Lynn, It;s true that both piston and jet military aircraft have carried

water. The water or alcohol

were used for in-cylinder (or combustion chamber) detonation control

rather than cooling. They

really didn't care about economy or long-term reliability. The typical

piston fighter was only

needed to last for a couple weeks of flying time. We hopefully want the

exact opposite of that!

Bill Jepson

Just the argument to the particular: The annual Sun&Fun race. Read the rules
and then blow their doors off. Calculate the cooling drag avoided by the
addition of  X amount of water. Calculate the additional drag as a result of
the weight of the water. If it still is faster with the water, carry the
water. Lynn E. Hanover

Our airport FXE is the home of the Reno racer P-51 Mustang with counter
rotating props. I know the owner and had a very good look at it. He has two
sprayers. One in front of the radiator - a horizontal bar spraying
water/alcohol mixture. The other one in front of the canopy spraying
gasoline on the windsheeld to wash the oil in the air from other airplanes.

Bulent Aliev
Ft Lauderdale, FL

 
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