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Hi,

One of my friend who was pilot in the french air force told me that the Mustang was sometimes nicknamed the "pregnant shrimp".
Have you heard of this nickname ?

So long.

Last thoughts,( we hope ), on range-endurance. Ask any ww2 pilot what he'd rather have, choice A- good range and or endurance, or chioce B- exellent manoeverability, good top speed & hitting power. Rather a no brainer I should say.

P.S. Sigrun, are you aware that you're an ass, or is it just those around you that are aware of it?

Dackel Staffel wrote:Hi,

One of my friend who was pilot in the french air force told me that the Mustang was sometimes nicknamed the "pregnant shrimp".
Have you heard of this nickname ?

So long.

No, Dackel, I've never heard of the Mustang being referred to in this manner. Actually, its underbelly radiator is so beautifully blended into the lines of the fuselage, you hardly think of the P-51 as looking "pregnant". Maybe it's because the other lines--especially the squared-off wings and tail surfaces--make the plane look so businesslike. And the bubble canopy of the D and later variants is so perfect looking. I've never liked a bubble canopy on a Spitfire, but on the Mustang, the D just looks so cool compared to the B/C and earlier variants.

Yours,
Paul

Black Baron wrote:Last thoughts,( we hope ), on range-endurance. Ask any ww2 pilot what he'd rather have, choice A- good range and or endurance, or chioce B- exellent manoeverability, good top speed & hitting power. Rather a no brainer I should say.

Speaking of no-brainers, your non-contextual verbiage is as obtuse as your understanding of the issues involved. But I do owe myself an apology for giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Paul_9686 wrote:

Dackel Staffel wrote:Hi,

One of my friend who was pilot in the french air force told me that the Mustang was sometimes nicknamed the "pregnant shrimp".
Have you heard of this nickname ?

Dackel

If you don't mind me chiming in? In over 30 years in aviation though I've never heard it referred to in those terms, it may well have been. Mil items including aeroplanes are assigned many affectionately derisive nicknames. Some are ubiquitious and others parochial. If you consider that they may have been referring to the H series, which does look like a very pregnant version of the D, it's quite plausable and more than probable.

I believe that the consensus holds that the D really had the nicest lines of the P-51 series. Though the H didn't make it to the European theatre in time to participate in combat, there were a lot of them made and subsequently sold off to other countries after WWII. France?

Paul have a look at the squatter fuse H series with its revised vert stab, swollen midriff and enlarged radiator scoop and tell me if you still think it's quite as beautiful as the proportionately sleek D?

Hi,

About the pregnant shrimp, my friend heard this nickname after the WWII. Maybe the guy who told that to my friend was also a "trash hauler" pilot as my friend was and didn't like the fighter pilots. Me too, I've never heard before.
My friend is 80 years old now and started his pilot formation in England in 1945. When the war ended, he had to choose the transport for staying in the french army.
He flew on Ju 52 ( transport, bomber, parachutists transport) in Indochina and Algeria, on Siebel, on Storch ( a very good plane for him), after on Dakota and ended his career in 1963 on Noratlas. I tease him often by saying he is a french ace because of the number of german planes he has destroyed.

So long.

(your non-contextual verbiage is as obtuse as your understanding of the issues involved)

I see. you consider nomenclature such as range, manoeverability, & top speed non-contextual ? That really speaks for itself. especially when you consider that the topic as stated was range vs manoeverability, dive,climb,& hitting power etc. A clear demonstration that you haven't even fathomed the original post. Sod it mate, you lost. With your shall we say kindergarten level understanding of air fighting, perhaps a sesame street chat room would be more appropriate for you.

Sigrun, the P-51H was never exported; it was built in such miniscule numbers compared to the D/K series (just 370 as opposed to 9,063), it was kept in the USA for AF/ANG service, and was never even sent to Korea for lack of spare parts (few of the parts in the D and H series were interchangeable).

You're right; looking at the Squadron/Signal book's photos, the graceful yet purposeful lines of the D are just not visible in the H. The D/K series are the classic Mustangs.

Yours,
Paul

Hi Paul,

"At the time of V-J Day, 555 P-51Hs had rolled off the Inglewood production lines. The last P-51H rolled off the production line in 1946."

Argue the actual number with these guys. You may well be right. http://nasaui.ited.uidaho.edu/nasaspark ... s/P51H.htm

555 + however many from the number originally ordered (2000) actually rolled off the production lines between VJ day and cancellation or production shutdown in 1946 was still a significant number in its own right even if dwarfed by the numbers of D's built. How many F15's of all series do you think the US has produced over the last 30 years? PS: I do appreciate that they do a little more than a P51.

Did it (H) serve in Korea? Was the H ever exported? I 'fess I may well be proven wrong on both of my statements re those. Will chastise myself for not having done my homework. I'll check it out simply for my own edification, but I have to go flying shortly so that won't be until later. Thanks for the heads up.

I have no idea how many F-15s have been built, Sigrun, but I would think there's a lot fewer than the 14,863 P-51s built (not counting the P-82 Twin Mustangs).

Robert Gruenhagen's book says 555 H models, too, so I suppose that's correct. I've also found that one P-51H was sent to the British for evaluation. But that was the only one ever exported, and as I said before, it never saw combat, even in Korea (it's just possible that many of the Hs were flown straight to the smelter after VJ-Day). When America needed a prop-driven fighter-bomber in 1950, it had to utilize the D-model Mustang, by default. There weren't enough P-47s left, or H-model Mustangs.

Yours,
Paul

No Bearcats either. Too bad. I don't suppose a whole lot of Bearcats were made as they just began rolling off the lines when the war ended. A rebuilt Yak 3 was at Santa Monica airport a few yrs back. I spoke to someone there told me test pilots at the airport said the Bearcat was the only plane that could dogfight with the Yak. The Mustang & a MK 9 Spit were no match. Not just hearsay, but after comparitive flying of each of these planes.

Yes, I know the Yak 3 did not have good high altitude preformance, & was made of wood, & not real rugged.

You mean no Bearcats in Korea, Baron? Well, the Bearcat was an air-superiority fighter intended to fly from escort carriers, not really a fighter-bomber in the F4U or even F6F mode. I've read somewhere (possibly in a back issue of Wings or Airpower) that the F8F was intended to be the smallest, lightest possible airframe that could be designed around the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, and it looks like they succeeded in doing that.

It doesn't surprise me that the Bearcat could outmanuver the Yak-3. Low-level was the F8F's element. I've read that lots of Navy fighter pilots said if they'd had Bearcats, they'd have had manuverability equal or even better than that of any Japanese fighter--even the much-vaunted Zero.

The French used Bearcats as fighter-bombers in Indochina because they had no choice--the Bearcat was there, and four rockets and a couple of 500-lb bombs (all the F8F could carry) were better than nothing. In fact, the Bearcat suited their temperament nicely, as hot a performer as it was.

Yours,
Paul

Yah, in Korea. That was neat data. The Guy actually said the Bearcat was the only one that dogfight sucessfully with a Yak 3. He didn't specify which one would win per se, only that it was the only competitive machine. I would go with it as it could take more punishement than a Yak.

I have read that the Bearcat was a copy-improvement on the FW 190 design.

Paul_9686 wrote:I have no idea how many F-15s have been built,

Hi,

I guess you have a finger faster than the others when you type. In 1945, the F 15 was the Northorp F 15 Reporter.
For Indochina, the Bearcats had a lack of range, the french pilots dwindled the fuel/air mixture for increasing the range. Just for information, the Bearcat was used by the french Air Force. The french navy used Hellcat and at the end of the war Corsair.

So long.

I kind of figured that Sigrun was referring to the modern jet fighter and not a WWII-era recon plane, Dackel. He did mention the number built "in the past 30 years".

Whatever the French had in Southeast Asia, Navy or Air Force, they didn't have enough. Of course, we had more than enough, and it didn't exactly give us an advantage a decade or more later. So one could say that God is not always on the side of the big battalions; every now and then, for His purposes, He smiles on the little platoons, too.

Yours,
Paul