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What lay behind the Germans being the only country to develope the inverted V12. The only thing I can see that the DB series and Junkers Jumo designs provide different from upright V12s is a lower thrust line. And the thrust line can be changed easier by different crank gearbox designs.
I can't see that it doesn't improve pilot vision, the crank sump is still in the way. It seems to me the inverted design introduced difficult oil scavaging problems.
Was their desire to develope motor cannons that fired thru the propelle hubr behind it ?
Why, why, why ?
Sorry TECThe crankshaft is nearer to the propellor simplifying the drive
Sorry TEC
I'm possibly missing something really fundamental here but what do you mean?
TECOn a spitfire For example the location of the propellor is approximately in line with the cylinder heads so there is a housing/gearbox to take the drive from the bottom of the engine to the top. With the engine inverted the end of the crankshaft is approximately in line with the propellor. Im not saying that is a reason for using it inverted but its an effect.
TEC
you would see a similar housing on a Daimler-Benz powerplant, the difference being, from the point of view of installation, it would be taking the drive from the top of the engine to the bottom.
By inverting the powerplant you are not moving anything internally, the airscrew (thrust line) will however move. Watch the .gif animations at the top of the page for the Spitfire and the Bf109.
Funny that the merlins and Allisons worked just fine standing up right.
On a spitfire For example the location of the propellor is approximately in line with the cylinder heads so there is a housing/gearbox to take the drive from the bottom of the engine to the top. With the engine inverted the end of the crankshaft is approximately in line with the propellor. Im not saying that is a reason for using it inverted but its an effect.
PresumablySO why did the Me-110 have inverted engines then?