KrazyKraut
Banned
- 337
- Apr 21, 2008
When would you have mass production of the F2/4 available? 1946?Thats a challenging point to support. In terms of the engines actually built, the Allied ones were better. Usually the point is made of the better thrust/unit area of the German axial types but the Metrovick F2 also exists. It offers more thrust, much lower fuel consumption, lower weight and greater lifetime. By 1945 you've got the F2/4 offering even more thrust with lower fuel consumption.
Because you are comparing apples and oranges. Turboprops and -jets. Besides that, turboprops are not all that practical for fighter aircraft.You've also got in 1945 the F3 and F5 turbofan and UDF running successfully offering 40% lower fuel consumption and 100% more thrust (4600lbf and 4800lbf respectively with sfc 0.66). The 004, 003 and 011 don't come anywhere close to competing on these technical issues - but are easier to produce with the limited resources available.
The main German advantage was choosing two engine categories early on, developing a set number for each and (more or less) killing all the other programs. If they chose the right ones is very debatable, but this way, they were able to actually field them. Imo British and German jet engine development was about on par in terms of being technically advanced. However the choices made by the Germans allowed them to field comparably cheap turbojets, which additionally could've been easily scaled up for more power. That never really came to pass though.The one German advantage, that they had been forced into studying air cooled turbine blades which eventually worked so lower amounts of specialised materials could be used. The German engines were suited to the type of war they were fighting and their restrictions. The Allied ones were better optimised for their war and peacetime postwar.