Takeoff Flaps

Arguably the finest fighter aircraft of World War II.
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Paughco
Senior Master Sergeant
Posts: 2095
Joined: 30 Nov 2014, 12:27

Takeoff Flaps

Post by Paughco »

The A2A Misfit Squadron was flying a long distance leg on our Trans-Siberia Railway flight, so we were all in our P-51s. We had a lot of time to talk about many things, and we finally hit upon takeoff flaps. We almost never use takeoff flaps in the P-51, and there's only one brief reference to takeoff flaps in all the various P-51 manuals that we've found on the Internet.

We decided that in general you don't need takeoff flaps in a P-51, unless you are taking off with a very full load, or high density altitude, short or muddy field, or some combination thereof. Almost all the modern videos we see of P-51s are taken at air shows and such, and the airplanes are probably lightly loaded, and are taking off from long, paved runways. I wonder if they sometimes had to use flaps to get out of Iwo Jima with a full load of fuel (including fuselage and drops) and ammo?

Anybody out there have any definitive, experience-based thoughts on when you need takeoff flaps on the P-51?

Thank you
ATB
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DHenriques_
A2A Chief Pilot
Posts: 5711
Joined: 27 Mar 2009, 08:31
Location: East Coast United States

Re: Takeoff Flaps

Post by DHenriques_ »

Paughco wrote: 22 May 2021, 19:17 The A2A Misfit Squadron was flying a long distance leg on our Trans-Siberia Railway flight, so we were all in our P-51s. We had a lot of time to talk about many things, and we finally hit upon takeoff flaps. We almost never use takeoff flaps in the P-51, and there's only one brief reference to takeoff flaps in all the various P-51 manuals that we've found on the Internet.

We decided that in general you don't need takeoff flaps in a P-51, unless you are taking off with a very full load, or high density altitude, short or muddy field, or some combination thereof. Almost all the modern videos we see of P-51s are taken at air shows and such, and the airplanes are probably lightly loaded, and are taking off from long, paved runways. I wonder if they sometimes had to use flaps to get out of Iwo Jima with a full load of fuel (including fuselage and drops) and ammo?

Anybody out there have any definitive, experience-based thoughts on when you need takeoff flaps on the P-51?

Thank you
ATB
Generally the normal takeoff in the 51 is done with no flaps. For short fields you could use 15 to 20 degrees and rotate in the 3 point position.
I've never flown the Mustang heavy but If heavy I wouldn't hesitate to add a notch or two on takeoff just to give me a little more on the lift vector and leave them on until I reached at least 200 indicated and some air under me.
Dudley Henriques

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