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Razorback51

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  1. Of the US Navy WWII aircraft, I would much prefer to see a Hellcat following the Corsair, for its exceptional flying qualities, but I've always had an interest in the Helldiver too. In addition to the one Helldiver currently flying, owned by the Commemorative Air Force, there are two more under restoration to fly which should be flying within the next two years. One is a SB2C-1A under restoration at Westpac Restorations for Jim Slattery in Colorado, and the other is an SB2C-5 under in-house restoration at the Fagen Fighters WWII Museum in Minnesota.
  2. At this time, there has only been one original Fw-190 flying, an A-5, owned/operated by the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum, and it is also the only one powered by a BMW 801. The aircraft is WkNr.151227 (N19027). Post-restoration, there have only been two pilots who have flown this aircraft, Steve Hinton Sr. and Kevin Eldridge. Cockpit vid: There are 10 other full-sized Fw-190's flying in the world, but they are all replicas manufactured by Flug Werke as partially-completed kits in the early 2000's. Although they look the part quite well, their internal structure is different in various ways and they all differ in systems based on how each individual owner had them completed. According to Klaus Plasa, who has flown most of the Flug Werke replicas, they all fly differently, some better than others, and according to Steve Hinton, the Flug Werke replica he flew doesn't compare to the flying quality of the real Focke Wulf Fw-190 that he has experience in (WkNr.151227, as seen above). Most of the Flug Werke replicas are powered by the ASh-82 engine, as is the example seen in the video at the start of this thread (D-FWAA), while a couple are powered by R-2800's (N190AF and N447FW). All of the currently flying Flug Werke replicas are: Australia: VH-WLF Germany: D-FWAA, D-FWMV New Zealand: ZK-RFR Sweden: D-FWSE United States: N190AF, N190BR, N190DK, N190RF, N447FW The Collings Foundation has an original Fw-190F-8 (WkNr.93182) that has been under restoration to fly for several years now, known as "White 1", that is very near completion and likely will be flying within a year. It will be powered by a BMW 801, as seen installed in this photo from GossHawk Unlimited: https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/70694558_2473697066031248_6190449136681091072_o.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=zPRzha3S8MMAX8_xgWE&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-1.fna&oh=b79aa3c56b0b33787d4fd45d23531fc1&oe=5F24A7C1 The German-based Flug Werke Fw-190 replica D-FWAA (as seen in the video that started this thread) is actually supposed to be having its ASh-82 engine exchanged for a BMW 801 later this year or next year, which will be making it that much more authentic to an original. Although it is a Flug Werke replica, it has been structurally redone in areas and filled with as many original Focke Wulf type systems/components to make it look and perform as close to an original as possible, and the cockpit is fully outfitted as a stock Fw-190A-8.
  3. Here are some favorites from an early morning "training flight" (joy flight) in the Jug, flying from High Halden south to Beachy Head and back using the Channel Map.
  4. In the video that Fox posted, that particular P-47 has all of the exhaust dumped out stacks at the front, with no lengthy exhaust or turbocharger influencing the sound as it does on a stock P-47. As such, that one and some others flying today sound more like a Corsair than a stock P-47. Nice video Cromhunt, and great job sticking the wheel landing. I've always loved those markings too, back to the 1990's when Charles Osborn's P-47 was painted in those markings (same aircraft now painted "Tarheel Hal" with the Lone Star Flight Museum).
  5. Its been said that the base sounds were recorded from the Duxford-based P-47, which is 'Nellie B', registered as G-THUN (used to be painted as 'No Guts, No Glory' back when owned by The Fighter Collection). It doesn't have a turbocharger and the exhaust setup is non-stock, with the exhaust routed to the rear fuselage and exiting out of two stacks near to where the turbo would be located. It does however have more of a P-47 muffled and "throaty" sound than some of the others flying today that have all of the exhaust dumped out the front via stacks in-place of the waste-gates (sounding more like Corsairs than Thunderbolts). I personally think a wonderful job has been done mixing in the whine of the turbo fan (as I believe to be the case), which of course should be completely separate from the base engine sounds anyway. Also, testing the backfiring, wearing headphones and looking to either the left or right side of the cockpit, when a backfire occurs I can distinctly hear it loudest and first from the front, and then an immediate, quieter pop coming from the back out the turbo, which seems very accurate to me as to how it really plays out on a stock P-47. As has been covered already, it would be great to be able to hear the spooling up of the inertia starter as well as having the initial DCS-stock startup backfiring sound not be so loud or present at all (done right, starting up an R-2800 there should just be a smooth, gradual increase of cylinders firing off).
  6. The four Thunderbolts flying today with functioning turbos, showing smoke at startup and running on the ground, coming from both the waste-gates and turbo: "Tallahassee Lassie" (N7159Z): "Dottie Mae" (N47DM): (startup at beginning of video - none of the other P-47's in the video have working turbos or stock exhaust setups) (after the 2:18 mark, taxiing out, still smoking from the turbo) 45-49385 (N47DF) (after the 1:28 mark - also, when watching this video, the first two P-47's to takeoff have no turbocharger and the exhaust is directly routed through stacks at the front, while the next two P-47's taking off both have working turbos and all of the interior exhaust and air ducting - note the difference in sound) "Hun Hunter XIV" (N9246B) ("Wicked Wabbit", in the background, doesn't have a functioning turbo but has the exhaust directly routed back trough a replica turbo) Besides these four, all of the rest of the 11 Thunderbolts currently flying don't have working turbos and have various means of expelling the exhaust.
  7. On the four P-47's flying today with working turbos ("Dottie Mae" (N47DM), "Hun Hunter XVI" (N9246B), 45-49385 (N47DF) and "Tallahassee Lassie" (N7159Z)), you can find videos of them starting up and the exhaust comes out both the waste-gates and the turbo. Most of the P-47's flying today completely bypass the turbocharger/intercooler section by having custom-made piping running directly from the chin air intake to the carburetor, as is the case on P-47D "Nellie B" (G-THUN), Planes of Fame's P-47G (N3395G), P-47G "Snafu" (N47FG), P-47D "Tarheel Hal" (N4747P) and P-47D "Wicked Wabbit" (N647D). Most of these also have the exhaust directly dumped out the front via custom exhaust stacks in-place of the waste-gates. In the case of P-47D "Nellie B" (G-THUN), the only P-47 flying outside of the US, the waste-gates are sealed shut and the exhaust is directly routed back to the rear fuselage where two big round ports were cut out of the sheet-metal, just forward of the turbo hood, and dumped downward through two short stacks. In the case of John Schofner's P-47D "Wicked Wabbit" (N647D), they didn't want the exhaust exiting out the front as it would cause the aircraft to lose some of the distinct sound of a stock P-47, so the exhaust is directly piped back to/through a replica turbocharger serving simply as an exhaust nozzle. (Among the other modifications done to that aircraft which I've already mentioned in my previous post, because it has a non-stock 2-speed supercharger at the back-end of its R-2800, the size of the oil tank also had to be reduced and an additional oil tank added in the rear fuselage.) In the case of the restored P-47D "Hairless Joe" (N47DA), which also bypasses the turbo, it has a custom-made plenum in the aft fuselage with air-filters and a suction-operated alternate air source. Air flows back through the big central air intake from the chin, enters the plenum in the rear fuselage and makes a U-turn. At the top of the plenum are the two ducts which used to be mounted on the intercooler outlet. From that point the induction air flows forward through the original twin pressure pipes on either side of the cockpit to the carburetor. The exhaust is dumped out the front through custom-made exhaust stacks where the waste-gates used to be. The C-series turbocharger (the type fitted to the P-47) tends to suffer from hydrogen embrittlement around the nozzle box/hot section after prolong operation, resulting in cracking. The only way they can be repaired is through an annealing process. From what I've heard from someone who restored and repaired several functioning turbochargers for the few P-47's flying today with them, welding them is very difficult and usually doesn't hold for long. All of the owners that operate P-47's with working turbos have at least one extra turbo on hand. They also require close inspection after each flight.
  8. With a radial engine, you can generally tell by the amount of smoke it spews at startup as to how long the engine has been sitting. Even for a museum like Planes of Fame, any one particular aircraft in the museum is only run/flown every so often (certainly not on a weekly basis). Given the date of the film, and the level of smoke, I would say that that had to have been its first start up of the year/first start in months. Here are some reference videos which are good studies, as this particular P-47D, "Tallahassee Lassie", is one of the few of the 11 P-47's flying today which is completely original throughout, just as they were in 1944/45, with all of the same internal ducting and working turbocharger. It provides an accurate look as to where and how the smoke at startup emits from both the front and rear of the aircraft in a fully original/authentically-configured P-47. This video shows the level of startup smoke after it had already been run earlier in the day: By comparison, this video shows the level of startup smoke after the aircraft had been sitting for a while, with noticeably much more smoke as a result. Here is another video with a lot of great footage of this particular P-47. On the takeoff sequences and flyovers you can hear the whine of the turbo fan spinning. Of the 11 P-47's flying in the world today, only 4 have functioning turbochargers, those being "Tallahassee Lassie", "Dottie Mae", "Hun Hunter XVI", and N47DF. The rest feature creative ways of rerouting the exhaust and/or bypassing the turbo.
  9. Just for the record, of the 11 P-47's currently flying in the world, 4 of them have working turbochargers. Those being: - P-47D-28-RA "Dottie Mae" 42-29150 (N47DM) owned/operated by Allied Fighters - P-47D-40-RA "Hun Hunter XVI" 44-90460 (N9246B) owned/operated by Neal Melton - P-47D-40-RA "78th FG" 45-49385 (N47DF) owned/operated by Westpac Restorations - P-47D-40-RA "Tallahassee Lassie" 45-49406 (N7159Z) owned/operated by the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum The rest of those flying have creative methods of either rerouting the exhaust and/or bypassing the turbo. All of the Youtube cockpit videos that have been shown around the forum were filmed inside the restored P-47D-40-NA "Wicked Wabbit" (44-90438/N647D), which differs from an original stock P-47D. It doesn't have a functioning turbocharger and instead has a 2-speed mechanical supercharger. The exhaust on that one is piped back to/through a replica turbocharger, serving simply as an exhaust nozzle. Without the turbocharger system in-place, it instead has a storage compartment built into the rear fuselage, accessed through replica intercooler shutters that act as doors that can be swung open. It, along with some others flying today, are more like sports-plane versions of the P-47, lighter and faster than their more authentic/complete counterparts. You can see in the videos of "Wicked Wabbit" that it also has an electric primer added to make starting the aircraft easier, with the original manual Parker primer pump fitted just for looks. From those that have flown them with the working turbos, they say the whine from the turbo gets pretty loud by 10,000 RPM. They also notoriously have hot cockpits. One of the pilots that used to fly the CAF P-47N, which also had a working turbo, says that the cockpit would reach 130ºF.
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