Doug Matthews Sets World Records in Mustang

[Dan K]

http://www.eaa.org/news/2013/2013-05-30 ... -P-51D.asp

[Mark Allen M]

Outstanding!! ... and certainly NOT to take away from his accomplishments, but a "70 year old airplane"? I understand that the mustang was designed 70 years ago, but I would assume the mustang he was flying is quite new is it not? No flame war just an observation. Never the less a great feat on his part no matter what type of piston engine airplane.

[The Inspector]

What was the fuel octane grade? I find it 'unusual' that you can get to 40K on 100LL

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Never knew a Mustang had no heater.

[JohnTerrell]

Outstanding!! ... and certainly NOT to take away from his accomplishments, but a "70 year old airplane"? I understand that the mustang was designed 70 years ago, but I would assume the mustang he was flying is quite new is it not? No flame war just an observation. Never the less a great feat on his part no matter what type of piston engine airplane.

It's no 'new build' (really only a very few Mustangs that could be considered that anyway), but it is off of a rather recent restoration. The aircraft has a great, long, civilian history, and has never been wrecked (so presumably very original still).

Great for Doug Mathews! It's encouraging that there are still guys like him trying to set new records.

[Dan Jones]

No heat?

[51fixer]

Never knew a Mustang had no heater.

It doesn't have a heater but does have sources of heat.
Its a hot water toilet to begin with, coolant based engine cooling.
If it is still installed there is a source for some hot air which is a hole in the exit duct aft of the radiator. For most flying at lower altitudes you don't need heat and usually don't have enough cool air.
When it gets real cold there isn't enough hot air. I believe most wartime pilots bundled up pretty good. Some had outlets for heated suits to plug into.

[Ken]

When Doug allowed me to crawl over 44-84933 it appeared to be in vanilla configuration, fairly unmodified over the years, which, I believe enhances its value. At best it's 68 years old and I suspect, like many T-6s, the heater was disconnected to minimize the threat from CO poisoning.

Great job Doug!

[Stephan Wilkinson]

to minimize the threat from CO poisoning.

That would only be true of an air-cooled engine (T-6), where the heat source of necessity is a muff around an exhaust manifold. (If the exhaust leaks, the CO goes into the heater duct.) Not a problem with a liquid-cooled engine (P-51), where the heat source is the coolant.

[Lynn Allen]

Did he beat Will's climb record in his former Yak as well??

[Stephan Wilkinson]

Did he beat Will's climb record in his former Yak as well??

Wasn't that airplane flying in a different weight category?

[Ken]

to minimize the threat from CO poisoning.

That would only be true of an air-cooled engine (T-6), where the heat source of necessity is a muff around an exhaust manifold. (If the exhaust leaks, the CO goes into the heater duct.) Not a problem with a liquid-cooled engine (P-51), where the heat source is the coolant.

Good point, I wasn't using my noggin. Would be nice for someone to chime in regarding the heat methods used in WWII beyond thick/electric clothing.

[Mark Allen M]

It's no 'new build' (really only a very few Mustangs that could be considered that anyway), but it is off of a rather recent restoration.

Thx, my thoughts were on the lines of this, just didn't phrase it correctly.

[The Inspector]

to minimize the threat from CO poisoning.

That would only be true of an air-cooled engine (T-6), where the heat source of necessity is a muff around an exhaust manifold. (If the exhaust leaks, the CO goes into the heater duct.) Not a problem with a liquid-cooled engine (P-51), where the heat source is the coolant.

Good point, I wasn't using my noggin. Would be nice for someone to chime in regarding the heat methods used in WWII beyond thick/electric clothing.

A major complaint of the P-38 in Europe was it's lack of a heater, must have had something to do with being designed and built in the San Fernando Valley.

[Dan Jones]

A major complaint of the P-38 in Europe was it's lack of a heater, must have had something to do with being designed and built in the San Fernando Valley.

That always struck me as odd; you would think that with those two liquid cooled V-12's that the P-38 would have been able to cook the poor pilot right out of it - even at thirty thousand feet.