REPUBLIC AVIATION PERFORMANCE DATA - P-47 "M" and

[DAVIDICUS]

Or C) wait till you get home from your 8-1/2 hour flight. (Oops, that didn't work. )

[plan_D]

C) is the option if you want your whole squadron pointing and laughing when you land, yes.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

[cheddar cheese]

Originally Posted by plan_D

C) is the option if you want your whole squadron pointing and laughing when you land, yes.

Or if you derive some kind of sick pleasure from messing yourself

[the lancaster kicks ass]

you called??

[plan_D]

He could just be the squadron jester.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

an interesting idea...........

[plan_D]

Yeah, the Lib painted all pink with yellow dots wasn't the point plane...it's crew was just a bunch of jackasses designated squadron jesters...

[cheddar cheese]

What, the remains of the French army?

[plan_D]

I think you'll find they're the international jesters.

[Soren]

DAVID just how much fuel do you think the P-47N needed to escort bombers to Germany and back ? Or for a fighter-sweep maybe ?

In the interest of accuracy, the "N" model wouldn't meet any German fighters unless it was operational in the ETO which it was not.

Which is why I said "Thats how it would be" and not "thats how it was".
I was obviously implying that 'if' they met, those would be the conditions.

The P-47N did, however, do quite well in the PTO, waxing late war Japanese rice rockets like the Ki-84 Frank which, I might add, boasted a very high rate of climb.

Sure, and do you know why ? Because by 44-45 the U.S. pilots flew against newly recruited Jap. rice famers

Also the -47M didnt beat the "Frank" in the climb, but by the traditional team-work in which even a P-38 could wax any Jap. single seat fighter. (The Jap pilots were real poor at teamwork )

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by DAVIDICUS

Flyboy,

The auto-pilot you described is really interesting. What other combatant aircraft had autopilot features? Did the heavy bombers have these? I would think that formation flying would militate against it.

One other question. In light of the piece I posted about Frank Perdomo's extremely long missions from Le Shima, how does a pilot relieve himself? I know the P-47 cockpit was spacious but I don't think it included a urinal.

I believe heavy bombers late in the war started seeing autopilots and many of the later transport aircraft (C-54s). The 2 major manufacturer's were Sperry and GE. I believe the Sperry units were all electric and the GE used a hydraulic/ electrical system.

You cannot use autopilot in tight formation flying. When you fly formation you are picking up a reference on the lead plane and establishing a rough 45 degree angle off the plane you're following. All the time you are constantly changing power settings and adding slight control inputs to maintain the desired distance from your element leader. I've done a lot of formation flying in light aircraft and in the L-29 and learning it is very challenging (as a matter of fact I'm still learning!) but when you get a good formation going, nothing looks better in the air! I believe on long WW2 missions autopilots might be used and the "formation" would be kept very wide and open to facilitate its use. When the need came to fly in a tight formation, I'm sure the autopilot was turned off.

Ah the ole "relief tube." Yep many WW2 aircraft had them and some modern fighters still facilitate them. I got 2 funny stories about relief tubes:

I had an uncle who washed out of flight training. He told me one story where he and a friend were walking around a base somewhere in Idaho. His buddy decided to jump into a P-40 sitting on the line and pick up the "mike," place it close to his mouth and simulate an comic air-to-air combat narrative. What this guy didn't know, he was speaking into the "relief tube." Soon a gaggle of cadets gathered around this guy who thought he was the funniest thing since Bob Hope as he continued his narrative. When he was told what he was doing, he immediately ran to the nearest head as he turned violently ill!

Another story involves an A-4. An A-4 driver once reported a squawk on an aircraft stating the "Relief tube was too short." The corrective in the
"Vids Maf" form was something like "relief tube and system checked for proper installation. Entire Airframes department performed an actual functional test of tube with no problems. It is recommended that the writer of this discrepancy contact medical to report that he is anatomically inferior to normal Naval maintenance personnel. Perhaps a relief tube extender may be authorized."

[DAVIDICUS]

"DAVID just how much fuel do you think the P-47N needed to escort bombers to Germany and back ? Or for a fighter-sweep maybe?"

Compared to the amount of fuel it was designed to be able to carry for missions in the PTO from, say Le Shima, not much! If operating in the ETO, there would be no reason to fill an "N" model's internal fuel tanks to maximum when they could carry drop tanks to the hot spot, drop the tanks, engage the enemy and still make it back using far less than 570 gallons.

"Also the -47M didnt beat the "Frank" in the climb, ..."

Soren, the P-47M model never flew in the PTO. I'm not sure what the climb rate of the Ki-84 was but have read that it was 3,600fpm (I no not know at what altitude this figure is for or even if it is accurate).

Since you now know the climb rate of the P-47M (3,775fpm at 5,000ft and Combat Gross Weight) and are asserting that the Ki-84 would be able to beat an "M" model in climb, I assume that you possess knowledge that the Ki-84's climb rate was in fact higher than this.

Please don't keep me in suspense any longer. Do tell.

[DAVIDICUS]

Flyboy, thanks for the info on the auto pilot.

Great story about the "relief tube." Who's job was it to empty it out?

[plan_D]

It's his Uncles job, he was a gifted amateur as I can tell from the story.