Showing posts with label engine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label engine. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Fighters


Fighters in WW2 > .

Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-8

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Pt. 1, design philosophy and features >
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Pt.2 > .
A lot of the characteristics that make the 190 a deadly fighter are difficult to quantify. It's not the planes speed, maneuverability or any other easy to measure performance standard. In fact, for most of the war, it's performance was only about average as compared with other front line fighters. What made the 190 special was the designer Kurt Tank's design philosophy which was unusual at the time.

Focke-Wulf Ta 152 H-1 Extreme Speed At High Altitudes > .

Thursday, September 10, 2020

Supermarine Spitfire

.
Spitfire story - Mark IX > .
Supermarine Spitfire | Effective WW2 Fighter Aircraft - HiHi > .
Spitfire Mk I Cockpit - IWM > .
Spitfire Cockpit - Dials > .


Introduction 0:00 
The Origins Of The Spitfire 4:27 
The Spitfire Prototype And Design 7:43 
303 Browning Machine Gun, 20mm Hispano Cannon 13:18 
The Spitfire MK I And MK II 16:41 
The Spitfire MK V 19:47 
Spitfire vs Bf 109 22:46 
Spitfire vs Focke Wulf 190 27:34 
The Spitfire MK IX, MK VI, MK VII and MK VIII 32:11 
Spitfire MK XII, MK XIV, MK 21 and MK 24 38:07 .
 

History > .

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Kettenkrad

Was the Kettenkrad useless? >

The Sd.Kfz. 2 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2), better known as the Kleines Kettenkraftrad HK 101 or Kettenkrad for short (pl. Kettenkräder; where Ketten means "chains" or "tracks" and krad is the military abbreviation of the German word Kraftrad, the administrative German term for motorcycle), started its life as a light tractor for airborne troops. The vehicle was designed to be delivered by Junkers Ju 52 aircraft, though not by parachute. The vehicle had the advantage of being the only gun tractor small enough to fit inside the hold of the Ju 52, and was the lightest mass-produced German military vehicle to use the complex Schachtellaufwerk overlapped and interleaved road wheels used on almost all German military half-track vehicles of WW2.

Steering the Kettenkrad was accomplished by turning the handlebars: Up to a certain point, only the front wheel would steer the vehicle. A motion of the handlebars beyond that point would engage the track brakes to help make turns sharper. It was also possible to run the vehicle without the front wheel installed and this was recommended in extreme off-road conditions where speed would be kept low.

The Sd.Kfz. 2 was designed and built by the NSU Werke AG at Neckarsulm, Germany. Patented in June 1939, it was first used in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Later in the war Stoewer from Stettin also produced Kettenkrads under license, accounting for about 10% of the total production.

Most Kettenkräder saw service on the Eastern Front, where they were used to lay communication cables, pull heavy loads and carry soldiers through the deep Russian mud. Later in the war, Kettenkräder were used as runway tugs for aircraft, especially for the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, and sometimes the Arado Ar 234 jet reconnaissance-bomber. In order to save aviation fuel, a German jet aircraft would be towed to the runway, rather than taxiing under its own power.

The vehicle was also used in the North African theater and on the Western Front.

The Kettenkrad came with a special trailer (Sd.Anh.1) that could be attached to it to improve its cargo capacity.

Being a tracked vehicle, the Kettenkrad could climb up to 24° in sand and even more on hard ground.

Only two significant sub-variations of the Kettenkrad were constructed. Production of the vehicle was stopped in 1944, at which time 8,345 had been built. After the war, production resumed at NSU. Around 550 Kettenkräder were built for agricultural use, with production ending in 1948 (some sources say 1949).

Monday, March 11, 2019

Rolls-Royce - London, Derby, Crewe

Merlin - Engine that won the war > .
Rolls-Royce Merlin - one of the most important engines of WW2 > .
Poor Boy Who Invented World's Most Luxurious Car - BusStor > .

Rolls-Royce - London, Derby, Crewe

The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later called Merlin following the company convention of naming its piston aero engines after birds of prey.

After several modifications, the first production variants of the PV-12 were completed in 1936. The first operational aircraft to enter service using the Merlin were the Fairey Battle, Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. More Merlins were made for the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber than for any other aircraft; however, the engine is most closely associated with the Spitfire, starting with the Spitfire's maiden flight in 1936. A series of rapidly applied developments, brought about by wartime needs, markedly improved the engine's performance and durability.

One of the most successful aircraft engines of the World War II era, some fifty marks of Merlin were built by Rolls-Royce in Derby, Crewe and Glasgow, as well as by Ford of Britain at their Trafford Park factory, near Manchester.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Merlin

The Rolls-Royce Griffon is a British 37-litre (2,240 cu in) capacity, 60-degree V-12, liquid-cooled aero engine designed and built by Rolls-Royce Limited. In keeping with company convention, the Griffon was named after a bird of prey, in this case the griffon vulture.

Design work on the Griffon started in 1938 at the request of the Fleet Air Arm, for use in new aircraft designs such as the Fairey Firefly. In 1939 it was also decided that the engine could be adapted for use in the Spitfire. However, development was temporarily put on hold to concentrate efforts on the smaller Merlin and the 24-cylinder Vulture, and the engine did not go into production until the early 1940s.

The Griffon was the last in the line of V-12 aero engines to be produced by Rolls-Royce with production ceasing in 1955. Griffon engines remain in Royal Air Force service today with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and power the last remaining airworthy Avro Shackleton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Griffon

Crewe

The British government built a shadow factory in Crewe in 1938 for Rolls-Royce where they could build their Merlin and Griffon aero engines. In 1946 car production was moved there for space to construct bodies and to leave space for aero engines at Derby. The site was bought from the government in 1973. It is now Bentley Crewe

Second World War

Production focussed on aero engines but a variant of the Merlin engine, known as the Meteor, was developed for the Cromwell tank. The Meteor's development completed in 1943 the same team at the Belper foundry restarted work on an eight-cylinder car engine widening its uses and it became the pattern for the British Army's B range of petrol engines for post war combat vehicles in particular in Alvis's FV600 range, Daimler's Ferret, Humber's Hornet and Pig and Austin's Champ.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Limited

Rolls-Royce Crewe

In preparation for war, Rolls Royce and the British Government searched for a location for a shadow factory to ensure production of aero-engines. Crewe, with its excellent road and rail links, as well as being located in the northwest away from the aerial bombing starting in mainland Europe, was a logical choice. Crewe also had extensive open farming land. Construction of the factory started on a 60-acre area on the potato fields of Merrill's Farm in July 1938, with the first Rolls Royce Merlin aero-engine rolling off the production line five months later. 25,000 Merlin engines were produced and at its peak, in 1943 during World War II, the factory employed 10,000 people.

Car production

With the war in Europe over and the general move towards the then new jet engines, Rolls Royce concentrated its aero engine operations at Derby and moved motor car operations to Crewe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentley_Crewe#Rolls-Royce_Crewe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Motors

Monday, July 9, 2018

Technological Innovation - Timeline

1940s - War: Mother of Invention > .
RDF ..

1900s to 1990s - inventions >> .
1930s

1940s
Machines
Britain's greatest machines >> .

1940s: Radar, RAF High Speed Launch (HSL), AFS, 1941 Jowett pump, Austin 12 taxi, Austin K Fire Truck, WLA & David Brown VAK1 tractor, cavity magnetron & H2S, Daimler Scout Car (Dingo), Bren Gun, gas turbine = Whittle jet engine, Gloster Pioneer & Meteor, ejector seat, Aston Martin DB1 & DB2 & DBR1

Of zoos and fire-fighting, today and in wartime
https://web.archive.org/web/20110902160428/http://worldwarzoogardener1939.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/of-zoos-and-fire-fighting-today-and-in-wartime/

Inventions that shook the world - S01E01 - THE 1900'S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGZPnj9QTao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuituZMCnm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82Oh6xJ25U0

1910s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqRXfCRakBg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWSMJFeBfj4
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWZd-gHTah5CuJVlQgNFmk5jeh0-7mNx

1920s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vik6-BI0zv8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYK6eydYBXM
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWZd-gHTah5CuJVlQgNFmk5jeh0-7mNx

Inventions That Shook The World - S01E04 - THE 1930'S
1930s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWK9KtZM2E
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWZd-gHTah5CuJVlQgNFmk5jeh0-7mNx

1940s

RADAR
https://youtu.be/LYfYGeqL8mM?t=21m24s

Inventions That Shook The World - S01E05 - THE 1940'S
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKgRZ0Ttfzw

Britain's Greatest Machines - S02E03: 1940s - War: Mother of Invention (5.1 DPL II, HD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-bvOFjSPv4

Britain's greatest machines
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWZd-gHTah5CuJVlQgNFmk5jeh0-7mNx

How A Crazy Laboratory Accident Helped Create Plastic - Seeker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ML0PN_zvML8

Plastics - A History and its Contribution to Society - 1940's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daDM4zeYofA

The British Plastics Industry - 1945 Educational Documentary - WDTVLIVE42
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i38Yz4pFQRk

Inventions of War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYfYGeqL8mM

Jeep Hx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1JhkQ3evqg1950s

Sunday, December 4, 2016

1921-12-9 Lead additive, petrol



Engine knock, sometimes referred to as ‘pinging’, is caused by the improper timing of fuel combustion in an engine’s cycle. By occurring too early, the explosive ignition causes a shock-wave that can cause serious damage to the engine cylinder.

Thomas Midgeley Jr. was a mechanical engineer at the US automobile manufacturer General Motors, where he was tasked with finding a way to prevent engine knock. Although he had already found that mixing gasoline with ethanol would reduce knock by raising the octane level of the fuel, it was a process that was impossible to patent and thus make any significant profit from.

Midgeley continued his search for a suitable additive and on 9 December 1921, after working through thousands of chemicals, he finally identified tetraethyl lead. Ignoring the dangers that this neurotoxin presented, leaded gasoline soon became a standard feature on forecourts across the world while the additive itself became known as TEL under the brand name Ethyl

A few months after his discovery, Midgeley had to take time away from the laboratory due to lead poisoning. Some of his colleagues were not as lucky. Within a year ten workers at the lead plant had died, while dozens more experienced neurological symptoms including tremors, hallucinations and fits. Despite these evident dangers, leaded gasoline continued to be the standard fuel for automobiles until it was ordered to be phased out in the 1970s.

Midgeley himself later went on to develop the first CFCs, making him the creator of two products that have caused serious long-lasting damage to both human health and the environment.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

1906-3-15: Rolls-Royce Limited, UK


1906-3-15: Rolls-Royce Limited established in Britain > .
Rolls-Royce Merlin - one of the most important engines of WW2 > .
The Insane Engineering of the Spitfire - Real Engineering > .
Poor Boy Who Invented World's Most Luxurious Car - BusStor > .
Merlin - Engine that won the war > .

Englishman Frederick Henry Royce had established an electrical engineering firm in 1884 but, by the start of the twentieth century, he was facing increasing competition from German and American manufacturers. In response he turned his attention to designing his own motor car, and he completed the first of three two-cylinder Royce 10 prototypes at his Manchester factory in 1904.

Based on a 1901 two-cylinder Decauville, one of the cars was sold to Henry Edmunds who was friends with Charles Rolls of the C.S. Rolls & Co. car dealership in London. Despite specialising in imported French and Belgian vehicles, Rolls was impressed by the Royce 10 and Edmunds subsequently arranged for him to meet Royce at the Midland Hotel. This led to an agreement on 23 December through which Rolls would sell every car Royce manufactured. These ranged from the original 10 hp two-cylinder up to a 30 hp six-cylinder model.

The manufacturer-salesman partnership between the two men proved to be an incredible success and, on 15 March 1906, they formalised their relationship with the establishment of Rolls-Royce Limited. With increased sales thanks to the combination of Royce’s high quality engineering and Rolls’ business expertise, the company soon opened a dedicated factory in Derby in 1908.

It was from this base that Rolls-Royce later established a reputation for the development of aero engines. In the Second World War their V-12 Merlin engine powered the iconic British Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, while modern Rolls-Royce jet engines are fitted to aircraft such as the Airbus A380.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Me 262

Messerschmitt Me 262 - 1 > .
Was the Messerschmitt Me 262 significant? >
Messerschmitt Me 262 - 2 > .  
Germany's Last-Ditch Efforts/Inventions - Too Little, Too Late [WW2] - Front > .

The Messerschmitt Me 262, nicknamed Schwalbe (Swallow) in fighter versions, or Sturmvogel (Storm Bird) in fighter-bomber versions, was the world's first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft. Several years before World War II, the Germans foresaw the great potential for aircraft that used the jet engine constructed by Hans Joachim Pabst von Ohain in 1936. Design work started before WW2 began, but problems with engines, metallurgy and top-level interference kept the aircraft from operational status with the Luftwaffe until mid-1944. The Me 262 was faster and more heavily armed than any Allied fighter, including the British jet-powered Gloster Meteor. One of the most advanced aviation designs in operational use during WW2 the Me 262's roles included light bomber, reconnaissance and experimental night fighter versions.

Me 262 pilots claimed a total of 542 Allied aircraft shot down, although higher claims are sometimes made. The Allies countered its effectiveness in the air by attacking the aircraft on the ground and during takeoff and landing. Strategic materials shortages and design compromises on the Junkers Jumo 004 axial-flow turbojet engines led to reliability problems. Attacks by Allied forces on fuel supplies during the deteriorating late-war situation also reduced the effectiveness of the aircraft as a fighting force. Armament production within Germany was focused on more easily manufactured aircraft. In the end, the Me 262 had a negligible impact on the course of the war as a result of its late introduction and the consequently small numbers put in operational service.

While German use of the aircraft ended with the close of WW2, a small number were operated by the Czechoslovak Air Force until 1951. It also heavily influenced several designs, such as Sukhoi Su-9 (1946) and Nakajima Kikka. Captured Me 262s were studied and flight tested by the major powers, and ultimately influenced the designs of post-war aircraft such as the North American F-86 Sabre, MiG-15 and Boeing B-47 Stratojet. Several aircraft survive on static display in museums, and there are several privately built flying reproductions that use modern General Electric J85 engines.

sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...