Is there a reason the P51 has good brakes?

[Bilbo_Baggins]

It has nice responsive brakes that really help control the thing on the ground. Just wondering, what was it about the design of the machine that makes it different from the rest in braking?

 

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Bilbo_Baggins

[Diggun]

It's pretty much the same as the a20, p47, p38, and p39. American built aircraft have nice brakes. I guess when your manufacturing base is thousands of miles from the opposition, you're under no threat of invasion, and you have some expertise in automobile manufacture you can spend time on these things. 

[216th_Jordan]

Hydraulic brakes versus pneumatic brakes I suppose?

[ShamrockOneFive]

I wonder too if the type of airbases had an effect. Even pre war there seemed to be a good number of concrete airbases in the U.S. (going by the archival footage and anecdotes alone - feel free to correct) whereas I remember reading during the development of the Spitfire prototype that it was only rated for grass field operations only at first because the brakes were insufficient to slow it down on a concrete strip. That wasn't immediately deemed a problem and better brakes were installed later but I wonder how much of the grass strip determined where emphasis was initially placed.

[Jaegermeister]

My take on it is that when you are being attacked and you need some fighters up in the air to stop the bombers like... next week, you don't worry so much about slowing down. Dirt track racers don't really have brakes to speak of and no one really cares.

 

Firewall it and worry about that later old chap!

[danielprates]

24 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

My take on it is that when you are being attacked and you need some fighters up in the air to stop the bombers like... next week, you don't worry so much about slowing down. Dirt track racers don't really have brakes to speak of and no one really cares.

 

Firewall it and worry about that later old chap!

 

I think it is more like shamrock said. Everything in an airplane means more cost/weight, so before something becomes an actual necessity, designers tend to pass the bucket to the pilots. Better brakes were possibly deemed unworthy of the cost/weight if, for the moment, the pilot's job was harder but not impossible.

[BlitzPig_EL]

Well, Bendix did invent the aviation disc brake, as I recall.  I do give a nod to Triumph though for the first popularly priced production car with front disc brakes, the Triumph TR-3.

[69th_chuter]

American aircraft typically* used multi-plate disc brakes where most everything else used drum ... even the Tempest. 

 

*The B-17 used drums on both sides of each wheel.

[[-=BP=-]Slegawsky_VR]

This  game is all about the balance and P51 simply balances Spitfire in the braking department.