Naoto’s expertise would be wonderful...

[Tophe]

I received a photocopy dealing with an unknown jet-Mustang project (not the famous one with inverted-swept wing and ventral exhaust, but an almost 51D with straight wing and maybe tail exhaust) but the text is all in Japanese... I would like to know a little of what the text says: no full translation needed, just when, why, which manufacturer, position of the exhaust, things like that. Could you help me dear Naoto? I would send a 1-page scan by E-mail (0.6MB).
(I do not know the source so I am not able to present here with a mention of the source, this is simply the "North-American jet P-51" whose profile is page 84 of my free E-book "Virtual Mustangs" – available at http://cmeunier.chez.tiscali.fr/Free_EoFG_MV.htm ).

[anthonyp]

Naoto is... here?

Cool.

The Cool Links section is bound to get a helluva lot more interesting (and bizarre) now  

Welcome aboard, Naoto, wherever you are!

Now, back your regularly scheduled topic...

[Tophe]

Not exactly like the F-86 as this was still a piston/propeller plane. Better than my uncomfortable English words, see below from my book:
Top: the one from the Japanese source (sent to Naoto this morning, thanks Naoto for your PM!)
Middle: what a P-51D basis would have given in this direction
Bottom: the famous forward-swept-wing "Mustang"

[naoto]

Just got the E-mail, started looking over text.  Basic stuff so far that I've been able to get though a quick scan:
tricycle landing gear
Westinghouse turbojet in tail
contrarotating propeller
advanced Allison engine
mainplanes mostly unchanged
performance was projected to exceed that of a rocket-boosted P-51s

General layout seems quite similar to the Ryan FR-1 "Fireball" in using combo of jet in tail and prop in front.

[Tophe]

Thanks for these details, already interesting.
But I feel puzzled about the jet exhaust: is it below the tail ventrally as I drew it(the line seems like that on the original art) or at the final tail below the rudder (the hot gas trail seems to start from there)?
Thanks again!

[GTX]

Either way - who will model it?

Regards,

Greg

[naoto]

There were no exact details regarding the placement of the turbojet -- it only states a turbojet added to the rear section.  The text does seem to indicate that there seems to be some difficulty regarding the positioning of the turbojet (as it would've had to be rather small to fit in the tail given the configuration as depicted).  Given the overall shape, I'm somewhat inclined to think that the illustration depicts a turboprop variant that uses a small booster rocket in the tail.

[Tophe]

Interesting... thanks.
A classical P-51D with an extra rocket in the tail would be (almost) easy to build 1/72, without all the scratchbuild required by a turbojet air-intakes and big exhaust... Maybe a hot nail would be enough to turn the tail plastic into a hole, no?  

[GTX]

Hi folks,

Just had a thought.  What would you get if you were to remove the prop and nose engine (probably use the space for nose landing gear, and maybe a radar) use the Mustang's existing belly intake as the intake for your turbojet, place said engine in rear fuselage with exhast in tail (i.e. not under it), maybe put slightly swept wings/tail, and maybe stretch the entire fuselage to give greater fuel capacity (for that thirsty early jet and maybe to help with weight and balance)?

The answer - something that would look very much like a 1940's F-16!

Regards,

Greg

[Tophe]

Your ideas have been illustrated dear, thanks again!
see my Virtual Mustangs update http://www.whatifmodelers.com/forum//index...80&#entry144801