"Don McIntyre" wrote in message
oups.com...
Dudley,
Let me start out by saying that I'm not a pilot and have never flown
anything with more power than a T-34A (flown from the backseat with a
"real pilot" up front) and a P-3 from the right seat.
Would the sideslip issue have been affected by the addition of the
fairing forward of the vertical stab? IIRC the P-51B/Cs didn't need
the
fairing because of the extra side area they had compared to the
D-model. The early D-models apparently did have directional stability
issues prior to addition of the fairing. Maybe the training manual
came
out before it was added?
Don McIntyre
Clarksville, TN

That's an astute observation and is correct about the airplane. The post
block 10 D's did have a dorsal added for improved directional stability.
It's always been my understanding that this was due to airflow issues
coming off the bubble canopy changeover, but I ran into a NA engineer
some time ago who said it was also related to the fuselage tank
installation. I didn't have the fuselage tank in my airplane so that was
never an issue for me anyway.
It's interesting what you have brought up about the training manual.
It's dating is August 45.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/CFI Retired
for private email; make necessary changes between ( )
dhenriques(at)(delete all this)earthlink(dot)net