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Yet the P-38 didn't successfully fulfill the escort job for 8th AF.Even if P-38 had a more protracted development, P-47 saw combat 1 full year after P-38 did. So, for Allied war effort, P-38 had the edge in that category.
Another US-built plane that have had long range decent performance (in mid 1943) was the P-51A/Mustang II. It was deployed piecemeal, however - in Italy, India China for example, despite rather small numbers produced.
But this thread isn't limited to high-altitude bomber escort. Long range/endurance can have many applications.Trying to escort bombers by flying thousands of feet below them wasn't going to work.
Yet the P-38 didn't successfully fulfill the escort job for 8th AF.
If P-47 had the legs...............
But this thread isn't limited to high-altitude bomber escort. Long range/endurance can have many applications.
Regardless, the escort need wasn't satisfied until Merlin Mustangs arrived in force.
P-47's, AFAIK, weren't having the fuel issues the P-38 was.
No one said we're stuck with the Allison.That is true but P-40s and Allison Powered Mustangs did, just not to the extent the P-38s did. And there was no way to know in 1940/41 when the aircraft specs were being written that the fuel specifications/standards would change 2 years after the plane specifications were issued.
Somehow we got away from the P-47.True, but I am trying to point out some of the differences. You want "P-51 like" range you have to understand why the P-51 got that range and some other planes did not. You also have to understand that without the P-51s low drag numbers there will be a bigger penalty to be paid in weight and overall performance in order to get that range.
Better yet, the U.S. Army Air Corps should purchase the Fw-187 tooling from Focke Wulf during 1939. Power it with a pair of Packard built Merlin engines.
If the wing tanks and drop tanks of the P-47N were available for P-47Cs in 1943, I am not so sure the Mustang would have ever been developed into an escort fighter. The 47 was getting the job done in all aspects other than escort range.