rtwpsom2 wrote:
I was looking over some drawings for the P-47D and noticed that it has two Sta 101.625's 8 inches apart. Why did they do this? Does this mean the aft one is actually 109.625" from the front and that all the subsequent stations are actually 8 inches behind their station number?
This should get you started (From Joe Baugher's site):
The P-47C-1-RE production block differed by having an extra 8-inch section added to the fuselage forward of the firewall giving improved flight characteristics through movement of the center of gravity. The first P-47C (41-6066) was used as a prototype for the fuselage modifications. There were some detail changes to the main undercarriage and brakes. There were also some changes in the tail wheel, and steering was eliminated. There were some changes in the supercharger air ducting. Bob weights were installed in the elevator control system in order to help to overcome the compressibility problems that had made high speed dives in the earlier P-47C extremely dangerous. Latches for linking the engine throttle, propeller, and turbosupercharger were added, which made correlated operation possible by moving a single lever. http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_fighters/p47_3.html