Was the corsair as good a fighter as the spitfire or the FW?

[wmaxt]

The Green curve labled as 1100hp is actualy the military power curve and should be labled as 54" and 1425hp. Edited @ 5:25pm

Another thing that needs to be pointed out is that the Fw-190D-9 whose power is 2240hp at sea level on MW 50 has already dropped to 2000hp by 11,500ft. Under normal unboosted power the D is rated at 1776hp at sea level and 1600hp at 18000ft and continues to drop as the altitude increases. The P-38 has retained its 1600/1725hp at ~30,000ft.

The numbers in the P-38 POH are comparable to these numbers of the Dora without the MW 50
Fw-190D-9 - 2.1min to 6,500ft (3095ft/min ave)- 16.8min to 32,800ft (1952ft/min ave) Full power no MW 50 1776hp at SL droping off with altitude after 2nd stage supercharger engages
P-38L--------2.0min to 5,000ft (2500ft/min ave)- 15min - 35,000ft (2333ft/min ave) Military power 54" boost 1425hp (ea) SL-~30,000ft 17,400lbs

The P-38 adds another 350hp between 54" and 60" boost and another 250hp at 64". The MW 50 adds 464hp at SL and it drops off as the altitude increases, as shown above. The difference in climb giving the Fw-190 an edge at SL-6500ft drops off rather quickly as the altitude increases.

As to flat plate area and climb, the P-51 has a flat plate area of 3.80sf to the P-38s 8.78sf and the P-38 outclimbs the P-51 by a comfortable margin, the P-51 climbs at 3 min to 5,000ft, 28min to 35,000ft at less than 10,300lbs military power. FP numbers courtesy of NACA/NASA, P-51 climb data from the P-51 POH.

The bottom line here is that the P-38 could, at a minimum, keep up with the Dora in a climb.

wmaxt

[Soren]

The normal loaded weight for the Dora-9 is 9,414 lbs wmaxt, a pretty big difference.

Lets look at the numbers...

Power-loading
Fw-190D-9, no boost (1776hp): 5.3 lbs/hp
P-38L, no boost (2x1425hp): 6.1 lbs/hp

Fw-190D-9, full boost (2240hp): 4.2 lbs/hp
P-38L, full boost (2x1725hp): 5.04 lbs/hp

Wing-loading
Fw-190D-9: 47.7 lbs/sq.ft.
P-38L: 53 lbs/sq.ft.

Flat plate area
Fw-190D-9: 4.77 sq.ft.
P-38L: 8.78 sq.ft.

Now how exactly is the P-38 ever going to out-climb the Dora-9, when even at full boost the P-38 will have trouble out-climbing a Dora-9 flying at normal power ?

Lets say the Dora-9's power at full boost has dropped to 1850-1900hp at 18,000ft, thats a power-loading of 5.08-4.92 lbs/hp, thats still equal or better than the P-38L at full boost, and by now the Dora-9 has already acquired itself a good lead. (And remember this is without even considering FP area and lift-loading)

[syscom3]

P38's also had some free HP from the exhaust thrust.

[Jabberwocky]

Some real world test numbers:

P-38G 42-12687 Tested at 48" mainfold

5,000 feet in 1.71 minutes
10,000 feet in 2.81 minutes
15,000 feet in 4.21 minutes
20,000 feet in 5.68 minutes
25,000 feet in 7.36 minutes
30,000 feet in 9.46 minutes

Peak RoC: 3,660 feet/minute at 5000 feet

P-38J 42-67869 Tested at 60" manifold, 16,600lbs

5000 feet in 1.25 minutes
10,000 feet in 2.54 minutes
15,000 feet in 3.89 minutes
20,000 feet in 5.37 minutes
25,000 feet in 7.06 minutes
30,000 feet in 9.32 minutes

Peak RoC: 4,000 feet/minute at sea level

Anyone have some 190D9 data? All I have are some general 190 serise document from FockWulfe, which give climb to 10,000m (33,000 feet) as 16.8 minute at normal power and 12.5 minutes at military power

[KraziKanuK]

Notice the date on the graphs > March 45

[KraziKanuK]

Jabber, the use of MW50 increased the climb rate from 17.8m/s to 22.5m/s at low level.

Lots of D-9 reports here, http://www.spitfireperformance.com/f...190d9test.html

[Soren]

According to those doc's using "Sonder Notleistung" the Dora-9 at normal combat weight and equipped with ETC-504 rack would reach 6km in 5min 43 sec. Without the ETC-504 rack and using "Sonder notleistung mit a lader als bodenmotor" this time would be even lower.

Things are starting to make some sense..