Striker's Aviation Thread

[mr.brownfella]

[strommsarnac]

I met one of the lead engineers of the P-51. He also made a "role playing" miniatures game called Mustang and Messerschmidts. If you ever look closely at P-51's, you'll notice two seemingly minor changes to the design which had a major impact on the performance. The facts behind the changes were still classified Top Secret until 1991. The changes were...

1. The most noticeable was the "pass through" oil-cooler scoop on the bottom of the plane. This wasn't added until the P-51B model. The design change was simply intended to increase the cooling of the oil. The surprise wasn't accepted until a few months later when many P-51 pilots kept reporting that the enemy were suddenly slower. It turned out that the new scoop design actually acts like a mini-ramjet and give the plane a top-speed boost of up to 25 knots. That is HUGE for a prop-driven fighter. All for no extra fuel.

2. Later, they modified the exhaust ports on the side of the plane (up near the nose). The change was from port openings flush with the side panels to tubes angling back towards the rear. At full throttle, this "little" bit of exhaust provides up to 5 knots boost, again at no extra fuel cost.

The Germans never learned why their ME-109 was always a bit slower than the P-51 even though all aerodynamic and performance test said it should have been a bit faster. The US kept the secret closely guarded while other countries continued to use P-51s even into the 1980s.

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[strommsarnac]

This is one of my favorite Aviation images.

The helicopter is a Keystone CH-47 Chinook, piloted by Larry Murphy, an EMS chopper pilot and National Guardsman from Allentown, Pennsylvania. The amazing landing was not part of a rescue mission, however, but rather a pick-up of "Persons Under Control" (prisoners) captured by U.S. soldiers during Operation Mountain Resolve in the Nuristan province of Afghanistan in 2003.

[mr.brownfella]

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I did not know that..thanks that is great to know...I love these old WWII places.

[McHookerino]

654 in Hondo, look closely and you'll see me in the door

This is still a Boeing promo shot for the hooker

[mr.brownfella]

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Awesome, man just awesome.

[pmpn8ez112]

Delete

[The Godfather]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvtoAlAqrAk

[cmetz]

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According to the stories, the Hotelicopter is modelled on an old Soviet Mil V-12 helicopter and features 18 luxuriously-appointed soundproof rooms complete with queen sized beds, wireless Internet and room service.

[kcamsdog1387]

Every Father's day weekend my dad, a few uncles, cousins and I go to Stow, MA to visit the Collins Foundation open house. This guy has a huge spread of land that includes a two story barn and airplane hanger/runway. I'm not too into aircrafts but its amazing to see some of the stuff he has. The car collection he has is great as well. Most of the cars are from the 20's and 30's. And he has some old WWI,II, and Vietnam era planes as well and some you can actually fly. Here's the link to the collection

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It's only $25 a car and it all goes to charity. They also do another open house in October and some planes tours across the country. Its an awesome time