Jim,
We had alot of problems with new pilots in the P-51D I crewed. More than once, a
"ham-fisted" pilot nearly "ground-looped" her from opening the throttle too fast. "Honey's" engine was built by Mike Nixon @ Vintage V-12s. Nothing special...
-3 bottom end,transport banks and heads and a shaved supercharger that developed
120ins of manifold pressure. Mike said if you could get it on a dyno, the engine would
put out in excess of 3,000hp but the rod and main bearings would probably fail if you
ran the engine for more than five minutes. We also had a P-47D. That bird was a trip!!
Mr. Osborn, the owner, sold a beautiful -5 Corsair to obtain the -47 from France.
It took 5yrs for hard work to restore her. The day we started the engine for the first
time, "BigAssBird" pulled her tiedown out of the ground at half-throttle! We didn't even
reinstall the turbo. No one would overhaul it!!
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