Warbird Information Exchange

Try looking down and to the side while in level flight. That's where it becomes really noticable to me. Less noticable to the rear. Of course, there could be some variation in canopy bubbles that could affect this.

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"They can teach MONKEYS to fly better than that"

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Any photos or further info on this? Maybe a base CO's personal mount, or was it a training aid at a mechanics' school?

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All right, Mister Dorfmann, start pullin'!
Pilot: "Flap switch works hard in down position."
Mechanic: "Flap switch checked OK. Pilot needs more P.T." - Flight report, TB-17G 42-102875 (Hobbs AAF)

Always liked the look of the early Mustangs especially with the Malcolm hood. Just wondered if there are any original Malcolm hoods out there and if there has ever been any plans to put one on a surviving Mustang?

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
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If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

My father's first 51 was a P-51B-7 with a Malcom Hood.

He said he preferred it over the D as far as acceleration, slight difference in manueverability, and pure speed but liked the reliability of the vertically mounted 50's and felt for him that the D had far better visibility, even over the malcolm hood.

I have seen plots of the aerodynamics of both versions and suspect the aerodynamics of the D is better, but it was also about 700 pounds heavier than the B/C - hence 5-7kts slower.

Also, because of gross weight increases for the 51D/K, the limit 8 G loads applied equally only when the D had shed the 'extra' 100 gallons of gas in comparison to the B, at 8,000 pounds.

As to structural integrity.

The D/K's got the reverse rudder boost tab, reinforcement of the main Horizontal stabilizer spar, the wheel uplock kits and the reinforced ammo doors - all of which helped reduce the structural failures experienced in the B/C in dive manuevers.

I suspect the wing change would not be all that simple to retrofit a D wing to a B fuse. The leading edge at the root was different between the two wings with the 51D/K having a longer root chord at the fuselage interface.

I have never been in a K but the 'angle' of the forward part of the canopy seemed to be slightly different and the -20/25 canopies seemed slightly different from the -5 and -10's??