Posted on 09/16/2017 4:33:11 PM PDT by DFG
The Spitfires during this time were using 1650 cu in Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Two or 2-1/2 years later, the Mustang used the same 1650 cu in engine made by Packard (of course, both engines had a lot of improvements done in that time). At the time the Merlin Mustang was introduced, it greatly out performed the Spitfire.
So, the Spitfire was upgraded to a 2230 cu in Griffin engine. With that, the Spitfire was able to keep up with the Mustang. So it took a 1/3 larger engine for the Spitfire to match the Mustang. That shows the difference between a 1936 design and a 1941 design.
There have only been a few Mustangs fitted with the Griffin engine (all that I know of have been Reno racing planes) and all have crashed. It was have been very interesting if the engineers who designed the Mustang had been given permission to fit a Griffin to the Mustang with proper stress analysis and design.
I’m full blooded American born and raised but a Spitfire is one of the most beautiful aircraft ever!!
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I believe it was mostly due to the Mustangs wing....I might be wrong!!!
Here is a good article on US use of Spits during ww2.
For Overlord the Navy even used them as fire support spotters with pilots from BB’s and CA’s trained to fly the Spit instead of their normal SOC’s. The better to dodge ME109’s and FW190’s
https://warisboring.com/americas-spitfires/
I would like to see that plane with a Merlin updated with modern technology like fuel injection.
Flying ping.
Several of my high school friends’ fathers were NACA engineers at the Langley AFB facility in Hampton VA in the 1930s through the 1970s. Wind tunnel simulations were still used extensively until computer simulations took over.
Handsome dudes!
Helps us to understand “One Yank and they’re off” (referring to British girls’ knickers).
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I question some of those copyright claims. One of the pictures was obviously taken by a Nazi soldier.
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Fuel pump failure.
The main fuel pump failed and he didn’t switch on the backup.
He tried to bail out but was too low for his parachute to deploy.
If he had more experience or training in the aircraft it was survivable.
Sounds like fuel pump failure from running dry. Interesting point on the article I posted (in the comments) that the fuselage tank can run dry in only 15 minutes or so — roughly the time from when he took off to when he crashed. Too low for a parachute. No ejection seat. And he was a known hotdog who like to fly low and fast. That’s one of the reasons he was sent home from Europe.
I know one of Dick Bong’s nephews . A total liberal commie bisexual puke . How rotten falleth the fruit from the tree .
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