Mid-engined P-51 (1 Viewer)

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Colin1

Senior Master Sergeant
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Jan 2, 2009
United Kingdom
Found this the other day whilst trawling
clearly based on the P-51B/C. Love that view over the nose but not sure he's considered the fuel arrangements; seems to hit the same wall as the P-39. Nice try though
 

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There were a couple of real designs for the P-51 that looked somewhat like this. Proposals for mounting the Griffon in the P-51 lead to the mid engine arrangement. I can't remember any with Malcolm hoods though.
 
I think this must be a drawing of what is unkindly called Dorey's Delusion, a redesigned Mustang to take on a Roll Royce Griffon 65 p39 style. As I understand they did put in a lot of effort but it was eventually abandoned. Don't know why. I should think it might have worked but I suspect it would have taken a lot of engineering and probably a very distinctive diffrent flying Mustang. My source is North American P 51 Mustang by Bill Gunston. As I understand Dorey was a rolls Royce engineer. The designing was done in the UK so it is possible that there was a Malcolm hood available for the mockup. Don't think that it is very likely though.
 
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I think this must be a drawing of what is unkindly called Dorey's Delusion, a redesigned Mustang to take on a Rolls Royce Griffon 65, P-39 style. As I understand they did put in a lot of trouble but it was eventually abandoned. Don't know why
I vaguely remember
posting something on that; the rationale for abandoning it was that as the powerplant developed, it may increase in length, which would necessitate a redesign of the length of the engine bay.

Quite why or how that would come as a surprise to anyone, esp aeronautics engineers, is beyond me.

I'll see if I can find it.
 
Here are some pictures.
 

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It's not that it doesn't look right. It just doesn't look like a Mustang anymore. Still wonder what it would have been capable of though.
 
Why bother with mid-ship engine mounting?
Spitfires, even with lower base weight, managed to work just fine with new ( heavier) engine in front.
 
At the time it seemed like a good idea, I guess. Nothing wrong in trying something new anyway. I've read that Rolls Roys expected the plane to top 500 mph. That would have been a big improvement.
 

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