The P51 Mustang, the best offensive fighter of WW2 ...

[bruce]

Re: Defeat. By early 1944, the Luftwaffe was a shell of its former self. Shortage of fuel greatly hampered operations. Most of the pilots in the air were inexperienced, barely beyond novices. It was no different than early in the war when the Luftwaffe pilots had lots of experience and excellent planes facing less competent pilots with poorer quality aircraft. Sincerely. bruce.

[togor]

Germans came out with MW50 for the DB605, and could run nitrous oxide in some FWs. The P-51 was fast because of a low drag design and the 2-stage, 2-speed supercharger improved performance across a wide altitude range.

The top technologies of the Luftwaffe were as good as anything the allies put in the air (Jumo 004 engine for example) but they didn't have the industrial base to prevail on any front and got worn down on all sides.

[Rick]

If you wanted to send a photo home do it in front of the Mustang. If you wanted to survive the war fly the Jug.

[fguffey]

One of the problems with the 109 G

They installed the engine upside down; the crank was on top, and the heads were on the bottom. They had all kind of problems with preventing engine knock. I was not interested in 'who had the biggest engine', The Merlin had just over 2500 cubic inches, the ME 109 engine had just over 3500 cubic engines. The British produced all the fuel they needed, there were times the Germans could not carry on in the war for the lack of fuel. The Russians got the Studebaker trucks, the Germans were still using horses.

I read somewhere Messersmith was told to build a better fighter that could outperform the old British fighter that was flown by an exile squadron pilot. Willie responded with; if I built a plane as you describe it would look like a barn door, and then one day they were attacked. Willie asked about the plane we were using, his chief engineer responded with "Willie, it looks like they are using your barn door".

F. Guffey

[togor]

The inverted V12 improved sight lines from the cockpit over the cowling and facilitated a cannon firing through the propellor hub, which was a feature the RLM valued. Possible that German use of FI neutralized an fuel delivery issues associated with engine orientation, unlike the carbureted allied engines. All in all a horse apiece, with the inverted V12 needing oil scavenging in two heads instead of one crankcase.

Detonation issues or lack of them was not related to engine orientation. But the DB had the bigger displacement in order to make up for running at a lower compression ratio.

[fguffey]

All in all a horse apiece, with the inverted V12 needing oil scavenging in two heads instead of one crankcase.

With the small amount of information available at the time I was reminded of the Springfield Junket looking for a rifle and then came home with the Crag. The Germans pretended to be looking for a sea plane to build and race. The Germans thought the British racer had the engine mounted upside down. I had no idea the Germans had a taken a CYA course.

The Mustang was fuel injected, the spitfire had a delay, it appeared to put out a puff of smoke before everything caught up. Little known, the Spitfire made daily trips from England to Berlin and back.

F. Guffey

[togor]

Another interesting aspect of all of those WW2 aircraft engines is that they drove constant speed propellers that automatically adjusted pitch to hold RPM at a setpoint. By very early in the war all modern fighters had them.

From a throttle perspective, with displacement fixed, and now RPM and mixture ratio more or less held constant, the way to adjust engine power was with manifold pressure--the mass of air (+fuel) that moves through the engine. This is why power setting is described in terms of manifold pressure in those old training vids that people post to YouTube. Not how us car guys are used to thinking.

[fguffey]

Detonation issues or lack of them was not related to engine orientation. But the DB had the bigger displacement in order to make up for running at a lower compression ratio.

Not how us car guys are used to thinking

I do not know about 'you car guys' but if I built a low compression engine and I wanted it to perform I would be trying to pack air into it. And then there is the heat created by compression meaning I would have to figure a way to cool the air before the fuel is mixed. For a long time, I refused to believe we could raise the pressure by as much as 4 atmospheres. The Germans had equipment and planes available with no fuel, that was no way to run a war.

The British outside of the military burned coal and the used the incomplete combustion of the fuel to run cars and truck. The devise looked like large square backpacks, the British did not start the war, but they started with enough fuel to finish it.

I built an engine that was very sensitive, after it was put under a load the engine was very quiet (meaning the parts got hot and fit), the only sound that could be heard was the air research turbo turning; sensitive? The difference between running for 24 hours and Gaulding the pistons to the cylinders was 50 degrees. The spheroid condition clamed many engines for the lack of pressure.

F. Guffey

[togor]

At the end of the day, power goes with mass flow of fuel + air through the motor.

Primary factors governing mass flow include

Displacement
RPM
Pressure
Temperature

Germans were indeed slow to adopt intercooling, which increases gas density at the intake manifold.

[jjrothWA]

Basically, the THUNDERBOLT was built around the turbocharger first then the rest of the airframe.

That how it got the 11 ton weight.

The the propeller designer , did their work and came up onthe four blade propeller with WIDE blades, [18 inch wide]