Check out this racing airplane

[josh817]

Some sort of Racing Spitfire.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53a_1256505040

 

Edit!

Woops not Spitfire, my humiliating bad. Mustang!

[PalmettoZ]

It's a highly modified P51 mustang actually. Made into a pylon racer. Those counter rotating props are very cool. Talk about a high dollar airplane, this is one for sure. Never been to a pylon race but have always wanted to go.

[cygnusx1]

Cool plane...I love the WWII warbirds, even if they are "hybridized".

[MAG58]

Slick, I wonder how the counter rotating props will fare against a single rotating prop like Dago Red.

 

IIRC, the US Govt experimented with P51's in Vietnam, using turbo-props with a similar counter-rotating setup. I believe their intended use, if they were actually used, would have been close ground support.

[josh817]

I've always wondered why we used prop planes in Vietnam. Dad told me one time but I forgot. :/

[JIM73240Z]

The Us use a lot of prop bird in Nam as recon. My uncle flew as an engineer in a B-17 over Europe in WWII and then flew as an engineer in a B-52 in Korea out of Japan, (they were not supposed to launch any missons during the war out of japan, but the flight crews were "never told where they were going" so it was "OK"). He then got called up to fly little piper looking things over the jungle to help spot enemy movements.

 

jimbo

[rsicard]

That is a P-51 mustang with a Rolls Royce Griffon Engine and counter rotating props versus the Rolls Royce Merlin engine and standard prop.

[Guest Rolling Parts]

Was that teh one that crashed or a re-creation?

[waddiejohn]

If you every get the chance to go to the Reno Air Races jump on it. The entire experience is awsome. When I was going "Dego Red" and " Tsunami " were arguably the prettiest planes there, but a Bearcat called "Rare Bear" kicked everyones butt most of the time. Tsunami finally went in with asymmetrical flaps killing the pilot and destroying the plane during the trip home from the races.

If I remember right some of those engines ran seventy or eighty inches of boost. Counter rotating props didn't perform very well then and seemed to have reliability issues.

We'd fly our Bellanca into Carson City and stay there then drive to Reno/Sparks for the race. We'd get to see the cars leaving Carson City for the Silver State Challange.

The airshows between races were very exciting too. There is just nothing in this world like the sound of that Rolls Royce Merlin engine.

[kiwi303]

I've always wondered why we used prop planes in Vietnam. Dad told me one time but I forgot. :/

 

The A1 skyraider was used a fair bit, turboprop close air support, they'd hang clusters of 2.5"(? might be 2.75") kinetic kill missiles and gun pods under the wings and strafe the vietcong when engaged with troops on the ground. The F-4 and napalm could be a bit indiscriminate with where it splashed it's flames if something hung up on the racks.

As far as I can tell from the history books, the A1 was tasked for CAS support in planned engagements, while the F-4 was search and destroy and enemy rear area destruction and on call as a fast mover when air support calls came in since they could get there faster under jets than the prop planes could. then you had the A-4s and A-6's and the other strike planes who did pretty much the same as the F-4's

 

The A1's basicly replicated what Thunderbolts and Typhoon/Tempests were doing in WW2 during the advance on germany.

 

The Spitfire itself is pretty much a hybridised race plane, the Supermarine S.6B Shneider trophy plane with the floats deleted, retracting undercarrage and guns in the wings.

[Chaparral2f]

I love going to the races at Reno. I even got to meet Bob Hoover one year. Somewhere I've even got a tee shirt that says "If it ain't 300 miles an hour it ain't racin'."

[capt_furious]

The Skyraider was not a turboprop(turboprops being jet turbines with the shaft geared down and fitted with a propeller). It used a Curtiss-Wright R-3350 radial, the same engine used in the Boeing B-29.

 

Prop aircraft played a significant role in Vietnam as cargo, ground-attack, forward air control and artillery spotting aircraft.

 

I can't get at the original link from where I am, I'm sure I could figure out exactly what it is.

[josh817]

Yah but see, you guys are telling me WHAT role prop airplanes played during the war but I want to know WHY they chose a prop over a jet fitted with all the assortments. Kinda like how we have the A10 today, its a jet used to kill **** on the ground. I guess its not that big of a concern to me, I was just curious.

[PanzerAce]

Well, half the reason is likely because we had way more R-3350s lying around then we would ever need. Also, it was a well known engine, easy(ish)(by airplane standards) to maintain, and produced more than enough power for the A-1.

[thrustnut]

Hey Josh, an A10 is not a jet, its a turbo fan. They are used because they are a turbofan, not a jet. A jet can't fly as slow and burns allot more fuel. Turboprops are still used allot in today's military, mostly for troop insertion/extraction, cargo drops and search and rescue operations. They are used for the same reasons as in Vietnam (where the C-130 got it's start) slow, precise, heavy lift, oh yah...they can taxi in reverse as well making short field take offs (less then 100 yards) possible. Some have said that the C-17 will take over the C-130's role in the future, but I don't think it will happen. You want to see some amazing turboprop action, check out AC-130's on youtube. I have a couple shells sitting in my garage. Nothin says lovin like a gunship.

[PalmettoZ]

Yah but see, you guys are telling me WHAT role prop airplanes played during the war but I want to know WHY they chose a prop over a jet fitted with all the assortments. Kinda like how we have the A10 today, its a jet used to kill **** on the ground. I guess its not that big of a concern to me, I was just curious.

 

 

A prop airplane can fly much lower and slower ( which makes it harder for anti-aircraft guns to shoot it down, the plane is on top on them before they have a chance to react ). It also normally can accelarate from a slow speed faster than a jet engine or turbo fan (basically a jet engine driving a fan section which provides about 70% of the thrust). They also normally are straight wing aircraft (which gives them better low speed manuverability) whereas most jet (or turbo fan) aircraft are swept wing, which is a much faster design.

 

The A10 is a jet with a straight wing design, and the engines spool up very quickly giving it lots of thrust ( it's a very over powered hot rod ). It's designed to fly low and slow and attack ( hence the A in A10 ).

 

The C-130 will not replace the C-17. They both have their advantages and althought the C-17 can do short field take offs and landings it has a different mission as the C-130. Also the most recent 130 design, the H model, with a glass cockpit and the newer turboprop engines will be around for a long time.

[josh817]

Shows you how much I know about airplanes eh?

[woldson]

Crap, everyone got slower and pretty much lower for ground support.

[blue72]

Great, as soon as I discover this thread the video was removed by the original user. I love them old warbirds.

[PalmettoZ]

Shows you how much I know about airplanes eh?

 

 

I think it's great that it catches your attention. You don't even see the duo prop planes anymore, they are very rare. If you ever have a chance to go to the airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin, or Sun and Fun down in Lakeland Florida you can see all of this and tons more. Extremely interesting stuff if your a gearhead. You might even want to build your own kitplane after going to one of these.