Can we please stop hotlinking pics?

914Driver said:

Black Friday is James Bond day on BBC.

In reply to 914Driver :

"Steve McQueen?  Phbbt!  I'm Sean Berkleyin' Connery."

For Appleseed:

Spotted in Saskatoon 

In reply to 914Driver :

The P38 is my favorite plane for both how ugly and beautifully simple it is.

But looking at it from that angle, one advantage is has is that it doesn't really have a center of mass to aim for, does it?  All of the critical things you might want to try to shoot at are surrounded by air.

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

914Driver said:

First time I watched Cars, I thought to myself "someone has popped the clutch on a tractor with a lot of weight on the hitch. "

Arizona has a "Stupid Motorists Law".  Drive around a barrier and need rescuing, your fin is thew cost of the rescue.

914Driver said:

It looks like it's just smiling, looking up at a beautiful summer sky

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to 914Driver :

The P38 is my favorite plane for both how ugly and beautifully simple it is.

 

But looking at it from that angle, one advantage is has is that it doesn't really have a center of mass to aim for, does it?  All of the critical things you might want to try to shoot at are surrounded by air.

Kelly once said on the 38 design philosophy that once they started stacking the engine, radiator, intercooler, turbocharger, landing gear, and oil cooler, you had a nacelle that was as long as a fuselage of a typical twin, so we decided to put the tail on right there.

There's more to designing than that, but he's not wrong.

A mere 11 years of technology growth between these two aircraft:

Most successful fighter of WWII, baby

Also, pretty damn stylish, although doesn't quite top the P-40

NickD said:

Most successful fighter of WWII, baby

Also, pretty damn stylish, although doesn't quite top the P-40

Having a whole lot of machine guns up front that are accurate to any range up to 1000 yards, instead of wing mounted guns boresighted to a narrow distance, helps tremendously.  As did its ability to dive very fast, which worked well with the zoom and boom technique needed to take down Zeros and not die.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

NickD said:

Most successful fighter of WWII, baby

Also, pretty damn stylish, although doesn't quite top the P-40

Having a whole lot of machine guns up front that are accurate to any range up to 1000 yards, instead of wing mounted guns boresighted to a narrow distance, helps tremendously.  As did its ability to dive very fast, which worked well with the zoom and boom technique needed to take down Zeros and not die.

And twin engines and control surfaces meant it could take a grade-A ass-beating and keep airborne.