Cheers
Perhaps I started a thread that'll never end. Nigel is right on
course with his amplification of C-130 ops in S Atlantic. I only mentioned
it because many old films show the fighters sucking up the gear and staying
low to build up speed. This may have looked as a hotshot manoeuvre to thrill
the girlfriend, but it originated with single-engined a/c operating out of
tight fields (such as early Normandy fighter fields) the idea being if she
quits ,either to flop in or reach a fast enough speed to do a dumbbell turn
and land back in. The early jets were very slow to perform until gear up and
through 200 knots (hp = thrust in lbs x 275mph), so the gear had to come up
soonest to achieve glide speed before the treeline. Also, early gear had a
very slow max retract speed.
Early Mosquitos had a V2 - V1 range of about 40knots. That is, there
was a long wait on takeoff between reaching takeoff speed and minimum
single-engine control speed (tiny vertical fin/rudder), and the engines
spaced rudely apart. Nobody wasted runway ahead....... because many died in
training. Germans had a Moskito too and it had the same lovely traits.
Happy Takeoffs
ferg A064
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