Quote:
Originally Posted by bwilson4web
Merlin at +400 mph . . . <sigh>
Bob Wilson
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Well, a V-configured engine ain't a radial, but it's very, very, nice.
My FIL spent a part of WWII ferrying P-51 Mustangs from where they were built in Dallas out to Long Beach (and back) to have the famous bubble-top installed. Refueled both in Tucson and El Paso. The "tough part of the job" (as he'd put it) was that the engines had to be run to the "
War Emergency Power" setting every so many hours . . in a controlled dive.
If he leaned hard on the daylight operating hours rules he could make a roundtrip in one day. And did, numerous times. 2,500-miles + per round trip. Now, having been born in 1919 and endured the
one to two day trip each way from near Corpus Christi to Austin to visit family via Model T (180-miles), you might imagine how it felt to wake up and go to
this job in the morning, ha!!
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