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Thread: If i ever get my own country

  1. #11
    Administrator SVT10th's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jibber View Post
    Stalemate? I certainly see what your saying and it sorta makes sense......just find it hard to believe. I would imagine that these new planes can slow down enough to take care of business on aNY WWII Era plane.
    I don't know for sure*. But there's a performance difference at slow speed -- even if their minimum speeds before stall are similar -- a swept-wing jet (any modern jet fighter) at "stall" tends to go into a flat spin, which is a very bad thing and takes time, talent and significant altitude to recover. A prop-powered plane at stall generally just noses over, and given a couple hundred feet of altitude will regain enough airspeed to fly.
    A flat spinning jet would be meat on the table for a P51, so there's no advantage for the jet pilot to slow down so much to bring that into a possibility. At the same time, the top speed of a P-51 is about 450mph, which is well within the performance envelope of the F/A-18, so there's no advantage for the P-51 pilot to engage the F/A-18 at high speeds.

    Of course this completely ignores either pilot's experience and knowledge of the other aircraft's performance. (I doubt there are more than a handful of pilots who have ever flown both.) It also leaves out modern weapons (missiles) capability. If, as I've heard, a modern missile cannot accurately lock onto the P-51, this becomes a gunfight. If instead, the F/A-18 can lock onto the P-51 at 20 miles, well... Don't bring a gun to a missile fight.
    All things considered, I'd RATHER be in the jet.

    *As I said, I'm not a pilot. I have taken the controls of a prop plane a couple of times with friends who are pilots. I grew up knowing a couple other pilots who were friends of my Dad. I was a huge plane nerd when I was a kid. I've also put in many hours on MS Flight Simulator which gives you a certain knowledge of aircraft performance. (don't laugh -- you can actually use a several hours on that to count toward your instrumentation time when getting a pilots license.)
    I could probably land a small plane without killing anyone, although the landing gear probably wouldn't be pretty afterwards.
    ---
    Jim

    2010 Mercedes E550
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    Sold: 2001 10th Anniversary Cobra #353
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  2. #12
    Senior Member Dennis O'Shea's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SVT10th View Post
    I am not a pilot, but I've heard that it's difficult for a modern superiority fighter to take on a WW2 era plane. The jets can't fly slow enough to dogfight them with guns, and the old planes don't throw enough heat or radar cross-section for missiles to be real effective. If comes out as kind of a stalemate -- the old plane can't hit the jet and is so maneuverable comparatively, that jet can't do much to it barring a lucky hit or missile lock.
    I think that the USMC Hairier Jet can slow down to a stand still. BANG BANG

  3. #13
    Administrator SVT10th's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis O'Shea View Post
    I think that the USMC Hairier Jet can slow down to a stand still. BANG BANG

    LOL! Yes, you may have found the Kryptonite to the P-51 vs Jet Fighter conundrum.
    ---
    Jim

    2010 Mercedes E550
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    Sold: 2001 10th Anniversary Cobra #353
    1990 Mustang GT Convertible
    2002 Mustang GT

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