Beautiful aircraft.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joe Bob
P-51s had more than one engine. The original was found to be lacking. The turbo or was it supercharged?...... English replacement was the schizzle. Then they figured out the bigger fuel tank thingy.....they could escort, defend and return with the bombers.
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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 . . .