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One thing that is a bit of a mystery is the Bramo 329 which was cancelled in favor of the BMW 14 cylinder engine developments with Bamo being folded into BMW. The BMW 801 seemed to take a lot of work to reach a serviceable form. Would the 329 have been a better bet? Reportedly it was achieving 2000 hp on the test stand when it was cancelled.
The BMW 801 was pretty much just the two projects merged into one after the 139 had its issues; they took the best of both and made the 801.In design terms the 323 was basically a dead-end with little growth potential. By the start of the war its 1,000 hp was already at the low end of the performance scale, and use was limited to transports and bombers. In order to build a 1,500 hp-class engine Bramo started development of a two-row version of the engine as the Bramo 329, mirroring similar developments at BMW who were trying to scale up their Pratt Whitney Hornet into the two-row BMW 139. Design of both engines was well advanced in 1939 when BMW bought Bramo, and cancelled work on the 329 to concentrate on what would become the excellent BMW 801.
Not bad, but superseded by the merging of the 329 and 139 projects. The 801 was the result of the best of both.One wonders just how good or bad the BMW-139 was?
That's kind of hard to say, Dessau was the original producer of all new types of Jumo engines; they weren't a mass production facility, rather they custom built the new engines in small batches; so the limited production of the Jumo 211A in April 1937 was the beginning of production, it just took time to get the mass production facilities tooled up the new engine. So in effect it was already in mass production in April 1937, it just took time to get the mass production facilities ready to make it while the custom small batch jobs were being done at Dessau to get them into service until the assembly line type facilities took over the Dessau moved on to new developments.And here we go
"DB601 and Jumo211 engines are production ready or close to it."
While the DB 601 was running in Jan of 1936 first contract was not placed until Feb 1937 and first series (not prototype) engine delivered Nov 1937.
Wiki is a bit confusing on the Jumo 211.
" first prototyped at Jumo's Dessau plant in 1935 and started testing in April 1936" is a little confusing?
" Limited production of the 1,000 PS Jumo 211A started in April 1937 at Dessau, with just over 1,000 completed before full production was started at Magdeburg in July" 1000 engines in 3-4 months was higher production than any other aircraft engine in the world at the time. and does not line up with
"The first prototype aircraft powered by the 211A appeared in late 1937" First prototype aircraft flies with a Jumo 211 in late 1937 yet by this time they well over 1000 completed engines?
No matter how you look at, in reality, the DB 601 and Jumo 211 are NOT ready for production or close to it in Jan of 1936, they are a year and half or more away.
What further development? It was pretty close to topped out by 1936 and the only real major gains were to be made by moving up the displacement ladder, which really only made sense by melding two versions of the engine together (or 7 cylinder versions of it).Did BMW139 have a running prototype as of January 1936? If not how can we justify starting the program from scratch when 1936 BMW132 engine requires further development and we are about to start new programs for DB603 and Jumo213 engines?
Agreed, but the problem was the RLM was thinking politically; they needed an engine in 1936 in case things got unpleasant as a result of Hitler's foreign policy. Also it was a make work project designed to bolster employment too, plus it gave DB experience with producing a modern V12 engine, which was also the rationale behind producing the early marks of the Bf110 despite it being virtually useless until 1939 when it got the DB601.Carbureted DB600 engine.
Historically nobody wanted this engine except RLM. They forced Daimler-Benz to produce it rather then beginning production with fuel injected DB601. Retooling from DB600 to DB601 cost Daimler-Benz money and delayed engine production. That should not be allowed to happen. DB601 should be mass produced at Genshagen beginning January 1937 as Daimler-Benz wanted.
Did BMW139 have a running prototype as of January 1936? If not how can we justify starting the program from scratch when 1936 BMW132 engine requires further development and we are about to start new programs for DB603 and Jumo213 engines?
...
Carbureted DB600 engine.
Historically nobody wanted this engine except RLM. They forced Daimler-Benz to produce it rather then beginning production with fuel injected DB601. Retooling from DB600 to DB601 cost Daimler-Benz money and delayed engine production. That should not be allowed to happen. DB601 should be mass produced at Genshagen beginning January 1937 as Daimler-Benz wanted.
Since the major differences between the 600 and the 601 were in the induction system how much of loss in tooling was there? Need new lathes or fixtures for the crankshafts? Need new machinery for making pistons or con rods? new casting cores for crankcase or cylinder blocks?
2281 DB 600s were built.
I would also like to know where this fully developed/ ready to go fuel injection system was hiding.
Junkers went through a number of versions of the Jumo 210 before the "G" version got fuel injection and started appearing in production planes in 1938. Test versions would obviously be available earlier but the idea that DB had a fully developed/ready to go fuel injection system in 1936 and was forced not to use it by the RLM is going to take a LOT of proof. As will the complementary idea that the supercharger drive and supercharger design used on the DB 601 was already designed and sitting on a shelf while DB was forced to use an older design supercharger and single speed drive on the DB 600.
1936 Germany has aircraft powered by BMW132 engine and that won't change for at least five years. You've got to maintain full support for the engine program. So why not make improvements such as adding fuel injection system currently being employed on BMW VI engine?Why flog out the 9 cylinder, if the current state of art allows design of 14 cyl radial?