Originally Posted by
JonnyT1978
Interesting article @megan, I had no idea about the drag differential between a P-51 & and a Spitfire. Quite an eye opener! The cooler drag in particular is interesting, even with the 'meredith' radiators, the difference is that high?
Although the article only mentions the cooling drag, the P-51 had a new, laminar flow, wing section. I gather there is some question about how far such wings achieved their theoretical gains in practice, but the section and the relatively smaller wing area must have contributed quite a bit to the reduced drag.
The article seems to suggest that there was some kind of failure in not developing a long-range Spitfire, but I wonder if that was ever a realistic proposition. The RAF had reacted to the vulnerability of unescorted bombers in daylight by flying at night. The USAAF would surely have been reluctant to adopt a British fighter, even if one had been available, and the suggestion that the Spitfire might have been built in the US seems very improbable, on political grounds.
The Mustang had the advantage of being designed several years later than the Spitfire, years in which a great deal of experience had been gained; it also seems to have been one of those cases where everything came together, the only major lack being a high-altitude supercharger.