

[Bretoal2]

Indeed, for any high-performance aircraft, it is essential to remain within the flight envelope.

Regarding the P-51, the main problem with the late versions was stick force reversal (see diagrams 1, 2 and 3), a very undesirable characteristic allowing structural failure through light pull....

That said, the first few pages of this document are very enlightening regarding the evolution of the different versions and their flight behavior, an aspect that is often overlooked.