This is an Allison V-12 that were in the P-51A models
when they were first built. The performance up to 15,000 feet was great
but after that it lacked at the higher altitudes. This was a major
drawback for the designers and they had to do something about it.
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Here is the Allison with the heads removed so you can
see what's inside. They left the connecting rods attached to the
crankshaft so you can see how things were made and how they work.
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A close-up of one of the cylinders.
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In case you can't read it, the P-51 is the one in the
top row in the middle.
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Here is the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that went into
the later models that changed the problem with higher altitude flights.
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This engine sounds like no other that you've ever heard
before and if you ever get a chance to see a P-51 flying, pay attention
to the exhaust note the engine produces. With that two-stage two speed
supercharger forcing all the air into that big V-12 making over 1500
horsepower, it's music to your ears in more than one way.
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This huge picture on the wall represents 'The Tuskegee Airmen' of the
332nd Fighter Group that flew P-51's in World War II. Tuskegee is
located in Alabama which is where these pilots were trained to fly
combat missions and eventually become bomber escorts for B-17's. If you
haven't noticed, all of these men were black and had to fight long and
hard to be a pilot. Before the Tuskegee Airmen, no African American
had become a U.S. military pilot and they were not easily excepted
because of their color which made them work even harder to prove to the
other men, to their family, to their friends and to themselves that they
could be just as good as anyone else in the military.
If you look close you can see the tails are painted red which quickly
became well known to the B-17 crews for the air support they gave while
flying missions. Once the word was out that the planes with the red
tails saved countless lives during escorts, the pilots of the B-17's
requested them over anyone else because of their flawless record.
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