renrich
Chief Master Sergeant
Many US fighters were large(and heavy) because they were designed around a big, heavy and powerful engine. The Hellcat, Corsair and P47 all used the R2800 engine. What has been quoted many times is, "the Corsair was designed to be the smallest air frame that could accomodate the new engine, the R2800". (or something like that.) The original XF4U was a relatively small airplane but the production model was made larger to accomodate more internal fuel and more armament. Because the Hellcat and Corsair were designed to be ship board aircraft, they had to have enough wing to create enough lift so that they could operate safely from a carrier. The P47 was designed for a different mission. It was only landbased and it was desired to get high performance at high altitudes. It had a relatively small wing (which was why it required a lot of runway) but the fuselage was large (and heavy) to allow it to carry all the plumbing for the turbo supercharger( which gave it such good performance up high). Big engine which meant it used a lot of fuel. so a lot of fuel was needed if long range was desired, which meant more space was needed for fuel, which meant more weight, which meant enough wing(lift) to satisfy performance requirements and then space was needed for armament and the more armament, the more weight and here we go all over again.
In the PTO, the late model P47s which could carry a lot of fuel for the long distances in the Pacific, were handicapped sometimes because of the short runways which were the only ones available in certain areas. Sometimes the amount of armament carried was cropped as well as the amount of ammo and sometimes the maximum amount of fuel carried was less than possible because the planes could not get off safely. This could be a consideration in the ETO also.
The point is that all aircraft designs are compromises. If British or German designers had designed for the R2800, I expect that the designs would have been remarkably similar to the ones in the US, if the performance parameters had been the same.
In the PTO, the late model P47s which could carry a lot of fuel for the long distances in the Pacific, were handicapped sometimes because of the short runways which were the only ones available in certain areas. Sometimes the amount of armament carried was cropped as well as the amount of ammo and sometimes the maximum amount of fuel carried was less than possible because the planes could not get off safely. This could be a consideration in the ETO also.
The point is that all aircraft designs are compromises. If British or German designers had designed for the R2800, I expect that the designs would have been remarkably similar to the ones in the US, if the performance parameters had been the same.