Marty, thanks for the "modify" info. Like I said "New Guy".
Gary,
Not trying to be argumentative but the temps you list (while intuitively accurate based on my knowledge of other Pacific atols and islands [Diego, Guam, etc]) don't seem to jive with the Niku VI report. In any case, just another thought to be used as food for the discussion.
As for use of ADI, that was my "ace" at Edwards. Our normal procedure was to use water for the initial takeoff, then shut it off quickly to conserve water for just such an instance. Total ADI capacity was about 5 minutes at max power so that normally we had about a 2 1/2 to 3 minute "reserve" available. While ADI does boost the engine horsepower (about 200 HP per engine for the R-2800) it also put a significant strain on the operating parts and sharply reduces the engine life curve. Since I was already down to my last operating engine I elected not to use ADI once I saw I could hit the overrun. That was also one of the factors in selecting Edwards. A tap on the rudders and I could use Murock Dry Lake. Good enough for the X-15 was good enough for me! Also, you are correct about the "supercharged" engines but the superchargers weren't normally used in the low altitude environment. In fact, procedurally, we never engaged the blowers below 14,000'. Again, it was that pesky engine life curve. The superchargers helped "trick" the engine into thinking it was at a lower altitude by packing air into the carburetor. When used at low altitude this could easily blow a cylinder. While I suppose there could be an emergency situation where such use might be approporiate it certainly would not be a normal course of events. This would indicate that, in normal flight at low altitude, AE would have been flying a normally aspirated aircraft and the supercharger would not have been engaged.
In any case, my original thought was that the cruise leaning procedure we used would bring the range/fuel consumption estimates much closer to those presented by Kelly Johnson and might provide an explanation for the apparent differences. The temperature question, and that is what it really is, was more of an afterthought.
Greetings to all,
William