best engine of the war

GregP · Oct 15, 2021

Not trying to argue, but what does this have to do with WWII aircraft or, more specifically, the best engine of the war?

I'm nominating the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 with the Rolls Royce Merlin being in a near dead heat for the best. There are quite a few "good" ones, though, on both the Allied and Axis side.

wuzak · Oct 15, 2021

GregP said:
We know which side won, but I think the Bf 109 shot down WAY many more airplanes.

Because the Bf 109 had way more opportunity than any western fighter. More even than other Luftwaffe fighter.

GrauGeist · Oct 15, 2021

wuzak said:
Because the Bf 109 had way more opportunity than any western fighter.

Wait, wasn't there the P-3....

Oh no.
Nope. Not going to say it.

Nothing to see here, folks.
Keep scrolling.

GregP · Oct 16, 2021

More opportunities than the Curtiss-Wright CW-21?

Never mind.

JDCAVE · Oct 16, 2021

I wonder how the air war would have gone if the Germans had 100-octane from the start?

dedalos · Oct 16, 2021

JDCAVE said:
I wonder how the air war would have gone if the Germans had 100-octane from the start?

Propably nothing. While fuel and raw materials were great problems, decision making was the main problem.
Even with the historically available engines they could have much better performing fighters. Fw190c(v13), instead of d series, fiat g56 instead of me 410, Fw187c instead of bf110g and me 410, and of course an aerodynamic bf 109( not even the k4 did not have all the possible improvement s)

buffnut453 · Oct 16, 2021

GrauGeist said:
Wait, wasn't there the P-3....

Oh no.
Nope. Not going to say it.

Nothing to see here, folks.
Keep scrolling.

Well done! I told you that therapy would help your addiction! Awesome display of self-control and application of coping mechanisms!

JDCAVE · Oct 16, 2021

dedalos said:
Propably nothing. While fuel and raw materials were great problems, decision making was the main problem.
Even with the historically available engines they could have much better performing fighters. Fw190c(v13), instead of d series, fiat g56 instead of me 410, Fw187c instead of bf110g and me 410, and of course an aerodynamic bf 109( not even the k4 did not have all the possible improvement s)

Sorry. I should have said 150 octane fuels. In any event, the German fuels were inferior to those of the allies. I have a document somewhere that discusses this. For now, this website seems to have some authority on the subject.

150 Grade Fuel

100/150 Grade Fuel, WWII Aircraft Performance Data

www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org

jim

11bwmech · Oct 18, 2021

GregP said:
What's an enigine?

Hey VA5124, it's OK to misspell. We do it in here all the time. Just kicking a little bit, as gets done to me and a lot of others. No insult intended.

My vote for radial would be the Pratt & Whitney R-2800.

My vote for an inline would be a tie between the DB 600 series and the Merlin series.

I think these 3 engine series did more for the WWII war effort than any others, but you could make a case for the R-1830.

I think it is amusing that everyone notices an extra inserted letter, but no one seems to care about the constant and repeated use of "it's" for "its." Possessive pronouns don't use apostrophes; only nouns do. "It's" is a contraction meaning "it is." So all of you who misuse it have just been cited by the grammar police.

11bwmech · Oct 18, 2021

Big Jake said:
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

The gooney bird (C-47) used the R1830, not the 1820.

soulezoo · Oct 18, 2021

11bwmech said:
The gooney bird (C-47) used the R1830, not the 1820.

Are you certain its a R1830??

GrauGeist · Oct 18, 2021

The C-47 (R4D) used the R-1830-90 engines, however, the R4D-8 used the R-1820-80.

kiwi2wheels · Oct 18, 2021

tonycat77 said:
AM-38 for me:
A lot of power for a early war engine, reliable*, able to be made in poor conditions in gigantic numbers.
*Probably?, i doubt a single unit survived more than it's plane to demand a overhaul.View attachment 644279

Where is the museum you took the pic please?

spicmart · Oct 18, 2021

Calum Douglas rated the Jumo 213 as the engine with the most modern concept as well as the one with the highest development potential. The peak would have been the Jumo 213N generating 2900 PS using C3 fuel and MW50.

nuuumannn · Oct 18, 2021

GregP said:
We know which side won, but I think the Bf 109 shot down WAY many more airplanes.

Yup, even back in the Battle of Britain, the Bf 109 shot down more Spitfires and Hurricanes than Spitfires and Hurricanes shot down Bf 109s, achieving a kill ratio of 1.2 to 1 in favour of the Bf 109s, but Fighter Command compared to the Luftwaffe had a greater kill ratio of just about 2 to 1, which is significant because the Brits were primarily after the bombers at any rate.

It's worth noting that Theo Osterkamp determined that to achieve victory over Fighter Command, a kill ratio of 5 to 1 was required - the Jagdgeschwader never got remotely close to that ratio.

kiwi2wheels said:
Where is the museum you took the pic please?

Looks to me like the MLP in Cracow.

Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie

Oficjalna strona Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie

muzeumlotnictwa.pl

kiwi2wheels · Oct 18, 2021

nuuumannn said:
Yup, even back in the Battle of Britain, the Bf 109 shot down more Spitfires and Hurricanes than Spitfires and Hurricanes shot down Bf 109s, achieving a kill ratio of 1.2 to 1 in favour of the Bf 109s, but Fighter Command compared to the Luftwaffe had a greater kill ratio of just about 2 to 1, which is significant because the Brits were primarily after the bombers at any rate.

It's worth noting that Theo Osterkamp determined that to achieve victory over Fighter Command, a kill ratio of 5 to 1 was required - the Jagdgeschwader never got remotely close to that ratio.

Looks to me like the MLP in Cracow.

Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie

Oficjalna strona Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie

muzeumlotnictwa.pl

Thank you.

DrumBob · Oct 18, 2021

The first thought that came into my head was the Rolls Royce Merlin.

tonycat77 · Oct 18, 2021

kiwi2wheels said:
Where is the museum you took the pic please?

From wikipedia, seems like a Czech one from the text.

nuuumannn · Oct 18, 2021

tonycat77 said:
From wikipedia, seems like a Czech one from the text.

Close...

"Kosice, Slovakia."

Mikulin AM-38 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Mind you, I got it wrong in thinking it was in Poland!

nuuumannn · Oct 18, 2021

kiwi2wheels said:
Thank you.

Don't thank me just yet, I've led you astray, it's in the Slovak Republic.

A Visit to Museum of Aviation in Kosice - KN Aviation

Kosice, Slovakia’s second-largest city is home to the country’s best-known aviation museum. The city’s Museum of Aviation, or Letecke Muzeum Kosice as it’s known in Slovak, first opened its doors to the public in 2002 and is a branch of the Slovak Technical Museum. While most of the aircraft on...

knaviation.net

best engine of the war

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