RR Merlin weight
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Crimea_River
Marshal
The radiators are completely separate and different designs between Hurricane, Spitfire, Lancaster, Mustang, etc......Even depends on which mark you are talking about.
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I figured it would with different hp, weight, speed etc all contributing to how big or small it would be. Is there a rough estimate at all? 100 pounds? 200 pounds?
Shortround6
Major General
Cooling system for a P-40F/L went a bit over 300lbs, each plane varied a pound or two. Please note that the Merlin and Allison required different sized radiators and oil coolers.
Cooling system for a Merlin P-51 was given as 663lbs.
Oil system weights are given separately.
System weights would include actual radiators, lines, header tanks, coolant, and pumps.
In the case of the Mustang no separate weight is given for the intercooler/after cooler so one assumes that was part of the cooling system.
Bombers might have bigger radiators/more coolant to handle long slow climbs at low airspeed. Speculation on my part but climbing almost always was a more difficult problem than high speed level flight. If you are doing 360mph in level flight you have twice the air going through the radiator than you do at 180mph climbing.
Cooling system for a Merlin P-51 was given as 663lbs.
Oil system weights are given separately.
System weights would include actual radiators, lines, header tanks, coolant, and pumps.
In the case of the Mustang no separate weight is given for the intercooler/after cooler so one assumes that was part of the cooling system.
Bombers might have bigger radiators/more coolant to handle long slow climbs at low airspeed. Speculation on my part but climbing almost always was a more difficult problem than high speed level flight. If you are doing 360mph in level flight you have twice the air going through the radiator than you do at 180mph climbing.
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Thank you again Shortround. Your technical knowledge is always appreciated.
Would the cooling system on early Hurricanes and Spitfires be close to the P40 in size and weight?
663 pounds for the cooling system in a Mustang???!!! Wow. That is a lot more than I would have assumed. What was total power plant weight including engine for a Mustang?
I figured/assumed a bomber had a bigger radiator than a fighter, just like a 1 ton truck vs a sports car with the same engine.
On the Spitfire the small oil cooler on the pilots left side was replaced with a housing similar to the one on the right, housing the oil cooler intercooler, the whole engine needed more cooling. Hard to say how much more a Mustangs cooling system weighed because the whole plane was bigger because of it but also because of other things, in total it was about a ton more.
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- #7
I don't think you can compare to bombers like a Lancaster they rarely went over 200MPH or 20,000 ft so a different "regime" for cooling.
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- #9
I would agree
fastmongrel
1st Sergeant
Lancaster BIII radiator it certainly looks bigger than a fighter installation.
Maybe it had to be, a Lancaster engine may have to stay on full power or close to it for hours when at maximum load or with an engine out, but the plane isn't going very fast at all compared to a fighter.
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