Hacker News Reader

While F-82 and P-38 shared the exact same engine, the F-82 had higher top speed, higher cruising speed, longer range, and could carrying 1500lbs more at take off. Apart from ceiling high, the F-82 beat the P-38 in almost every measure.

It was also based on the legendary P-51 which remained in service into the 50s, where as aircraft like the P-38 were immediately drawn down after the war.

View on HN

Yeah, the P-38 was a decent design, but it's very much a 1930's era plane with its oval pattern wings and control surfaces. The P-51, despite technically only be a couple years newer than the P-38, incorporated a LOT of improvements, most notably those in the 1940 NACA study data. The laminar flow wing alone pushed the P-51 well beyond anything else produced previously. The P-51 was arguably the first line fighter to be designed with aerodynamics based on hard science, rather than seat of the pants "this seemed to work before" design practices.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com