You realy belive a 25% reduction in drag co on a like air frame with only small changes?
Small changes?? If there where only
small changes FW-190's would have been restricted to the airspace right above there own fields where they could glide to a landing after a few minutes of powered flight. FW-190V5g is a
new type prototype.In addtion to the exhaust reroute, Hitech, there were over 40 design changes to improve the cooling of the motor.
I would not call cutting new ducting, cooling fan, radiators, and rebaffling the motor small changes? Have you even noticed the
external shape of the internal intakes blisters? They are different on the outside and very different on the inside.
Not to mention the addition of weapons with raised covers for all.
Hardly
small changes. Notice the CD goes from very low for an aircooled motor to similar to most WWII radials?
Seems a rather major increase in cooling drag alone. While the actual drag reduction benefits were not realized the cowling was kept sufficiently tight to reducing the wet area. So even though the CD is normal, the aircraft remains realtively low drag.
Yes I find a 26.25% increase in the FW-190A CD(tot) believable with an understanding of the design changes.
All the best,
Crumpp