Today, I decided to fly the P-51B in the CT (latest setup is western Europe, fall of 1944).
With few enemy in the arena I decided to conduct some simple tests on the aircraft. Since the fuel burn in the CT is 1.0, there's never any reason to take more than 50% gas in a Mustang.
So, after flying to a quite area, I decided to check rate of climb. With about 40% fuel, the B-stang surprised me with a sustained rate of climb of 4,100 fpm from 16k, right up through 19k in MIL power (that means max power, no WEP). Gentlemen, that's Bf 109 country!
Also, the climb rate hovered at 3k per minute from sea level to 5k, where it appears the aircraft shifted to high blower, because the climb rate jumped to 3,900 fpm and stayed there or higher (see above) until passing 22k where it finally eased down to about 3,800 fpm.
If you take a look at the HTC chart (below) you will see that this is WAY above the data provided. I'll assume that the HTC chart reflects max fuel. Nonetheless, at 50% or less fuel load, the P-51B is one hell of a climber. This was confirmed by another pilot who saw better than 3,900 fpm@20k with about 50% fuel.
The next issue centers on maximum speed. I climbed to 20k and leveled with MIL power applied (no WEP). Within a few minutes the P-51B was doing 440 mph TAS. Again, looking at the HTC chart, this is much faster than shown on the chart (see below).
Now, when I was done flying in the CT, I tried the same tests offline and could not duplicate the numbers attained in the CT. What gives here, any explanations?
My regards,
Widewing
