Bristol Taurus fighter engine mods? (3 Viewers)

[Shortround6]

About the Typhoon... naturally only its successor, the Tempest, was capable of fully exploiting an engine of that power. However, the idea of equipping the airframe with an air-cooled engine had not yet occurred to Sidney Camm.

Actually, it had occurred to Camm fairly early, Jan 1940? But the War in France and the BoB pushed it aside and the prototype did not fly until Oct 23 1941. But this was on the Tornado airframe and they had to wait for the Tempest airframe to go into production.

Finally, it is worth noting that the R-2600 and R-2800 were 2,000 hp-class engines, whereas the Tempest's Sabre IIC delivered 2,850 hp—roughly 40% more.

A lot depends on timing and the R-2600 was never a 2000hp class engine. The 1900hp R-2600 BB series engines did not show up until 1943 (?) and they never got better.
It also took quite some time for the Sabre IIC to get near 2850hp, (after WW II?)
Sabre was a 2200-2400hp engine for most of WW II and it needed the 3850rpm limit and 11lbs of boost to do that. 11lbs of boost in a Sabre also meant 150 PN fuel and not 100/130.

 

[yulzari]

And American engines would have to have been given back as soon as the war ended under lend lease terms. Leaving engineless airframes….. We saw the Royal Navy throwing literal carrier loads of perfectly good American made almost new aeroplanes into the sea.

Rather like the argument that Britain should have left tank production to the underused US factories which would have left the early Cold War British army walking around the battlefield in Sections mumbling "rumble, rumble. We are a tank"

There was a sound strategic basis for a UK production base.

 

[tomo pauk]

About the Typhoon... naturally only its successor, the Tempest, was capable of fully exploiting an engine of that power. However, the idea of equipping the airframe with an air-cooled engine had not yet occurred to Sidney Camm.

SR6 covered a lot here.
The Typhoon's sibling - Tornado - flew with a Centaurus in the nose years before Tempest did the same. Unfortunately, neither the Tempest/Tornado airframe nor the engine war really ready for war for another few years.

Finally, it is worth noting that the R-2600 and R-2800 were 2,000 hp-class engines, whereas the Tempest's Sabre IIC delivered 2,850 hp—roughly 40% more.

Staing the engine 'class' without specifying the year and altitude can be misleading. The R-2600 was barely in the 2000 HP class (it did 1900), and that was in 1943/44. The R-2800 was delivered as such 2 years earlier. Sabre was 2000 HP class engine inded.
What neither Sabre nor the R-2600 have had the 2-stage versions, apart from prototypes, while the 2-stage supercharged R-2800 was manufactured in many thousands. That was not in order to win the bar bets, but it paid off nicely above 15000 ft.
By winter of 1943/44, these R-2800s were doing 2200 HP, and the C series, as on the F4U-4, added another 200. These engines have also improved supercharging, for even better altitude performance. 2850HP Sabre was on the post-war Mk.V series, that started at 2600 HP, by what time the R-2800s were at 2500 HP. The wartime Sabres were maxing out at ~2400 HP with some engine mods and 150 grade fuel. All figures for low altitude.

(the turboed R-2800s went to 2600 HP in 1944, and 2800 with 150 grade fuel and water-alc injection)

 

[Admiral Beez]

Number of shops that could work on R-2800s was a lot greater once factory support started to dry up. It was more a question of using an R-2800 or not flying than any judgement on the quality of the Centaurus engine.

Good point. On that note, are there any Bristol sleeve valve engines still flying today?

 

[Howard Gibson]

No, of course not, since the Centaurus did not become operational until 1944. Although it had been unveiled early in the war, its development proceeded very slowly for various reasons—including Bristol's need to focus efforts on the Hercules, which powered many British aircraft, and the departure of Fedden from the company in 1942.

About the Typhoon... naturally only its successor, the Tempest, was capable of fully exploiting an engine of that power. However, the idea of equipping the airframe with an air-cooled engine had not yet occurred to Sidney Camm.

Finally, it is worth noting that the R-2600 and R-2800 were 2,000 hp-class engines, whereas the Tempest's Sabre IIC delivered 2,850 hp—roughly 40% more.

The Centaurus powered Tornado did 403mph according to William Green, and 421mph according to Bill Gunston. If Bill Gunston was right, 421mph at some altitude below 20,000ft is awesome.

A two-stage R2800 would have provided the originally intended high altitude performance to the Typhoon/Tornado. A regular R2800 would have provided good performance for the fighter bombers.

 

[Admiral Beez]

A regular R2800 would have provided good performance for the fighter bombers.

And if you need more, there's the 3,800 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major used on high-performance air racers like the famous Sea Fury "Dreadnought" for high-speed racing competitions.