The PT boats used the v12 Packards.....all about what worked....or had more pull....

The ole man worked for Packard during the Big un, he worked on the Merlins and also said he worked on the P 38's...so what does that all mean?

Packard made Merlins under license.....not like they sent a p-51 over to get re-engined....they Merlinized them here.

The ole mans !st cozin John was in the same PT squadron as JFK, and knew him well as they all lived in the same Quonset hut in the Solomon Islands. Johns oldest son now has the Machete, where the leather case was signed by everybody in the squadron including the future Prez of the USA.

That's very cool.

It's apropos of nothing, but I've heard it said JFK held the honor of being the captain of the only US warship sunk by ramming. And it was a hot rod to boot!

So what is yer point????? Dad worked for Packard in the East Grand Blvd plant in DEEEETROIT....he started after HS so that puts it around 1935...to 1945.

No point....Merlins were made under license in other places than England. The supercharged v12 worked in the P-51. They could have been used in other airframes but weren't. An observation.....

Those were tough, tough times..ole Grand Dad went to work for Henry in the Rouge as a Speciality Mold Maker back in 1916..to 1959. Grand Dad was a very out spoken PRO UNION type O guy which was also known as being a "RED" , who at some point got Black Balled by Ford and had to move to Conniticut to find work with a wife and 3 young kids to feed. Now THAT is standing up for what one believes in.

First cozin John was also sympatico to Grand Dad's Commie beliefs and after the Big Un worked at the Tank Plant in Detroit where he got into trouble with the House of Un Americano Activities...but JFK wrote a letter saying that he knew cozin John as he served with him during the Big Un..and that he was a loyal American.

So every pin headed Liberal on this Board don't know nothin about bein a real progressive Liberal. You Boyz just talk the talk that amounts to a fart in the wind. Thats why I can listen to an Obama and hear the bunkum.

Grand Dad believed in hard work and STRESSED EDUCATION as the means of getting out being a factory worker and having a better life. He never wanted his kids to have to work in the Auto plants as he did. Grand Dad told the ole man and me when we was kids, "That they can take everything you have away from you except what you have in your head," eg knowledge.

Grand Dad came to America when he was 16 years old, didn't know English nor have an education and was stuck in a factory job because he had family responsibilities. So those old time Germans, Poles and Russian guys used to drink and fight on their days off to relieve the tension and bordom of having dead end jobs..that they were trapped in.

So the ole man started work when he was 12 years old, selling newspapers after school. Before that he sold sandwiches that grand ma made...

P-38s shot down Yamamoto. Maybe P51s weren't available or P47s didn't have range?

360deg bubble cockpit.
2x engines w/seperate throttles and twin rudders make tight turns.
Big elevator and wide wings for weather.
Plenty of nose cannon.

To the Germans they were the "Fork-tailed Devils"! :D

Daepp,

Was that you wearing a Rennsport T shirt.

Those P38 were so quiet.

My son and I also remarked on how quiet they were.

Sadly, no, no Rennsport shirt. Wish I had been tho...

Here are my pictures:
Chino Airshow 2013 - a set on Flickr

One of them sounded just like a 911 Turbo when it was taxiing back to the ramp. :)

Beautiful aircraft.

Directionally correct - although the "real" story is even more interesting. Charles Lindbergh spent time as an "observer" in the pacific. He went on long range missions with his assigned air group. He always came back with the most fuel (significantly more).

It ends up he worked out a number of tricks to save fuel, mainly running the engines far more lean than the pilots were instructed to do during training. He said "these engines are built for war, they can take it" (or similar). His approach became the operating procedure and contributed to the positive outcome of the war.

Interesting stuff . . .

An a/f meter woulda helped.....just sayin'.....

Ha - true. If I remember correctly (it's a great biography, btw) the issue was cylinder head temperature rather than a/f ratio that was the limiting parameter. He ran the engines quite a bit hotter than the operating manual allowed for.

You could write a book about the going ons with the P-38........but that has been done.

"Lightning" by Warren Brodie is about as close as you'll come to FACTS.
"Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38" by Martin Caidin is another good un'.

The Allison was the only engine used by the P-38......tho K. Johnson and his crew had the plans to "Merlinize" the plane all drawn up......
The Allison grew from 950 HP to 1700 hp over the years (1939-1945) of its use on the P-38.

Or you could depend on the mis-information on the internet.

BTW, the P-51B was not made in any quantity when Yamamoto was shot down (April, 1943) & didn't make the Pacific theater till late 1944.
Also, Lindbergh shot down one Japanese plane flying a P-38......while testing.

The US effort was NOT in the Asian front. They saved it for last.

Those pictures may be of P-38(x5) but they are awesome(^5)

They run 100LL Avgas in them now so they can't really push them up to military power settings and make the sounds we all love. Just loafing them along at Chino because of that and the fact that they are uber-valuable collector's items now. Flying Faberge eggs.