Quote:
Originally Posted by budgenator
It looks to my non-aeronautical engineering mind the the shape of the P51D radiator housing is a classic air-foil and would form a lifting surface and that lift would oppose the lift generated by the wings. It's position slightly behind the wings would put its "lift" behind the aircrafts presumed center of gravity, pitching the nose upward. The enlarged exit duct looks like it would be a spoiler to that opposing lift and therefore reduce drag. In a seat of the pants measurement, reduced drag is increased thrust.
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The Bernoulli effect is insignificant in the flight of a plane. I've read that the effect on the wings is something like 1% of total lift, and that's with BIG wings, rather than the little radiator cowl. I'm sticking with my theory that the bigger rear facing outlet vent allows the cooling system to act as a passthrough.
Edit: Usually the tail is used to push the rear down, and lift the front. So if there was an effect like that from the cowl, it would mean less of that force has to come from the tail. Adding the outlet thing, which would act like a spoiler, would then require more input from the tail.