Quote:
Originally Posted by Steyr_amr
I always imagined it was something to do with the laminar flow wing (and high power to weight ratio of the P-51 particularly) inducing these stall/spins.
My thinking being boundary layer separation and therefore low speed instability occur much more readily and suddenly in aircraft with them. Compare to something like a Stuka or hurricane with a thick leading edge which can dance around all day, but not particularly fast nor frugal. Engineering is always a compromise.
The P-51 was designed for speed, e-retention and most importantly endurance, to babysit the bombers to Berlin and back.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, merely a layman here.
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Well the Mustang wasn't originaly designed as an escort fighter with endurance being all inportant. It just kinda happened with the addition of the Merlin engine. In fact the USAAF ignored the Mustang design until the Pearl Habour attack and then first started using them as low level recon planes (F6A's) and Dive bombers (A36 Invader's)
The Mustang was designed for the RAF as a high speed/low drag fighter and it failed in that respect and was rejected by RAF command It was moved on to the ACC(army co-op command) as recon/close support.