best engine of the war

[fastmongrel]

The Packard workers all drove on the right-side of the road.
This clearly influenced the engine's superior manufacturing.

The toilets all flushed clockwise as well.

 

[cherry blossom]

The best engine run during the war was surely the RR Nene. Unfortunately the British didn't develop and fly the Mig 17 during 1945.

 

[soulezoo]

The Packard Merlins were better because they were imported. Everyone knows that the imported stuff is always better....

 

[Milosh]

The best engine run during the war was surely the RR Nene. Unfortunately the British didn't develop and fly the Mig 17 during 1945.

In the US it was built under licence as the Pratt & Whitney J42.

The Pratt & Whitney J48 (company designation JT7 Turbo-Wasp) is a turbojet engine developed by Pratt & Whitney as a license-built version of the Rolls-Royce Tay. The Tay/J48 was an enlarged development of the Rolls-Royce Nene (Pratt & Whitney J42).

 

[SaparotRob]

I just checked Wiki to see if I could find out which engine powered the P-80A. I think it was the Goblin. Would any of the engines Milosh listed have been used in the P-80A?

 

[wuzak]

I just checked Wiki to see if I could find out which engine powered the P-80A. I think it was the Goblin. Would any of the engines Milosh listed have been used in the P-80A?

The XP-80 was powered by the de Havilland H-1/Goblin, but I think the production models were powered by the J33, which was an enlarged J31, based on a Rolls-Royce/Whittle design.

 

[Tony Kambic]

The XP-80 was powered by the de Havilland H-1/Goblin, but I think the production models were powered by the J33, which was an enlarged J31, based on a Rolls-Royce/Whittle design.

I suggest maybe you all should read Calum Douglas's new book, The Secret Horsepower Race for Western Fighter Engine Development before you final decisions. Albeit this is all about piston engines, no jet engines discussed.

 

[wuzak]

I suggest maybe you all should read Calum Douglas's new book, The Secret Horsepower Race for Western Fighter Engine Development before you final decisions. Albeit this is all about piston engines, no jet engines discussed.

Then how is it relevant to the engine that powered the P-80?

 

[pbehn]

Then how is it relevant to the engine that powered the P-80?

I think he was just responding to the original post, but the P-80 wasnt in the war operationally anyways.

 

[GrauGeist]

I hadn't realized that the quest for more horsepower from aircraft engines was a secret...

 

[pbehn]

I hadn't realized that the quest for more horsepower from aircraft engines was a secret...

Bitz of it were during the war, but we had James Bond's dad to steal it all.

 

[GrauGeist]

Bitz of it were during the war, but we had James Bond's dad to steal it all.

Damn good thing the Germans didn't catch wind of this thing called "horsepower", they might have tried it too...

 

[Milosh]

Damn good thing the Germans didn't catch wind of this thing called "horsepower", they might have tried it too...

Maybe they should have tried reindeer. Nine of them pulled a loaded sled all over the world in one night.

 

[Just Schmidt]

As it looks like even the history is secret, please don't tell anyone.

 

[Just Schmidt]

For me,
The 2800 series in a radial, but the Packard built Merlin in a inline. Packard corrected some of the Rolls Royce Merlin issues.
The Wright 1820's took the war to Berlin, so there is that, and many of them came back missing cylinders yet still ran and returned their crew safely. There is also a strong case to be made for the BMW 801 radial, and the DB 605.This also brings the question how do we not over look the 2600 series or the Allison V-1710? Finely we have the metric P&W aka Sakae - 12. So as you can see many power plants were used and benefited the country of origin greatly, it's really hard to pinpoint or say favorite when you roll up your sleeves and really dive into them.

I am not denying that the B-24 and B-17 were important for the strategic bombing over Europe, nor that their engines were important, but it is not correct that they took the war to Berlin.

What I believe to be the first air raid on Berlin took place on the night of 25/26th of august 1940 with 81 Wellintons, Hampdens and Whitleys. Other early raids on Berlin were carried out by the soviets, and while it can be argued that none of the raids against Berlin in the early war years were very effective for other than propaganda reasons, it did receive attention.

When Molotov visited Berlin to renegotiate the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, a meating was interrupted by a bombing raid and was moved to Ribbentrops personal air shelter. To his claim that Germany already had won the war. With typical tact he replied:

If that is so- then why are we in this shelter - and whose are those bombs that are falling?

I would not be surprized if the story is apocryphal, and expect that most of you already are familiar with it, but it is a damn good story, not only because it illustrates the point.

 

[Peter Gunn]

good choices except for the allison

Nothing wrong with the Allison pal, it was tough reliable got good fuel mileage and by the end developed damn good horsepower.

 

[Big Jake]

First some order:

R2600 didn't power any fighters only bombers - such as TBM, B-25 (prototype F6F an exception)

My best engines:

American:
R1820 - long list of applications from the F2A and F4F fighters to to B-17 bombers and C-47 transports throughout the war, and then the H-34 helicopters and T-28s afterwards.
R2800 - best radial engine of WW2
British:
RR Merlin - no need to explain: fighters, transports, bombers
German:
DB601 - great engine that suffered a lot of issues during the later part of the war through no fault of its own
Japanese:
Hakajima Sakae

Jake

 

[Milosh]

DB605 and DB603 were mid to late war engines.

 

[fastmongrel]

First bombing raid of WWII on Berlin was by the French June 7th 1940.

 

[Just Schmidt]

First bombing raid of WWII on Berlin was by the French June 7th 1940.

I guess I deserved that for trusting in an anglophone source.