"The Secret Horsepower Race" - Available to pre-order (1 Viewer)

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jetcal1 said:
That is truly an awesome review. Apparently you're going to have to work harder on your next book to top what appears to be a tour de force your first time out of the gate.

Congratulations sir.
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You raise a valid point... I wont be able to get away with any tarted up Biggles stories from now on.... I`ve been really nervous waiting for reviews to come in.

I think realistically the only imminent publication might be a revised and slightly expanded editon next year if sales remain high. There were 3 archives
I was due to pilliage before Covid ruined it all, so might be some additional snippets to add one day.
 
I've had my copy for a few days now, ordered some time ago via Amazon UK.

I have not had time to read it in detail yet but have thoroughly enjoyed a few flicks through.

I would second that review, highly recommended. Bearing in mind that I have a higher education in chemistry, and not engineering, I have found it entirely understandable (so far!) and as the review said, anything that makes you want to do a little further research into a subject in which your knowledge is deficient can only be a good thing.

I strongly suspect that this will become one of those 'must have' books for those interested in this sort of thing, so get yours now

Big thanks to Calum for what is self evidently a lot of hard work. I hope that it was more a labour of love and less a chore!
 
stona said:
Big thanks to Calum for what is self evidently a lot of hard work. I hope that it was more a labour of love and less a chore!
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Thanks, I hope you like the rest of it. Broadly, I love the research side of it - I`m at my happiest in an archive somewhere (preferably alone) on a ladder
getting old dusty boxes down to see what I can find. Being honest, actually writing it was sometimes incredibly painful, because I`ve tried to fully
reference it, you cant just sit and type and tidy it up later, you do one paragraph then insert the reference number to the relevant document,
then repeat. Its incredibly laborious, makes writing very hard (because you cant just start typing a "stream of conciousness" as it comes into your head)
and so I understand why most authors dont bother. However, a book of any size, which does not tell the reader EXACTLY where each fact comes from, is, from a historical perspective - nearly worthless, as nobody will be able to ever verify, check, expand upon or use the source material from which it was made. So, I enjoyed half of the process...

Hopefully the readers will appreciate the bit I didnt like, which makes it balance out in the end !
 
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Link below for the podcast episode with James Allison, Technical Director of Mercedes F1, Chris Papaioanu, US Navy pilot and former head of Top-Gun pilot school, and myself talking Tech, Planes, Racing & history.

The Need for Speed
 
Got it, after a looooong wait. It took a week to read the first time, but I'm gonna have to read it again. Even the folks here need to be aware that this book makes no concessions to the casual reader. If you haven't got books by Gunston, Dan Whitney and Graham White on your shelves this is going to be a challenge but if your are interested in the technology of high-powered piston engines this is a feast.

(Although I'd like to have seen some coverage of the non-turbo R2800s and some intriguing Japanese engines, I know it is outside the scope. Pity.)
 

Thanks for your comments. I would just add that whilst I broadly agree with what you`ve said, and I think you for your compliment, - I do not particularly recommend anyone reads the Gunston books first, except if you want to get an overview in very general terms of how aero engines work. Most of his comments on German aero-engines are (sadly) very innacurate. So be really careful what you decide to absorb from it...

I do not think it is necessary to have read the other 2 books first either, I do recommend those two specifically in the book preface as extra-reading to fill in the areas which were simply impractical for me to cover (and was unnessesary to do twice, I dont think anyone needs to write Vees for Victory "again" as it were).

Whilst I do agree the book is uncompromising from a very general standpoint, I hope readers will appreciate that compared to how I would have written it for other engine designers, it is a completely different book. However, it is as you correctly point out - a demanding read, and there is material inside which you wont fully absorb if you are not an engineer, this is quite true. However, I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect any enthusiastic aviation fan with a modicum of interest in technology to follow the vast majority of whats happening.
 
Book is simply excellent, and it is real bargain.
German engines' descriptions in non-German language publications are best to be avoided.
 
I'm now at page 60 of serious reading. The book is so far pure gold, thank you Calum.
 
Snowygrouch said:
Link below for the podcast episode with James Allison, Technical Director of Mercedes F1, Chris Papaioanu, US Navy pilot and former head of Top-Gun pilot school, and myself talking Tech, Planes, Racing & history.

The Need for Speed
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I found the podcast really good - much better than a typical 'panel' discussion because although each participant specialised in different areas, they also had a deep understanding of each others' areas, making for good discussion.


The way I see it, you either want to truly understand these engines, and what makes one different from another, or you don't. If you're happy with a superficial understanding then that's easy. If you really want to understand what made the decisive differences between one engine and another, then there is an irreducible level of complexity to get your head around - and I think the book does a fairly decent job of explaining it. My own approach has always been that I like to have a full explanation of something, even if I cannot understand it all initially - sometimes I've come back to books years later and been able to get more out of them as my understanding has developed. Therefore I would personally recommend this book to anyone who's genuinely interested in WW2 aero engines, on the basis that if you're keen enough, you'll appreciate it even if some parts are a challenge.
 
I just ordered a copy. Looking forward to it. I see a Tempest on the cover. Is there much in the book about the boost levels cleared and used operationally with the Sabre IIB in the Tempest V? That still has me a bit perplexed.
 
Mike Williams said:
I just ordered a copy. Looking forward to it. I see a Tempest on the cover. Is there much in the book about the boost levels cleared and used operationally with the Sabre IIB in the Tempest V? That still has me a bit perplexed.
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I had to go and check as honestly I cant even remember whats in there in detail... firstly its not really a very good book for those wishing to get a complete database of WW2 aircraft/engine combination specifications and performance, its more about telling the overall story of it (in detail) rather than trying to be a sort of database.

On page 405 There is a graph of speed/altitude of:
Sabre II / Typhoon 1B +7lbs
Sabre IIA / Tempest V +9lbs
Sabre V / Tempest (estimate) +20lbs
Sabre E122 +25lbs (estimate) in on Napier schemed fighter (drawingboard only)

On page 445 is a reproduced "Sabre development tree" which I found, which for
the Sabre IIB says:

"Power plant of the Tempest, had vandervell thin wall bearings introduced to later engines.
Max Power 2420 BHP, Max RPM 3850, Max Boost Pressure +11lbs"

I also have a separate memo "D. Naper and Son Ltd, London W.3" which also says Sabre IIB +9lbs (these are also not in the book).



BHP RPM Carb Type Boost +Lbs Aircraft Wt. lb/bhp
The Sabre VA in 1947 was cleared to +15lbs, so that might help "bracket" the figure. (thats not in the book
as it basically ends when the war does except for the "post-mortem" of Germany chapter)

One weak area of the book, is that its not THAT good at laying out what ALL the airframe/engine combination
and their performance`s were - or making a detailed narrative of operational exploits. To be honest I didnt want to go too far down that rabbit-hole, as in my personal
view, its SO hard to match up what the real service performance was relative to the vast multitude of test-flights
and so on, that I felt if I`d tried to make a definitive data-base of that it would have engulfed so much page-space
and research time that I`d have damaged the "core mission" of the book which was a broad description of the
problems and tribulations of each firm.

When you see the monstrous size of the book as it is, you`ll probably understand why we had to say "STOP!"
 

Thanks Calum, great information. I don't want to clutter up your thread but in short I've seen quotes from Pierre Clostermann and F/O Ronald Dennis discussing the Sabre IIB operating at 3,850 rpm and +13 lbs boost after being fitted with Rotol props. This would have been in 1945 with the 2nd TAF. I don't recall seeing any primary source documents verifying these operating settings. Bit of a puzzler.
 
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