Author Topic: P-51 supercharger selector switch?? (Read 352 times)

BigCrate · « **on:** April 02, 2002, 01:18:58 AM »

Hey is there a supercharger selector switch for the P-51s??? you guys that fly the P-51s alot will know what I'm talking about.

I was flying the P-51D today. I would climb to about 19 or 20k. I find a nme and dive on him.. The fight would be at about 13 or 14k. The alt when blower is switching speeds and stages. And manifold pressure is pretty low. I fought a couple of people at this alt (and won) but my I didn't like not having full power when I needed it. Its not as bad in the D as it is in the B. So is there some kind of selector for blower stage and speed??
I fly the 38 mostly so I don't have to mess with not having full power at certain alts. (good ole GE turbos

) But the 51s could use a selector switch for the blower. The auto setting is fine for climbing to alt. But when fighting in the gray area when the blower is switching gears would be helpful for the 51 I think.
Again more work load the better. You can never have to much work while fighting

Cw
=Twin Engined Devils=

8ball · « **Reply #1 on:** April 02, 2002, 01:52:16 AM »

I highly doubt that most people know what that is. I am not even completely sure that I do. HiTech probably won't be able to justify the programming in involved in adding a blower switch so that a very small fraction of the community will use it. His, and his teams, time can be much better spent elsewhere.

funkedup · « **Reply #2 on:** April 02, 2002, 02:18:10 AM »

Look at the climb rate and speed curves in the help section. It's pretty obvious that they are modeling automatic blower switching. Which was used on most of the P-51D/K and I believe some P-51B/C too.

Seeker · « **Reply #3 on:** April 02, 2002, 07:47:27 AM »

It's a nice idea, BigCrate, but few would agree that American pilots would be up to the task of correct operation without ejecting the CD from the GPS or inadvertedly ordering "regular lard bellybutton happy meal" as opposed to "Lite".

Remember, most P-51 pilots couldn't even handle the control complexity of the P-38, an aeroplane the RAF rejected as being too agricultural.

Shame really, the P-38 might have had some success if it's pilots had been up to scratch, don't you think?

BigCrate · « **Reply #4 on:** April 02, 2002, 08:22:08 AM »

So in the real plane the piolot didn't select what stage or speed the blower ran at on the D models and some B models right?? Hell if I would have known that I would have posted this. And I guess I wasn't thinking about overspeeding the impeller and blowing the supercharger up.. Hehehehehehe the GE turbos the 38 had did I really nice job of that when revving past 27,000 rpms

I still think it would be cool to have control over the supercharger in the 51s..

Cw
=Twin Engined Devils=

HoHun · « **Reply #5 on:** April 02, 2002, 11:22:27 AM »

Hi Big Crate,

>So in the real plane the piolot didn't select what stage or speed the blower ran at on the D models and some B models right??

In fact, he could and he did. However, as the automatic blower switch was optimized for yielding maximum power at full throttle, the pilot could not actually increase the power output that way. He used the override switch only for testing the high blower on the ground and, more importantly, for getting the best mileage out of his gas when cruising at reduced throttle.

The power minimum between the two respective full-pressure heights is unvoidable for a two-speed mechanically driven supercharger system. You could try the Messerschmitt, though, which has a variable-ratio hydraulically driven supercharger that gives maximum power over a wider altitude range :-)

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

MiloMorai · « **Reply #6 on:** April 02, 2002, 11:29:19 AM »

The Packard Merlin's blower speed was operated by an anoroid switch. When the pressure dropped to a specific value the blower changed speeds. The blower speed would also not change when coming down at the same altitude as it just did when going up(1-3000ft difference). Most pilots hated flying in the region of blower speed change altitudes. (~18,000ft) for obvious reasons.