3 ms·

I was wondering the same thing. What would a few bullets through that huge air tube do to your power? I recently had a pressure leak on my turbocharged car on

I was wondering the same thing. What would a few bullets through that huge air tube do to your power? I recently had a pressure leak on my turbocharged car on the air intake between the turbo and the block. It seriously wrecked the performance. The engine was close to stalling and my gas mileage dropped by half. These big radials aren't quite as picky, but I bet you'd still feel the difference.

olivermarks 6y ago
my thoughts exactly - the engine is relying heavily on forced air induction - must have had a 'limp home' mode built in, hard to tell carbs to do different things though, no ecm controlled fuel injection
- hedgehog 6y ago
  I don't know about the air ducts but loss of coolant pressure was a big deal, here's a video I saw a while back where one of the designers talks about the P-51's radiator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5kSxWO5rg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5kSxWO5rg
  - jabl 6y ago
    Liquid cooled WWII aero engines generally used pressurized cooling systems, as this allowed running the coolant (usually a 70/30 glycol/water mix) past the atmospheric pressure boiling point. This, in turn, allowed smaller radiators, reducing drag. The downside was that even a small rifle caliber hit to the cooling system caused the coolant to flash to steam and rapidly escape through the hole, giving the pilot only minutes until the engine seized.
- sio8ohPi 6y ago
  The P-47 (like all American warplanes of this era) gave pilots a lot of control over engine performance. The P-47 pilot could adjust throttle, RPM (controlled by a governor that adjusts prop pitch), fuel-air mixture, turbocharger speed (controlled by opening exhaust wastegates), as well as control of the cowl flaps and intercooler shutters for cooling, as needed. Conversely, the German fighters of this era were much more heavily automated. A Bf 109 pilot had a throttle lever: RPM, mixture, and radiators were controlled automatically (with manual overrides available). If you ever look closely at the P-47's throttle quadrant, you'll notice one small feature that's pretty interesting. There is a one-way gate on the throttle lever that catches the RPM lever as it's advanced, precisely because without it, it was too easy for a pilot to (in the heat of combat) shove the throttle forward without adjusting RPM and blow the engine apart.

olivermarks 6y ago

my thoughts exactly - the engine is relying heavily on forced air induction - must have had a 'limp home' mode built in, hard to tell carbs to do different things though, no ecm controlled fuel injection

hedgehog 6y ago
I don't know about the air ducts but loss of coolant pressure was a big deal, here's a video I saw a while back where one of the designers talks about the P-51's radiator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5kSxWO5rg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5kSxWO5rg
- jabl 6y ago
  Liquid cooled WWII aero engines generally used pressurized cooling systems, as this allowed running the coolant (usually a 70/30 glycol/water mix) past the atmospheric pressure boiling point. This, in turn, allowed smaller radiators, reducing drag. The downside was that even a small rifle caliber hit to the cooling system caused the coolant to flash to steam and rapidly escape through the hole, giving the pilot only minutes until the engine seized.
sio8ohPi 6y ago
The P-47 (like all American warplanes of this era) gave pilots a lot of control over engine performance. The P-47 pilot could adjust throttle, RPM (controlled by a governor that adjusts prop pitch), fuel-air mixture, turbocharger speed (controlled by opening exhaust wastegates), as well as control of the cowl flaps and intercooler shutters for cooling, as needed. Conversely, the German fighters of this era were much more heavily automated. A Bf 109 pilot had a throttle lever: RPM, mixture, and radiators were controlled automatically (with manual overrides available). If you ever look closely at the P-47's throttle quadrant, you'll notice one small feature that's pretty interesting. There is a one-way gate on the throttle lever that catches the RPM lever as it's advanced, precisely because without it, it was too easy for a pilot to (in the heat of combat) shove the throttle forward without adjusting RPM and blow the engine apart.