NAVY P51 Mustang

[Malo83]

Navy tests a P51 Mustang for sea duty :icon_smil
http://www.mustang.gaetanmarie.com/articles/naval/naval.htm

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

Neat find.

 

[A4sForever]

^ Ditto -- great find.

Soooo-o-o-o-o-o many problems w/ a Mustang for carrier ops, I wouldn't know where to begin if I were doing it.

Non-folding wings, whispy gear, non-radial engine, slow speed handling characteristics, not stressed for CV ops, huge low speed/wave-off torque roll considerations ... and many more, I am sure.

Plus the pilot was a highly skilled test pilot. Can you imagine how busy the plane guard would get w/ average Joe trying to land it???

All of 'em probably COULD have been designed {around} ... the question that immediately comes to mind is:

WHY???

Go fly the Hellcat.

 

[insanebikerboy]

...non-radial engine...

Did radials have better response than the piston driven engines? Or, worded another way, were radials just better suited for shipboard ops?

 

[A4sForever]

Did radials have better response than the piston driven engines? Or, worded another way, were radials just better suited for shipboard ops?

Without lookin' it up (and I'm not an engineer), radials were better if you took a round or two or three in the face from AAA or any other source -- those big cylinders could eat more damage and just keep on a tickin' (a BIG deal out over the vastness of the Pacific) .... plus cooling in a tropical environment should be better w/ a radial versus a finicky, high(er) strung liquid cooled inline.

Engineers?? Rocket scientists?? What say you??

 

[Pags]

I like the drawing of the Mustang in Navy colors...cool "what if".

 

[Malo83]

I like the drawing of the Mustang in Navy colors...cool "what if".

X2 she looks sweet in Navy Blue :icon_smil

 

[Fog]

The British Mosquito was the one plane in WWII that should have been built under contract by the USN & USMC. While the original a/c was made of wood, I can only believe a copy of aluminum (even w/ radial engines) would have been a huge success for us. Our carrier-borne "bombers" were slow & had relatively short-range. The Mosquito would have fixed this. The Brits themselves operated the Mosquito from their own carriers. JMHO.

 

[Redux]

The British Mosquito was the one plane in WWII that should have been built under contract by the USN & USMC. While the original a/c was made of wood, I can only believe a copy of aluminum (even w/ radial engines) would have been a huge success for us. Our carrier-borne "bombers" were slow & had relatively short-range. The Mosquito would have fixed this. The Brits themselves operated the Mosquito from their own carriers. JMHO.

Oddly enough it was good enough for the Germans! Focke Wulf Ta 154 Moskito

 

[Morgan81]

...were radials just better suited for shipboard ops?

Edit...speaking out of my ass.

Very cool what-if, nice find.

 

[whalepelt]

FWIW

The radial was more popular largely due to its simplicity, and most navy air arms had dedicated themselves to the radial because of its improved reliability for over-water flights and better power/weight ratio for aircraft carrier takeoffs. Although inline engines offer smaller frontal area than radials, inline engines require the added weight and complexity of cooling systems and are generally more vulnerable to battle damage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radial_engine

 

[LazersGoPEWPEW]

In regards to liquid cooled engines while performance was at times better it is important to note that if the lines for cooling the engine were shot out while in flight you have a serious issue which is one of the primary reasons radial engines were capable of taking more damage.

 

[Flash]

Soooo-o-o-o-o-o many problems w/ a Mustang for carrier ops, I wouldn't know where to begin if I were doing it.

Non-folding wings, whispy gear, non-radial engine, slow speed handling characteristics, not stressed for CV ops, huge low speed/wave-off torque roll considerations ... and many more, I am sure.

The Royal Navy had similar problems with their version of the Spitfire, the Seafire. They were infamous for having their landing gear collapse quite often due to its narrow undercarriage, along with many other problems.

http://www.supermarine-spitfire.co.uk/supermarine_seafire.html

 

[Flash]

The British Mosquito was the one plane in WWII that should have been built under contract by the USN & USMC. While the original a/c was made of wood, I can only believe a copy of aluminum (even w/ radial engines) would have been a huge success for us. Our carrier-borne "bombers" were slow & had relatively short-range. The Mosquito would have fixed this. The Brits themselves operated the Mosquito from their own carriers. JMHO.

Unfortunately, due to their large size (for carrier ops) they were not produced in large numbers and did not have a big impact. British carriers in WWII already were at a disadvantage to American ones in aircraft capacity, their armored decks reduced their carrying capacity significantly. The advantage was much less damage suffered when attacked, even after direct hits to the carrier deck by bombs and kamakazies.

 

[Tex_Hill]

Unfortunately, due to their large size (for carrier ops) they were not produced in large numbers and did not have a big impact. British carriers in WWII already were at a disadvantage to American ones in aircraft capacity, their armored decks reduced their carrying capacity significantly. The advantage was much less damage suffered when attacked, even after direct hits to the carrier deck by bombs and kamakazies.

There was another advantage to wooden decked carriers. During Midway the Japanese laid their wounded on the steel flight deck where they literally fried because of the intense heat of the fires below decks.