The thread formally known as the P-39 vs. ze Germans thread.

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CORSNING said:
Senior Master Sergeant? I knew flying that Piper Cherokee in
1972 without a license was going to catch up with me some day.
Click to expand...
Hey, I'm airman and I've only flown a plane once, used to drive a car without a licence as a kid. Does that count? Observer in the ROC, close. Taxi driver in my retirement, close second, same as civil air line pilots.
 
Kevin,
When I turned 14 I was driving a 1961 4-spd. Volkswagon.
When I turned 15 I was driving a 1964 3-spd on the tree
Valiant station wagon. When I went to drivers-ed at 15.5
I had to have them show me how to drive an automatic.

True story, Jeff
 
CORSNING said:
Kevin,
When I turned 14 I was driving a 1961 4-spd. Volkswagon.
When I turned 15 I was driving a 1964 3-spd on the tree
Valiant station wagon. When I went to drivers-ed at 15.5
I had to have them show me how to drive an automatic.

True story, Jeff
Click to expand...

Most now don't know the first thing about a manual transmission, and if they do few of them know anything about a "three on the tree"!

My 11 year old sits in the middle and shifts my 2006 F150. It's much easier than older cars as there is a spring that centers the shifter between 3rd and 4th. Ingenious it is!

Cheers,
Biff
 
Shortround6 said:
Comedy is a Yank trying to drive a Nissan 12 passenger van in Australia with a FIVE on the tree (on the left side of the wheel) while trying to drive on the right side of the road. Lost count of how many times I tried to shift the turn signal stalk.
Click to expand...

I take it the pattern was the standard HH with first close to the wheel and down?
 
It's been 30 years so I forget the exact pattern but that sounds right. If you could concentrate things weren't to bad. It's the "automatic" stuff that confused/caught you, like the turn signal stalk being on the right hand side of the wheel (I may have shifted instead of signalling once or twice ) but the mirrors are the worst, looking left to see the rearview mirror for instance. Or where the side mirrors were. Yeah, they are on the side but the left one is a lot further away and the right one is a lot closer, different angles than when driving a left hand drive car.
The Van had about a 2 liter engine so sticking it in 4th or 5th and cruising wasn't much of an option (or skipping gears) .
 
I had a '55 Austin with 4 on the tree. I believe for reverse, you pulled the shifter knob out and put it into second. The signal light was a small arm located on the post between the front and back doors. You call someone over and have them lean toward you and make a left turn signal....the light would swing out and catch them in the head......once. And now.......back to the thread.................
 
The first time I drove an automatic was in Saudi Arabia, well Saudi Arabia doesn't really have any standardisation, the automatic part is easy enough, once you have found out where the hand/footbrake is hidden and how you put it on and off. For some real fun just hire a car from an European airport at night. Finding out where the key goes how you start it, put it in reverse and use the hand brake is a challenge when you cant read the manual. There are so many "features" for safety now they are a real challenge to get going.
 
fubar57 said:
I had a '55 Austin with 4 on the tree. I believe for reverse, you pulled the shifter knob out and put it into second.
Click to expand...
Must have had the same Fichtel & Sachs transmission my later racing SAAB had. That's exactly how its shifter worked. It had a weak pinion shaft which my tweaked up engine and heavy clutch managed to break twice.
Cheers,
Wes
 



The M-105 was close to the Allison but not quite there. The Allison was probably more durable in the early versions and got a lot better quick (got the nitrided shot peened crankshaft about the time of Pearl Harbor). The better fuel the Americans had helped but overboost the Hispano derived engines may have just broken them fairly quick. The Americans benefited from a more developed/diversified manufacturing base. This could supply innovations in manufacturing/fabrication/inspection that the Russians could not.
The 9 cylinder radials were by the start of WW II licence built/derived Wright Cyclones, the older licenced Jupiters/Gnome-LeRone having faded away. The 14 cylinder M-88 was licensed Gnome-LeRone 14K and even with modifications was going nowhere. No center bearing between the cylinder rows. The M-82 was the best bet. The AM-35/38 was large, heavy and restricted in RPM.

As far as the supercharging goes. The Allison in the long nosed P-40 was good for 1040hp at 14,200ft ( 4300meter) which is better than any of the M-105 engines ever did. There is high altitude supercharging and there is high altitude supercharging. Very few people came close to what Hooker achieved with the even the single stage Merlins. The Russian tried for high altitude, they put experimental turbochargers on practically anything that flew bigger than the M-11 five cylinder radial. They didn't have the manufacturing base to turn the idea's into reality.
 
Thy switching between auto and standard transmissions. Brother lent me his auto Vette and went into a corner and tried to downshift like it was an manual. Foot went to the brake thinking it was the clutch. An exciting few seconds, be sure.
 
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