I can't say... I was going purely on published numbers, since I've never flown a P-51.
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Could a T-6B defeat a P-51 in a dogfight?
- Thread starter Deven Bolding
- Start date
Well, there are obviously a dozen or so "super Mustangs" that have been modified over the years as racers and *can* sustain speeds in the high 400s for 10-15 minute bursts. But, these aircraft all have substantial airframe and engine mods to be able to make that happen (including "re-profiling" the wings, which is essentially changing the airfoil shape to allow the higher speeds).
I don't doubt that there were stock military airplanes that were occasionally doing 400+ in dives but the stock B and D models were not doing these speeds regularly. NACA was doing high-speed dive tests with a handful of Mustangs both during and after WWII to improve the airplane's high-speed characteristics and getting .8 Mach. In fact, a lot of what you saw in the XP-51F/G and P-51H were due to the speed increases the NACA mods allowed.
All of this aside...flat out speed and Vne is not really a component of the majority of 1 v 1 dogfighting. Turn rate and radius, and sustained energy while in the turn, is what really decides winners and losers when you have aware and equally-skilled pilots in both cockpits.
Maybe it is because Mustang owners today aren't out thrashing the engines and pulling a lot of G that I (we, collectively) don't really know how the airplane performs in a post-Boyd air combat world.
Very true comment.
I was at Chino 2 weeks ago, and the warbird LFE was incredible... but no one was cranking the corners, nor were the engines at combat power.
When Uncle Sugar is paying the maintenance bill, run 'em hard! But when we are paying the bill, we better run them easy.
Was muddling this during my one mile walk to the boat...
Would removing the substantially heavier load out of ejection seats that the P-51 didn't have be a fair consideration in this argument?
Pretty large handicap to performance...
Would removing the substantially heavier load out of ejection seats that the P-51 didn't have be a fair consideration in this argument?
Pretty large handicap to performance...
I doubt two seats weigh more than six .50 cal's, 1800rds of ammo and about three times as much fuel.
I think back then your first solo was in a T-34A.
Ya, your right. Forgot the Mentor has been around since the 50s.
My uncle was in flight school in the 60s and said the jump from the T-34A to the T-28 was huge. You went from flying the little docile T-34 to the beast that was the T-28.
Yep, I was thinking just that. Sounds like you've humped a 50, at least through a hangar or a parking lot.
(Internal fuel is similar between the two, btw, about 1200lbs for the T-6 vs 1600 for the Mustang.)
Pretty certain my pilot buds in 1979 that went T-28s for primary only flew the Trojan. No T-34 lead in.
I went through primary at Saufley in early '76 in the T-34B.
The North American T-6 -- the snarly, radial, taildragger type -- is a tougher airplane to fly (and land) than a Mustang.