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Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt
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In short, a different O.R. has minimal effect in how you keep formation because formations are not flown at full power.
You think too much in terms of pure numbers and totally sidestep tactical considerations and how a mission profile usually plays out.
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I don't quite know how you managed to quote me without reading the extract where a pilot describes climbing in formation using overboost:
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P/O Art Donahue's account of using +12 boost during his first combat of 5 August 1940, whilst flying Spitfires with No. 64 Squadron out of Kenley, is typical:
“There are bandits approaching from the north” In quick response to this information, our leader sang out a command: “All Tiger aircraft, full throttle! Full Throttle!” That meant to use the emergency throttle that gave extra power to our engines. I was flying in our leader’s section, on his left. As he gave the command “Full throttle”, his plane started to draw ahead, away from me. I pushed in my emergency throttle in response to the command, the first time I had ever used it, and my engine fairly screamed with new power. I felt my plane speeding up like a high spirited horse that has been spurred. http://www.spitfireperformance.com/spit1vrs109e.html
Kinda hard to keep formation if some aircraft are using 87 octane and some 100 octane...
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It was common for pilots to land and refuel at the most convenient base, then return to base and fly another mission, so if 100 octane wasn't universally used then there is a high probability that fighter squadrons would be forced into combat with mixed 87 and 100 octane fuel loads, yet there is no historical account of this ever happening.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt
But then again, you're convinced it's possible to run engines on full WEP all day long, so i'm not surprised.
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It was possible, and was done on multiengined Merlin aircraft, when one or more engines failed. 12lb boost is not an excessive boost level even for a Merlin III, and as long as the cooling and lubrication stay in the black, the probability of failure is low:
Dover Castle to Hornchurch is ~55 miles, or about 11 minutes at 300mph, and this pilot was further east than Dover Castle..