TF-51 vs. P-51D engine cooling & durability

Hello again all. I'll try to not start a war with the "other" sub forum in this thread, but there can be no guarantee ;).

Over the past 3 or 4 days I have been putting in quite a bit of time in the TF-51 on the aerobatics server and I have only suffered a single engine failure from accidentally increasing MP in a very steep dive which over-revved the engine to failure.

Now you say: ok, so what? You did kill it after all...

Well, I flew through 3 30% fills of fuel doing stalls and all sorts of other really stressful and abusive things to this one poor engine prior to this failure. I also used WEP for quite a bit of flight and didn't use emergency rich. The radiators were both in auto the whole time and I never saw the oil temp over the 90C line. Water temp was near the top of the acceptable range when checked but it is possible that it exceeded the red line temporarily during stalls when I wasn't watching.

Compare this behavior to the P-51D... It isn't uncommon (though it is becoming much less common) for me to lose the engine within a few minutes of engaging into a dogfight without ever having stalled out the aircraft and with my airspeed never dropping much below 200 mph.

This raises a few questions in my mind:

1. Is there a difference in the modeling of the cooling systems between the P-51 and the TF-51? I can't see any reason for this being the case.

2. My typical weight at takeoff in the P-51 is around 9000 lbs (30% fuel 100% ammo). Takeoff weight in the TF-51 with 30% fuel is around 7500 lbs. I can really feel the missing 1500 lbs in the performance of the TF-51 so it stands to reason that the engine can feel it missing as well. Is the seeming better reliability/cooling of the TF-51 just due to its ability to regain airspeed via HP after losing it?

2.a. If the P-51D weighed 7500 lbs we could handle 109s all day :joystick:

I said I wasn't going to start a war.damn it...:lol:

3. I know in combat you need to stay fast to stay alive in the P-51. Is 200 mph the lower limit of speed that provides sufficient cooling for the engine in a dogfight? It seems that I can clime at 170 mph as stated in the training video (even at 2700/45") with no problems, but as soon as you start doing sustained turning or climb/dive/repeat the heat really builds up and the radiators can't dissipate it quickly enough which eventually leads to a dead engine.

4. Short of loading each aircraft to the same takeoff weight and flying them equally abusively under the same conditions (multiple times) is there any other way to determine if there is a difference?

5. Has anyone else even noticed this behavior?

Thanks for reading.

-Int

All the stuff that you listet above is just the same as in the P51d, so yes, these aircraft do behave 95-99% the same.

Removing the Weight of the Cannons, Radios and Battery behind the Pilor does wonders for Speed, and HP:Weight Ratio..

Removing the Weight of the Cannons, Radios and Battery behind the Pilor does wonders for Speed, and HP:Weight Ratio..

Cannons? What cannons?:noexpression:

Cannons? What cannons?:noexpression:

Ha! This wasn't an ordinary slip of the tongue! "DCS: P-51 Mustang Mk IA" version confirmed :D :D :D.