FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1944
1944 - 0183.PDF
JANUARY 27TH, 1944 FLIGHT 91 j ARMSTRONG -WHITWORTH ALBEMARLE which are fitted transversely between the centre-section spar booms, with the fourth behind the middle tank in the fuselage. Additionally to this, it is possible to include three auxiliary tanks in the bomb bay, connected into the main fuel system by flexible hose. Oil is supplied- from four tanks, two being carried in each nacelle. Each pair of tanks is inter-connected by a balance pipe, the delivery and return being taken from the front tank, which is fitted with a hot pot. All in all the Albemarle, although officially classified as a second-line aircraft, appears to be a very good although unorthodox job, and when it is considered that well over 1,000 sub-contractors are engaged in its manufacture and there is no parent factory in the true sense of the term— only an assembly base—then those many people who have been concerned in its production deserve a very real measure of appreciation. It is gratifying to learn that visiting representatives of the U.S. aviation industry were frankly amazed that any aircraft could possibly be pro duced successfully, when every single part was sub-con tracted, without the constant supervision and aid available from a parent company. Flight is very pleased to see a good aircraft getting at last a highly descried place in the sun of public and S«Cp1c"e opinion. Four-bladed Hamilton Standard " butter-pat" airscrews are fitted to the American-built Rolls-Royce Merlins in the P-51B. Long Range Mustang Credit for the Latent US. Fighter Qoes to British Air Ministry T HE outstanding success of the Merlin-engined Mustang, the P-51B, which is now generally accepted both here and in America as one of the best single-seater fighters in existence to-day, makes the story of its origin of more than usual interest in view of the fact that it is built by the well- known U.S. firm of North American Aviation Inc. The traditional British reluctance to indulge in a boasting competition has, until recently, resulted in credit for the /development of this aircraft not being placed where it really "•—belongs, and we have the fair-mindedness- of the New York Herald Tribune largely to thank for restoring the position to something like its true perspective. Commenting on the P-5iB, this newspaper says: "Many have long regarded it as the best fighter plane produced in the U.S., but it remained for the British to discover it. If it had not been for British orders it would never have been developed at all. Its full potentialities were brought out only when the British-designed Rolls-Royce Merlin engine was fitted." The reference to "British orders" in this handsome acknow ledgment no doubt refers to the fact that the Mustang was designed to a British specification and was financed with British money; it was not a lend-lease jo%s When North American rved the specification they dkLno siasm for it, a fact \fii»i»3i ma l first evince any great have been due to its racter, and/or 1^he merica's one and only liquid-cooled engi ne, somewhat lacking in ltitude performance. llison-engined Mustangs The P-51B, showing the drop tanks and wing armament of four '5in. machine guns. on in-lin§ Allison, wi the matter of However, did much/ useful work with the R.A.F. A4rny Co-operation Command angements for Packard to Merlins were eventually trans- into action, and, in the words at the Herald Tribune, the Mustang's '' full potentialities were brought out.'' Incidentally, it was no happy acci dent that the Merlin was able to replace the Allison without any drastic alterations to the Mustang airframe. The Merlin LXVTII, built by Packard for the Mustang P-5rB, is virtually the Rolls-Royce Merlin LXI with a few minor modifications. It has a two-stage, two-speed super charger (in contrast to the single- stage, single-speed blower of th<- Allison), is rated at 1,520 h.p., and maintains its power-output up to 40,000ft. Top speed of the P-5TB is over 400 m.p.h.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
