WIX Archives

P-82 No Threat

Posted by Joe Scheil on Wed Jul 24, 2002 06:26:27 PM

In reply top Re: P-82 Double Treat posted by Mike Henniger on Wed Jul 24, 2002 10:54:09 AM

A reno racer's wing area is not "resistance", and a P-82 would be much slower than a racing D. The reason is that frontal area is higher, and the aircraft has a lot of interference drag. There are many shapes, fuslage, horizontal tail and wings sticking into each other at all angles, creating lots of drag. Clipping the wings would be essential to raise the wing loading to the design load factor, and who knows what else. A P-38 is a much more slippery shape, and yet even with big HP, has never gone that fast. It is kind of a bummer that a gossip post like this generates so much interest, as a P-82 is a pretty pedestrian choice. I would have tried for that long lost F7U preproduction aircraft discovered at the Sikorsky wherehouse in New York last year. Now that thing could be a racer!

Joe

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