NAA P-51H flight test Report - 1945 - anybody have a copy?

Mon Apr 20, 2009 9:55 am

I once had access to it when Al White was still alive and now I wish I had been more diligent.

Does anybody have a copy or know where it can be found? All I can find on the web is the Wright Pat report for 1946 by USAAF.

Thanks,

Bill Marshall

Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:24 pm

Go to the WWII Aircraft Performance site run by Mike Williams and Neil Stirling. They have Report NA-8284-A, P-51H of 9-25-44 revised 11-1-45.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:11 pm

http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/

Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:12 pm

Guys - thanks for the site ref to Mike Williams but I have that data.

The NAA report dated 9/44, then revised, is the Performance Calculation for submission to USAAF when first P-51H rolled off production line in Feb 1945. This calc was for 1650-9(at 90" with W/I) with racks at 9450 pounds

The Flight test at Wright Pat in April 1945 and Oct 1946 are the only one I know of by the Army.

It is curious that the USAAF 1945 tests were with racks and 9544 pounds gross weight - but the max top speed at 31K (450+) with 67" boost in the 1650-9 had the same speed as the 1946 tests at 90". Also interesting is that the critical altitude at 67" for the P-51H-1 was 30,750 ft, while the P-51H-5 CA at 90" was 21,200 ft - same engine theoretically.

NAA performed flight tests in Feb/Mar of 1945 at different configurations to get best climb performance in interceptor config - (no fuel in fuselage tank and no wing racks)... to get 487mph.. but I have no idea what else was different.

This is the Test that yielded the "487mph" top speed at 90" with W/I was completed in March, 1945... but I have not seen the report to understand what the precise configuration was.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 5:50 pm

Do you have the report number or title of the paper?

Tue Apr 21, 2009 3:35 pm

bdk wrote:Do you have the report number or title of the paper?

Nope - it was a NAA Document but I don't have the exact date or title.

Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:14 pm

That makes it a bit of a challenge. If it was a NACA report it would likely be publically available. As an NAA document it would be proprietary and maybe only available to historians willing to research the NAA archives, now residing with Boeing either in Cypress, CA or in the Puget Sound area.

The Boeing library does not list anything online for the P-51H.

Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:24 pm

I know - I actually tried those paths with futile results. Thanks for the feedback!

Regards,

Bill