[ARC5] "Was the P-51 Mustang unbeatable?" on Quora

[Richard Knoppow]

    I am going by stuff I've read and could be completely wrong. 
Dry sump makes more sense to me than a splash system or something 
of the sort. It would be interesting to know for certain. I will 
do a google search on the Merlin to see what I can learn.

On 8/17/2021 3:37 PM, Michael Hanz wrote:
> I was under the impression that they had a dry sump system (as 
> aircraft radial engines also must have).  That collects oil 
> from additional scavenger points within the engine, including 
> valve cover areas. Ball valves are used to momentarily shut any 
> scavenge line that starts sucking air.  They are not uncommon - 
> I had a dry sump with oil cooler in a Lola T70, and they are 
> the only thing that keeps an engine healthy in vehicles that 
> corner or accelerate with high G forces.
>
> - Mike  KC4TOS
>
> On 8/17/2021 5:48 PM, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>>    I only skimmed the article. One thing that is often 
>> overlooked is that the engine in the P-51 like its British 
>> counterpart could not fly inverted for more than a few 
>> seconds. The method of lubrication used in the 
>> Rolls-Royce/Packard engine would not provide adequate 
>> lubrication when inverted. That was a limitation in dog 
>> fighting. The Spitfire had the same problem since it used 
>> essentially the same engine.
>>    BTW, I saw a P-51 taking off from the Santa Monica airport 
>> a few years ago. The pilot just sat it on its tail and went up 
>> at an amazingly steep climb. Very noisy. They are such 
>> beautiful planes.
>>
>> On 8/17/2021 12:10 PM, Hubert Miller wrote:
>>> Timewaster warning: this is possibly a waste of your precious 
>>> time, but I found this Quora article
>>> quite interesting. Which leads to other tempting timewasters...
>>>
>>> https://www.quora.com/Was-the-P-51-Mustang-nearly-unbeatable-during-the-Second-World-War 
>>>
>>>
>>> -Hue Miller
>

-- 
Richard Knoppow
1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com
WB6KBL