The "best fighter engine in the world"

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From the latest Reno air races, it looks like the good old Wasp Major would have been the best and fast as well in the correct airframe.
 
wuzak said:
So long as that fighter didn't have to go over 5,000ft.

Reno has also shown us that the R-3350 and Merlin are pretty good engines.
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Not this year they weren't too good. Over 5,000 feet???, that is pretty much the altitude of the south part of idaho and then there is the mile high city.
The Wasp could go any place there is air to be found, just need the right device to pack it.
 
fastmongrel said:
What have air races in 2018 got to do with WWII.


That statement makes about as much sense as claiming a win at a race proves anything.
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he is projecting again. The Wasp Major (and he really shouldn't use the name Wasp by it self as every Piston engine built by P & W had Wasp in the name somewhere as did some of their jets) wasn't used at Reno this year so it couldn't have shown anything anyway.

The race results are also sporadic. Aside from the difference between some of the race planes and "stock" aircraft part of the field was made up of "stock" aircraft to bring up the numbers and make a better "show".
And the winner only needs to go as fast as it takes to win, not go as fast as the plane is capable of. Breaking engines in flight is both expensive and dangerous.
Many a race has been "won" by a plane running in 3rd place at a slower pace when the 2 planes in front drop out with malfunctioning engines so the race proves what?
 
The Wasp Major wasn't used in any fighters produced in significant numbers; neither was the R-3350, although both engines did see extensive use in other types of aircraft.

In reality, of course, there was no "best fighter engine"; there were engines that provided sufficient power with sufficient reliability and sufficiently low maintenance requirements that were properly integrated into well-designed airframes. Grumman, Vought, and Republic managed that with the R-2800, North American and Supermarine with the Merlin, Curtiss, Bell, and, eventually, Lockheed with the V-1710. German, Japanese, and Soviet designers had comparable successes and failures with their engines.
 
Definitive information is hard to come by but the Russians were not happy with the engine life of the Hispano when they negotiated the licence for it in the early 30s and demanded a test of the engine before actually committing to the contract. The first engine failed 11 hours into the test (broken crankshaft) and number of modifications were done. The first French built engines were derated to 750hp from 850hp, weight went from 966lbs to 1047lbs for the modified engines.
The Hispano may not have been a bad engine in 1933/34 (what else was in production?) but this somewhat flawed base followed the Hispano and Russian "M-100" series engines through to the end. Like many engines, attempts to increase power resulted in weight increases to handle the higher stress. Russians even took the step of using a slightly smaller bore in order to use slightly thicker cylinder walls.
There was more to the short service life of the Russian "M-100" series engines than poor Russian oil or poor operating procedures/maintenance. The Early Hispanos did NOT use counterweights on the crankshaft and while this worked (just) at a max of 2400rpm it didn't work at higher rpm.
The Hispano and it's derivatives were very light engines for the size/displacement and needed considerable beefing up in the later versions with higher power.
 
Many sources I've read claim the Russian pilots flew at full throttle from takeoff. Of course, I have no first hand confirmation.
 
Its the PLANES man, da planes, same ones that did the big one. And well yeah the engines too.
 
PWR4360-59B said:
Its the PLANES man, da planes, same ones that did the big one. And well yeah the engines too.
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Please list a major fighter program of any country that built a substantial number of R3350 or R4360 powered fighters that saw frontline service in multiple squadrons.
 
jetcal1 said:
Please list a major fighter program of any country that built a substantial number of R3350 or R4360 powered fighters that saw frontline service in multiple squadrons.
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Those engines are part of the WW2 engine history, they were developed during war time. Oh and I guess you forgot the B29 had R3350's and there were many built towards the end of the war, I guess you forgot the ones that dropped the big ones on japan ?? Yes R-3350's on B29's. WW2 aircraft site here not FIGHTER plane specific. Yeah I guess the thread is though sorry. Thats what happens when we get a bit older I guess. So I should stop with this topic here.
 

Hello -59B, the topic sounded like it was limited to fighter aircraft. (For the sake of civility, I think we can accept the XBT2D-1.) And, given the issues of valve/cylinder head fire problems with the 3350 installation in -29, do you really want to cite the 3350 while it was imitating the RR Vulture or DB 606?
Cheers! JC1
 
I'm glad alcohol isn't served. Sounds like a bar fight about to begin. Remember, we all love airplanes. That's what I used to tell my lifelong buddy. Our favorite argument was "split flaps cause more drag than lift". Of course, he was right but I wouldn't admit it.
 

No, these threads are being watched.

One thing I will add to everyone here however is to treat others as you wish to be treated. If you ride into a discussion on a high horse with a holier than though "I know better than everyone" attitude as someone is doing, you cannot expect others to respond any differently. Typically that is what turns a discussion sour.
 
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Am I being rude?
 
special ed said:
Many sources I've read claim the Russian pilots flew at full throttle from takeoff. Of course, I have no first hand confirmation.
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The Russians had some engines that would not last 50 hours in service and that was the official life, not necessarily the life the using squadrons were getting.
One account of the Russian PE-8 bomber with diesel engines says the crews looked back fondly on the AM-35 powered versions due to their reliability and yet the Mig-3 with AM-35 were some of the ones lucky to make it to 50 hours. Getting reliable figures for Russian engines is very difficult.
The Russians did beef up the basic Hispano several times as it went from M-100 to M-103 to M-105 and then to the later models of the M-105. It gained several hundred pounds along the way and the improvements were usually due to the engines breaking or showing problems on test stands before they ever got it into service.
 
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