Posted: 3/9/2012 2:53:05 AM EDT
| ...which would win, a F6F or a P-51, each in its latest configuration? |
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Quoted:
P-47. 'nuff said.  lol NO As much as I love the WWII Naval warbirds im going to have to say the P-51 would be a hard fight for an F6f. Mustang has a slight speed and altitude advantage. They are fairly close to an even match. Mustang has the range thought I believe. Then again the hellcat was know for being a pretty tough customer. |
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What are the conditions of the fight?
At what altitude? What loadout? Full fuel load or partial? The Mustang handled poorly with a full fuel load in the main tank. It could go either way and it also also be "rigged" to favor one plane or the other depending on the conditions. |
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Quoted:
What are the conditions of the fight? At what altitude? What loadout? Full fuel load or partial? The Mustang handled poorly with a full fuel load in the main tank. It could go either way and it also also be "rigged" to favor one plane or the other depending on the conditions. We havnt established the competition yet. Maybe its a pylon race! 
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| If the Hellcat would have been in more movies P51's would be worth half of what they are. The price is driven up by people who have never thought that the perfectly straight invasion stripes on P51's at airshows look ridiculous because they would have been slapped on with a brush quick and dirty the day before Dday. |
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Tough question. The Mustang may have a higher ceiling and faster top speed (at a certain altitude), the Hellcat was (re)designed for a knife-fight-in-a-phone-booth with Zeros, Oscars, et.al. At medium altitude the P-51 gives up some of it's speed and the F6F is in prime hunting territory. I think this is truly a case of which pilot is better, not which plane.
I'm reminded of an article I read a looong time ago involving an F8F Bearcat and a P-51. (The Bearcat was designed from the get-go as a point-defense fighter. It had a hellacious ROC, enabling it to get off the deck and up to altitude a LOT faster than anything else the Navy had. It sacrificed some speed for that, and it came late to the party - never saw action in WWII - but it was the most maneuverable dogfighter the Navy had shortly after the war.) Anyhow, a Navy pilot on a cross-country stopped to refuel at an Army Air Force base. (Yes, it was still the Army Air Force at that time.) As the story goes, the Navy pilot and a few Army pilots got in an argument over which was the better dogfighter. Bets were placed. Two pilots lined up side-by-side on the runway. At the signal both rolled for take off. The Bearcat was up first and made a firing pass on the Mustang before the P-51 got its gear up. I won't speak to the veracity of the story, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were true. |
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The planes had different missions and were designed for different threats so startiing situation would determine the outcome.
P51 would win at higher altitude, the Hellcat would have an advantage at low altitude. The P51 is also a flying gas can and if flyng near empty would handle much better than flying fully fueled. |
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A P-51 pilot would have his hands full. Hellcats were much more rugged, and some variants (late-war night fighters) carried two 20mm cannon plus four .50-cals, much more potent than six .50-cals. I don't believe those configurations ever saw combat action. I'll have to check my references. I know variants of the Corsair with 4x20mm did see combat and I believe some Avengers (TBF / TBM) with 20mms were used late in the war, but I've got a faint memory of reading somewhere that the 20mm Hellcats were run in trials but didn't see use in the fleet. |
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Quoted:
You said latest configuration. A P-51H would eat the Hellcat alive. It would be almost 90 knots faster, would out climb, dive, and turn with it. No contest. If it was a Bearcat, thats another story. Keep in mind that the Hellcat was basically just as fast as a Corsair...just the Corsair gets higher KIAS numbers reported because, I was once told (probably here on ARF ) of the way the pitot tubes etc. were arranged in relation to airflow patterns over the plane. It could get up to damn near 400 KTS level and was designed to beat the Japanese dogfighting death-machine: The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero."
I doubt the P-51 would have really been that much more maneuverable than the Hellcat, and the Hellcat was one hell of a performer. |
Was there when that happened, hit about 200yds to my left
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Quoted:
Quoted:
You said latest configuration. A P-51H would eat the Hellcat alive. It would be almost 90 knots faster, would out climb, dive, and turn with it. No contest. If it was a Bearcat, thats another story. Keep in mind that the Hellcat was basically just as fast as a Corsair...just the Corsair gets higher KIAS numbers reported because, I was once told (probably here on ARF ) of the way the pitot tubes etc. were arranged in relation to airflow patterns over the plane. It could get up to damn near 400 KTS level and was designed to beat the Japanese dogfighting death-machine: The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero."
I doubt the P-51 would have really been that much more maneuverable than the Hellcat, and the Hellcat was one hell of a Corsair had control problems from, what we now know as, supersonic boundary layer separation. It was a very fast machine. |
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Quoted: A P-51 in its latest configuration? Could that be like an F-82? Or how about a Hellcat set up for missile testing? C'mon man, we need details! Latest configuration?  |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
You said latest configuration. A P-51H would eat the Hellcat alive. It would be almost 90 knots faster, would out climb, dive, and turn with it. No contest. If it was a Bearcat, thats another story. Keep in mind that the Hellcat was basically just as fast as a Corsair...just the Corsair gets higher KIAS numbers reported because, I was once told (probably here on ARF ) of the way the pitot tubes etc. were arranged in relation to airflow patterns over the plane. It could get up to damn near 400 KTS level and was designed to beat the Japanese dogfighting death-machine: The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero."
I doubt the P-51 would have really been that much more maneuverable than the Hellcat, and the Hellcat was one hell of a performer. The famed Grumman test pilot Corky Meyer determined that in some heads up flight comparisons between the Hellcat and Corsair. |
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Quoted: Quoted: A P-51 in its latest configuration? Could that be like an F-82? Or how about a Hellcat set up for missile testing? C'mon man, we need details! Latest configuration? http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6642/tigercat.jpg |
| The hellcat was a very good fighter. However if you look at the specs of each, the P51H is much better. The Hellcat is maneuerable, not as good as the zero but close. Its really not that fast if you compare it too the P47N or late model Spitfires. But against the H model Mustang all it could do was turn with it. The Mustang could engage or disengage at will. The Bearcat was in the same league. |