Radial vs. Inline

[Slade]

Guys,

This might be obvious but I'd still like your input.  Which engine is better at surviving hits a radial (like in a P-47) or in-line engine (like in a Spit)?

Thanks for your thoughts on this. 

[FLS]

Radial. That's one reason the Navy liked them.

[pembquist]

Radial, also just because it has a round cowl doesn't always mean it is radial if it is german.

[Vraciu]

Guys,

This might be obvious but I'd still like your input.  Which engine is better at surviving hits a radial (like in a P-47) or in-line engine (like in a Spit)?

Thanks for your thoughts on this. 

Generally speaking an air-cooled radial is more durable.    An in-line is tough as hell as long as it doesn't get too hot.    That's the key.    A .22 in the radiator of a liquid-cooled engine will cause way more havoc than that same bullet into just about anything on a radial.

However...................... ......................

In-lines have been known to go a LONG way without coolant.    I remember reading a story about a Mustang driver who lost his radiator and made it halfway across Europe by pumping the fuel primer until his hand was bleeding.   It's all about heat and friction.   

[USCH]

In-lines have been known to go a LONG way without coolant.    I remember reading a story about a Mustang driver who lost his radiator and made it halfway across Europe by pumping the fuel primer until his hand was bleeding.   It's all about heat and friction.

I also read that story.

[PR3D4TOR]

I'm no expert on the P-51, but did it only have one radiator? Seems like a serious oversight in a long range escort fighter. Most other inline designs had two separate radiators like on the 109 and most Spitfires, or a single radiator made up of two or more sections with automatic cutoff valves (like on Ju 88, Fw 190D etc.) (109 had manual cutoff valves in the cockpit.)

[DaveBB]

It had an oil cooler too.  Very small chin opening.

This information applies to the P-51H only. Had to fact check myself.

[PR3D4TOR]

I was talking about coolant radiators only, not oil coolers. And earlier P-51 models most certainly had oil coolers...

[save]

So the the 109s and spitfires had doubled radiator systems and P51 did not ?

I always wondered why I never see a P51 in AH with a radiator leak, with no redundancy.
Is it harder to hit  P51 coolant system than than 109's ?
The 109s gets them if you sneeze at them, even though they  have some sort of redundancy system.

[Zimme83]

This also explains why water leaks are rare on the pony, the radiator is located mostly inside the fuselage, compare with for ex a 109:

[Zimme83]

The picture of the 109 reveals that it had only one cooling system so it had no redundancy either, a hit in one of the radiators would lead to a total loss of cooling water.

[save]

Where are the cutoff valves located ?

[Zimme83]

: https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/25340-bf109-radiator-valves/

   The feed and supply routes were roughly the same as before; however, a feature not shown in the diagram below was the provision for fitting individual radiator shutoff valves in the feed tube to each radiator in order to shut one off in the event of combat damage.  Somehow, this never became a standard factory fit and these became highly prized items in the field (for obvious reasons!).
 

The coolant system remained largely unchanged from the F on through the K models.

Not the best source but the best i could find.

[PR3D4TOR]

These are the valves on a 109G-2 in yellow.



They were moved closer to the firewall area in the later G-K models. Most if not all 109G-K had these valves mounted at the factories. Finnish ace Kyösti Karhila said in an interview by the Finnish Virtual Pilots Association that all their 109G-2s and G-6s had them.

[PR3D4TOR]

The valves actually are in the diagram Zimme posted. The feed valve is located jut left of where the "port feed line" arrow points to. The return valve is just left of where the "port return line" arrow points to.