Saw this parked out the front today" Merlin power Not Allision as most were, More power Yeah Baby Grunt
I think there are a few of the ultra rare P-40F's on rebuild to fly.........I certainley know there is also one in Australia that is now very close to taking it's first post restoration flight.
Thats Judy Pays p-40, most Aussy models ran the Merlin rather than the standard Allison. This is what judy Started with, http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v613/docwatson1938/P-40Fjudypay.jpg Check it out now here......... http://www.pioneeraero.co.nz/judy_paye_p-40f.htm I lived about 5 min from Tyabb for a while spent a lot of time at the 'Old Aeroplane Company' drooling..............
Hey, young fella....where ya been? How's "my" bike? We need to talk at the Picnic....need somethin' with a kick start!
Yep Judys P40 alright, Shes getting it cranked for the Band Of Bruddas movie thing which is getting filmed down under here right now, Yep P40F proberly one of only a few ships still out there, Man this thing has a sweet sound slightly different than a P51, must be the exhaust stacks. Hey Peddro " How are you man" I have your Bobber ready to Roll & Leak oil at your book stand . Nope my model A has dust on it still" Been to busy fixing whirlybirds Grunt
The P-40Fs had "weak" early Merlins in them, and the performance improvement wasn't enough to justify the cost and production delays in getting them in the air. So they eventually went back to the Allisons. Also, the decision had been made to put the Packard Merlins in the superior P-51. At that point, P-40s were only manufactured to keep planes on the airfields while production of better fighter types ramped up. Look for the lack of an air scoop at the leading edge of the cowl, easiest way to pick out an F. The P-40 is my favorite warbird.
Yeah, I was a Hastingsite for a while! Ugh, Defence housing in ****sville. At least Tyabb was a short ride away.
Sorry, did you say weak Merlin? I hardly think the Packard V-1650-1 series or as known to the commonwealths as the Merlin 28 was weak! It was the most powerful Merlin untill the 40 series came along in the MkV Spit.
Mate, a lot's changed for me....finally got my T body in from Fresno, did my trip to the US in January (got married in LV!), had a little boy about 9 weeks ago and generally just doing my thing. Catch ya at the pic-a-nic. Free parking.
Google the P-38K. Reportedly got Merlins in it. Beat the **** outta EVERYTHING including the Mustang. Retooling for it at the time wasn't possible, or it woulda been the best fighter of the war, period. Also, P-40F's don't have the air intake for the carb on the top of the engine cowling right behind the prop like Allison powered -40's, another quick way to tell if it's an F or not.
Dang a Peddro Junior" Hitched & a Model T" Well Done. Peddro JR will have a hell of a Good time in that thing" My Gene pool didnt have a deep end" Grunt
The MkV came about pretty early - about late 1941 I believe. I didn't mean they were weak - they were better than any Allison at the time - but they are weak compared to the later Merlins.
Ok, point taken, Griffon was better than any Merlin too! Mustang best fighter of the war? Any one ever heard of Kurt Tank, the TA-152 maybe? The Mustang was not the best performing fighter of WWII!!
what "band of bruddas" movie thing is getting filmed in australia?????? inquiring minds wanna know...
No it wasn't, but it was the best all-around fighter available in significant numbers. Strictly performance-wise, I'd put my money on the Hawker Tempest. It was used to intercept V1s in flight, and would fly alongside and "tip" them down with their wings so they would fall short of their target. That's pretty neat. Not to mention, some of them used Napier Sabres, which eventually developed 4000hp. Baddest piston engine on the planet.
Yep there here right now filming the Pacific campane side of this epic, Using a bunch of local joints in Victoria for fighting scences plus Aircraft & Vehicles. Brushing the Dust off my Walla
I just had lunch with my 80 year old Dad and his 87 year old buddy Ray Bain, while we're eating my dad tells me the Ray flew 86 and a half combat missions (13kills) in Europe.flying a P51 I asked him about the "half" part, and he tells me on the 87th mission he was shot down and was a prisoner of war till the end of the war. Tough old *******.
i'd heard there was a PTO movie coming... hope it is as good as band of brothers... the pearl harbor movie was ****...
The F-82 ran twin Merlin's not Allison's! The Twin Mustang was ordered to replace my favorite US built aircraft the P-61 Blackwidow. The Typhoon/Tempest series operationally all ran the Napier Sabre H pattern 24 cylinder engine. The Typhoon was built first but was beset with problems (One being the airframe suffering catastrophic failure in flight) The later Tempest was built to overcome the Typhoons failings and Incorporated the later Sabre motors and the Laminar flow wing section that made the much latter Mustang the aircraft it was. The first aircraft used to 'tip' V1s were MkIX Spitfires, there were eventually 8 squadrons dedicated to 'tipping' the V1 (FI-103) flying the spitfire MK IX, XIV and Hawker Tempest Vs and Typhoon's. If anyone is interested they couldn't be safely shot down as the blast radius was greater than the effective range of the aircrafts guns! Later a number of Gloster Meteor jet fighters were used for the same purpose, one scoring the first allied jet plane combat victory on a V1. Interestingly the V1 was such a good weapon that the US even built a number of versions called the JB 1/2 Loon and the Navy's KUW-1 (LTV-N-2) they were informally known as the 'Thunderbug'. The Japanese also took the idea but kept a pilot in the aircraft for accuracy. Initially called the Baika in design it was eventually unleashed as the Ohka. I bet most of you know the story of them! Yeah I'm an aircraft nerd and know a hell of a lot more about them than any other subject!
As in Col. John R. "Killer" Kane, CO of the 98th BG. MoH recipient for his actions in the Ploesti raid? How old are you? Taken from the Arlington Cemetery web site............ http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jrkane.htm
For the youngsters who might be going, Huh? that's a picture of a P-82 (or F-82) Twin MUstang, not a P38 as mentioned in a different post above it. P-38 had the twin engines in similar boom structures and an additional stubby fuselage single ****pit in between.
Twin Mustang The Army Air Force wanted to end production of the P-38/39/40, replacing them with P-47/51s. They got unanoumous agreement untill they talked to Gen. George Kenny, commander of the 5th Air Force in the Southwest Pacific Theater. While having no problem eliminating the obsolete 39 & 40, he said the long range of the P-38 was critical, as was the ability to fly on one engine. He did say he would accept termination of production if a new plane could be designed that was faster, longer ranged, & could still fly on one engine. The result was the Twin Mustang.
Yeah too bad the 'Jet' age was upon us by the time they made production. Some of the potentialy greatest prop fighters never saw service because of this, look up Australian Commonwealth Aircraft Corp. CAC-15, or some of Blackburns or Martin Bakers late fighters!
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