Dan Carlin from Hard Core History talks to Elon Musk and Bill Riley from SpaceX on World War II aviation engineering. I expect most of y'all will enjoy this. Their approach to engineering as a game of rock-paper-scissors is interesting, and they apply that to each of these aircraft (as well as some others, like the Spitfire and FW-190).
Strengths and weaknesses of each plane are discussed, along with what could have been done to improve them (in particular the P-38). Also, the nearly fatal flaw of the P-51 which I hadn't heard anywhere, plus why the F6f was the most brilliant American fighter design of the war. I'd never heard that.
MP3 download here.
Youtube link here.
2 comments:
Interesting interview, and it's amazing how much difference the advances in technology make in the discussions!
When I saw the length of the thing I almost stopped. Glad I didn't. Listened to the whole thing in two sessions. Probably the most interesting discussion I have heard lately.
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