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By (early?) 1943, the 211N and P (= intercooled N) are becoming available. The N was comparable to the fully-rated DB 601E, or to the Merlin 20 series running on +14 psi. The P was perhaps 5% more powerful than the N.Jumo 211J may be better than BMW 801 at the start. (I'm not sure when the more powerful Jumo 211s became available).
Agreed. Engine needs to go further outboard on this frankenplane.The inner section of the wing is what keeps the propellers from cutting the fuselage.
For the mentioned Bf 110, one variant would be the version with BMW 132/Bramo 323. Why - well, as production of DB 601 was delayed , why not put stronger radial engines instead of the Jumo 210.
Historically they thought they were going to get the new Wundarplanes to replace the He 111. So yes, they did minimal upgrades to the He 111. The He 111 pre-dated the Wellington by a considerable amount. This flew 16 months after the He 111I think that the He 111 is a little too old a project to pour new wine into. After all, historically not much has been invested in upgrades. And Do 217 - well, with BMW 801/ Db 603 was underpowered (so the early versions of 1600-1700 hp are too weak). It would take 2000+ hp, so as a historical project Do 317 ie db 606 or jumo 222. Maybe it would be better and faster to put Jumo 211j (instead of db 601) on Do 215 and we have approx. 40% more power than Do 17.
Using the radials instead of the V-12s runs into drag problems. You don't get the performance hoped for due the drag, even though it may be a bit better than the Jumo 210.Why not put the Jumo 211 in if you can't have the DB 601?
BMW 132 does not offer much more power than Jumo 210, while Bramo 323 is a bit better.
And would either be available before the Bf 110C entered service in 1939?
It might help to get a time line on the German engines. Germans could not supply Jumo 211F/Js in numbers in 1940. Had to wait for 1941. The Ju 88A-5 was built after the A-4 was approved. The A-5 used the wings/landing gear of the A-4 with the engines of the A-1 because the engines were not ready.
Using the radials instead of the V-12s runs into drag problems. You don't get the performance hoped for due the drag, even though it may be a bit better than the Jumo 210.
Look at the Do 17 at sea level and compare the BMW IV V-12 to the Bramo and BMW 9 cylinder radial versions. Then compare the Do 17Z with the Bramo to the Do 215 with the Db 601. Around a 35-40mph gain in speed for the latter case.
And again, be careful of which Jumo 211s were available when if you are going to 1938/early 1939. Also lets recall that Junkers was a little late with adopting pressure cooling. Which meant larger radiators on the early engines, same power but more drag (and bit more weight), perhaps not so important for bombers but on a twin engine fighter???
Quite possibly, I don't have any good sources for dates and prototypes are not production.Probably Jumo was not able to supply any 211F/J to take part in 1940 air combat?
edit. Sticking the standard German 9 cylinder radials on the Ju 87s of 1938-40 would have doomed themGerman 9 cyl radials were probably good for many things; being used in aircraft tailored for speed was not one of them.
For all I care, nick the Jumo 211s from Ju 87 production by 1938-40 (have the Stuka receive these radials) so more can be spared for installation on Bf 110 and/or Do 17 (215).
The source I have is an old book by an English author and it is not reliable. Or we are confusing different things?I'm not sure that any Jumo 210 or 211 engine used open-cycle cooling, ever.
Right on the money here, and the book 'Flugmotoren und strahltriebwerke' agrees, too.Perhaps a difference between sealed low pressure cooling and sealed high pressure cooling?
The zwilling/s are more of a defensive aircraft than an offensive aircraft. The 109Z got it's extra range from filling the 2nc cockpit with fuel. Which makes for a lousy night-fighter.Some less conservative ways to have workable 2-engined A/C:
- as suggested earlier and many times: zwilling heavy fighters/recons/fighter-bombers (benefit is that most of the parts is in series production, engines don't have to be newest and fanciest)
Well you do have less drag, but.- push-pull twins (saves a lot of engine-related drag, can use mass-produced V12 engines and still perform, no torque reaction with both engines in operation, 'natural' U/C layout is tricycle; shortcoming is pilot/crew emergency exit)
Pusher or tractor a pair of side by side engines only save a little bit of drag compared to a "normal" twin. Then you have the more complicated drive system.- 2-engine pusher, be it in a tandem layout or side-a-side
- similar, but in tractor configuration; both cut a lot of engine-related drag
Pretty much a last ditch effort, Again somewhat useful for short endurance missions (defensive), not so good for long endurance missions.mixed propulsion push-pull (lighter powerplant than the piston engine type at the back, jet uses very cheap fuel, no need for propeller to be produced and installed, easier emergency exit than the A/C described just above; shortcoming is the fuel load required for the jet, jets not being mature enough, no easy way to hide exhausts, that compromises NF job; jet engines not being that mature yet)
Every A/C is a compromiseThe zwilling/s are more of a defensive aircraft than an offensive aircraft. The 109Z got it's extra range from filling the 2nc cockpit with fuel. Which makes for a lousy night-fighter.
If you need a bomber destroyer to handle bombers flying over Germany it may make sense, or if you need a hit and run bomber to handle things near the front lines then maybe OK.
I doubt the 109Z is going to roll much better than than P-38. It sure won't have the range. Yes you can use a lot of existing parts/tooling BUT ONLY if you don't change things a lot.
You still have double the cooling drag compared to the single engine fighter (assuming that you use engines of the same size.) You have saved frontal area, you have added a lot of fuselage length/bulk.
Better than some/most twins,
For people that want a Do 335 junior (DB601-605 engines) remember that the P-39 drive system cost about 100lbs. about 50lbs worth of drive shaft and 50lbs worth of stiffer fuselage to keep the prop in line with the engine (they allowed 1in deviation in flight).
Maybe the Germans could have built something like the Fokker using DB 601 engines.
Suspect that is the double Allison used in the XB-42.The zwilling/s are more of a defensive aircraft than an offensive aircraft. The 109Z got it's extra range from filling the 2nc cockpit with fuel. Which makes for a lousy night-fighter.
If you need a bomber destroyer to handle bombers flying over Germany it may make sense, or if you need a hit and run bomber to handle things near the front lines then maybe OK.
I doubt the 109Z is going to roll much better than than P-38. It sure won't have the range. Yes you can use a lot of existing parts/tooling BUT ONLY if you don't change things a lot.
The more things you change (landing gear, wing mounted guns, fuel storage, higher gross weights in proportion to wing size) the fewer common parts you have. One of the things that doomed the Me 209 II. They made a lot of changes than helped improve the design. However with the improvements they would up with only 30-40% parts commonalty with the 109 and they decided that would not give the production head start they wanted.
There are reasons that the 110 and 210 and Fw 187 wound up as big as they were (and just about everybody else's twins than used standard sized engines). They had more capability, range/load.
Well you do have less drag, but.
View attachment 748180
You still have double the cooling drag compared to the single engine fighter (assuming that you use engines of the same size.) You have saved frontal area, you have added a lot of fuselage length/bulk.
Better than some/most twins,
For people that want a Do 335 junior (DB601-605 engines) remember that the P-39 drive system cost about 100lbs. about 50lbs worth of drive shaft and 50lbs worth of stiffer fuselage to keep the prop in line with the engine (they allowed 1in deviation in flight).
Maybe the Germans could have built something like the Fokker using DB 601 engines.
View attachment 748181
Pusher or tractor a pair of side by side engines only save a little bit of drag compared to a "normal" twin. Then you have the more complicated drive system.
View attachment 748182
This is supposed to be the engine from a Fisher P-75 with the gear box for the counter rotating propellers. However the exhaust pipes are facing the wrong way?
Now note that this engine held both cranks in the same crankcase and uses a single supercharger, it was not two separate engines, which would have taken up more room.
Tandem engines have their own problems.
You are trading aerodynamic drag for mechanical complications and CG problems. Not saying they cannot be solved, but they are going to take time.
Pretty much a last ditch effort, Again somewhat useful for short endurance missions (defensive), not so good for long endurance missions.
Props and jets have rather different speed ranges.
Use the turbo prop line to substitute for the piston engine.
Jet engine booster packs were popular in the 1950s/early 60s because they gave a lot of temporary power (tank-off and hot-high climb) for not a lot of weight. They sucked at cruising speeds. And adding a booster pack/s to planes like a C-119/C-123 barely made a blip on their drag
XB-42 used separate V-1710s.Suspect that is the double Allison used in the XB-42.
Do 217(A or C) mentioned for 1940 is a red herring - it was too late for that year to do anything, and it was produced in very small numbers. Late 1940 means very bad weather in NW Europe anyway, even the debugged A/C were kept on the ground; BoB was over weeks ago.Do 217 kind of shows the problem, a very good try but a max speed of 320mph in the late fall of 1940 was not good enough. Might have been great against Hurricane Is but in Late fall the Hurricane IIs were starting to show up and at least they had a chance. Spitfire Vs were going to show up about the time Do 217 bombers showed up in numbers.
That is a problem for the Ju 288 lite (BMW 801 engines) you have lost both power and critical altitude. Streamlining will only go so far.
Agreed all along, but 4 MG 15s in a power-operated manned turret would've been a wholly different beast, like the .303 Browing was on Whitleys and other big RAF bombers.Also accept the fact that the MG 15 was obsolete in 1938.
Also accept the fact that remote gun stations were a bridge too far for an air force that in the summer of 1940, had yet to field a single power operated or assisted gun mount.
Yes get rid of the dive bombing requirement for the twins or relax it 45degrees or a bit less. Work like hell in a manned turret with a pair of 13mm guns.
Just trying to give the Germans the benefit of the doubt here. Like assuming they could have speeding things up a few months.Do 217(A or C) mentioned for 1940 is a red herring - it was too late for that year to do anything, and it was produced in very small numbers. Late 1940 means very bad weather in NW Europe anyway, even the debugged A/C were kept on the ground; BoB was over weeks ago.
You have a loss of in power and critical height from the "planned" Jumo 222 engines for the Ju 288. Yes you can fly a Ju 288 with BMW 801 engines but the speeds are all going to be off considerably and the take-off weights needed to be looked at very carefully, with about 20% less power for take-off something has to got to give. Fuel, bomb load, number of airfields it can use, truck loads of booster rockets for each squadron strength mission?You didn't lost neither power nor critical altitude, since there is no other German engine that can best the BMW 801 between 1942 and late 1943 while still being reliable (granted, the 801 paid the price in weight, drag and consumption vs. the 601 or 211 - the 'no free lunch rule' always finds the way...).
A real beastAgreed all along, but 4 MG 15s in a power-operated manned turret would've been a wholly different beast
Okay.Just trying to give the Germans the benefit of the doubt here. Like assuming they could have speeding things up a few months.
Planners (designers/production managers) would have no idea of what the weather would be like months in the Future. This also the problem of the planners (designers/production managers) If what you have is barley working in the fall of 1940 what is you opponent going to have in the spring-summer of 1941? or 1942"
You have a loss of in power and critical height from the "planned" Jumo 222 engines for the Ju 288. Yes you can fly a Ju 288 with BMW 801 engines but the speeds are all going to be off considerably and the take-off weights needed to be looked at very carefully, with about 20% less power for take-off something has to got to give. Fuel, bomb load, number of airfields it can use, truck loads of booster rockets for each squadron strength mission?
DohA real beastgunner with four MG 15s in power turret would have been busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger with bees in his overalls.
Why the Germans never (rarely?) used the belt fed MG 17 in a defensive position I don't know. An MG 15 had about 73-74% of the ammo as the Vickers K gun and didn't fire any faster. They never seemed to put two MG 15s together? Maybe they were waiting for the MG 81 ? and it was running late?
The MG 131 seemed to trickle in rather slowly.
The 20mm MG/FF or MG/FFM was not a very good flexible air to air gun. Might have been very useful air to ground and OK in the early war as a fixed fighter gun.
A lot of the flexible 20mms used 30 or even 15 round magazines. Due to the size of breech end of the weapon they had restricted traverse/elevation.Methinks that there was much more mileage in the MG FF and FFM designs, than the Germans took advantage from. Belt feed (don't wait until 1943-ish), big drums (yes, too clumsy for a flexible installation), greater RoF, the FFM necked down to 15mm (so it can do 800+ m/s for a better hit probability) for defensive installations (but still better suited for power-operated turrets).
Well, when they paired it with 92 gram projectile they got 700m/s so 750m/s may be a bit optimistic?Ammo for the 'old' MG FF ammo was with a greater propellant weight, so pairing it with a short, ~100 gram HE shell might've seen a ~750 m/s MV
I think you are expected more from the MG/FF than it can deliver. The MG 151 had several things going for it. The cartridge used a higher chamber pressure than the MG/FF and it used a longer barrel. MG 151 15mm used longer barrel than the MG 151 20mm gun.Or indeed neck that one down to 15mm, for close to 850 m/s?
It might be for the FFM, but might be possible for the FF. Former achieved 585 m/s when firing a 115g HE shell, while later achieved 600 ms when firing a 135 g HE shell - IOW, there was more oomph in the FF ammo vs. what FFM used. Ammo for the two was not interchangeable, even if outward looked the same.Well, when they paired it with 92 gram projectile they got 700m/s so 750m/s may be a bit optimistic?
I think you are expected more from the MG/FF than it can deliver. The MG 151 had several things going for it. The cartridge used a higher chamber pressure than the MG/FF and it used a longer barrel. MG 151 15mm used longer barrel than the MG 151 20mm gun.
The MG 151/20 generated about 30% more muzzle energy than the MG/FFM so expecting modified MG/FFs (or Ms ) to come close is going to take a lot of work.
If you want more velocity you are going to pay for it with more weight, slower rate of fire, longer barrel (also more weight) or some combination.
Sometimes it was a thing of 'why we didn't think of this before?'.Improvements were made to the Oerlikon system/family but it sometimes took advances in propellent or metallurgy to do it.
Not really. The operating system depended on recoil energy with changes in different proportions than muzzle energy, more later.It might be for the FFM, but might be possible for the FF. Former achieved 585 m/s when firing a 115g HE shell, while later achieved 600 ms when firing a 135 g HE shell - IOW, there was more oomph in the FF ammo vs. what FFM used. Ammo for the two was not interchangeable, even if outward looked the same.
See below.The FF/15 will still have a deficit of 20% wrt. muzzle energy.
Needs more development, see below.I am already paying it with much lower shell weight. Long barrel means a gain of a few lbs, indeed.
The Germans solved the belt feed problem by using electric motors on the MG/FFM. The British Hispano already had an abundance of recoil energy as seen by the muzzle brakes on the drum feed guns. Take the muzzle brake off and used the recoiling parts to cock the springs in the belt feed system soaking up some of the recoil.Sometimes it was a thing of 'why we didn't think of this before?'.
Like the belt-feed system - it took Japanese and Germans until 1943 to do it; compare the Fench/British do it more than a year earlier with Hispano despite the Hispano being a newer gun. Lighter reciprocating parts were a thing known to improve the RoF well before the ww2 (it was done with Swiss on the Oerlikons by mid-1930s, and again by them and Japanese by the end of the ww2); lighter parts = lighter guns.
Lighter shells = greater MV (yes, you are sacrificing the hit power, but we're still head and shoulders above the HE shells on the HMGs and 15mm cannons - not too shabby for a cannon that weights as a lot of HMGs).