When one Mustang isn't enough...

I know race boat people and I have followed the unlimited race boat stuff a little bit and I have thought that maybe the Allison was as good of an engine as the Merlin when it was equally equipped, like a supercharger or turbosupercharger. Sparky told me that it had stronger rods that were installed in Merlins to make them tougher and I was told that the Merlin did not suffer from valve float at high RPMS like the Allison. Interesting subject. Thanks, Tcar, for explaining the reverse rotation mechanicals.

 

Car engines used in boats are really simple, A few simple mods to the crankshaft for oiling purposes, replace the starter and convert the cam and auxilarry drive from chain to gear. It requires a purpose made camshaft to handle the firing order change. Car engines were never designed to run backwards as opposed to aviation engines. I suspect their design has allowances for that from the start. Avaiton engines are full gear drive, even the blower drive on the end of the crank and with all the accessory drives being gear I very strongly suspect the main drive outputs have provision to introduce an idler gear to turn it all in the original direction once the crank rotation is reversed. It is the only way it makes sense. Otherwise you would have a common block and head casting and every other part would be different. No one in their right mind would do that. An Allison crank is symetrical and a Merlin is not. I suppose the Brits may have made different cranks but like I said, automotive cranks are easily modified to spin backwards so the difference in crank production would not have been daunting.

 

In my opinion there are many design features of the Allison that are better, more advanced and better thought out. The Brits from the start wanted better high altitude performance and so the blower design. Our own government froze many designs to prevent production hiccups during the war production period and I think the Allison was a victim of that. Instead of shutting things down to introduce a radical redesign, just repurpose a Packard factory to produce an existing design. There was no reason the Allison could not have received a 2 stage blower, it just wasn't done. In many ways it was less Victorian than the Merlin.The cylinder head and combustion chamber showed better understanding of gas flow and combustion science, the rods sturdier, the valve gear more advanced and a simple crankshaft design. As far as valve float, that can be avoided if designed for but boats and Unlimited aircraft are spinning them higher that either company had envisioned. The Merlin had antiquated finger rockers that while lighter were always a wear issue. The Allison had beautiful roller rockers like many Ferrari engines and other race modified American engines with better valve angles. They allow also more advantageous cam design. They are heavier but worked fine within design limits. If Allison had intended for that engine to run at 3500 rpm it could have easily been accomplished.

 

That's great, I read that there are only a handful of P-61 Black Widows in existence. I've never seen one.
They have big 'round' R-2800 engines...
Really good looking airplane.

 

Thanks very much for the engine lesson. Please allow me to read it over about 6 times before my test.

 

But nowhere near as cool as an F7F.

 

Didnt that one crash, wipe out the pilot

 

Yes, Rutan's Pond Racer; one engine failed, prop didn't feather.
Did an emergency wheels up landing; rough terrain, pilot died.

Use turbo Nissan V6 auto engines.

 

Very sad and 100% foreseeable. Rutan hated the engines and so did a great many people but Pond would have nothing to do with going a different way. It was a disaster most everyone saw coming from a long way off. I was keeping up with the development process and everyone involved had misgivings. Waste of a life and a waste of a lot of money.

I was just astounded at what the engine builder promised and just as astounded that anyone believed him.

 

The Northrop P61A had more guns than the F7F, a lot more so it wins. All the surviving P61's on display are P61C's. Only 1 or 2 P61A's are still around(one in China I believe). All the WWII P61's were P61 A's and B's. They found this one on the side of a mountain in New Guinea where it crashed during WWII. That means the US scrapped almost all of the P61's left over after WWII with a few sold off as fire bombers and executive aircraft. Those were the days!!!

 

F7F in full combat trim was 100 mph faster (460 mph) and twice the climb rate (4500 fpm). It really doesn't matter which was better at shooting stuff down. I suspect none will be used for that anymore.

If you really think this isn't a very special airplane you need an eye exam.

A pair of 2800's pushing around a fuel tank.

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No fat pilots in Tigercats....

First tricycle gear carrier plane, I think...

 

They both are wonderful airplanes. I do love P61's because they are twin boom but Tigercats are just as special.

At this years EAA Air Venture


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Tigercat was kind of like a twin engine Bearcat. Smallest possible airframe for one or two turbocharged R2800s. I always liked the Tigercat and the Hornet, which was the same philosophy applied to the Mosquito. Even faster than the Tigercat.

Twins appeal to me because Dad flew P-322s and P-38s for a while, his favorite of all the fighters he flew, but went to war in the P-47D. My nav-school T-29s used R2800s, too, but derated quite a bit.

 

I saw the first F8F at Langley Field in the spring of 1945 when it appeared over night parked in front of our barrack that was next to the NACA labs. The following flight tests absolutely astonished everyone. They flew it with the latest model of the P-51, the P-51H, and it out-classed it in everything but range.

 

As I recall Bob wasn't it really intended as a fleet defense fighter to counter Kamikazes? Extraordinary take off and climb performance and range be damned?

I remember Corkey Fornof once said it would take off in the width of some runways. Bit of an overstatement I suspect but the point made.

Part of the reason Rare Bear still holds the recip speed record.

 

Yes, it was primarily an interceptor and nothing else like it. One day in June an NACA pilot performed a max climb demo and took off from standing three point position at the end of the runway and initially went into the climb and continued until he disappeared. We could hear him but we couldn't see him. Navy pilots nicknamed it "The Jelly Bean". The F7F was there at NACA also and when they flew , it was a free airshow. Everybody stopped to watch them. Two of the most beautiful and exciting airplanes. I saw Greenemeyer race his F8 at Reno many years ago and it was a kick to see what he did with it..

 

Still hangs in the Air and Space museum. As I understand it they traded Darryl a brand new Corsair they had for it. According to the story it only had test and ferry time on it.

A lot of pretty cool airplanes came out of Bethpage.

 

I bet its "Spensive"..

And operating it? Now you have 2 Merlins to feed. Pretty cool plane though.

 

So is there a right fuselage seat....? Would be a pretty odd experience if there was..... Or maybe you can fly it from either side?

 

Wouldn't that be a kick to have a guy on your tail(s) shooting at you and do a break left and break right and then nail him after he goes between you (two).