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Originally Posted by Growler
And it had a radial engine with dangerously exposed cooling systems that turned it into a lawn dart if they were holed.
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It was an inline V-12. Radial engines have no liquid cooling system. Radials are used by the P-47 and all US Naval Aircraft. But you're right that the Mustang had the liquid cooling with all its problems and dangers. So did the Spitfire, the Hurricane and the Bf-109.
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The early models had rotten visibility
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As did the early Spitfire, the early Bf-109 and all Hurricanes.
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and an even worse engine.
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The Allison wasn't that bad. Just not as good as the Merlin. P-38's did alright with them. Not great, but alright.
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No one seems to remember that it was a British engine that turned the 'stang from a mediocre performer to a superstar...
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Now you're condescending. Everyone who loves aviation history knows that.
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...that owes part of its fame to the fact that it could escort the heavy bombers all the way to Germany and back, which no other single-engined fighter could do.
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Fixed
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If I had to pick an a/c to fly, it'd be the FW-190 D-9... for whatever reason, I always thought of that a/c as the Porsche of the sky.
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I'd pick any of them. I love them all.