Early Turbocharging Efforts

Yep, turbo charging, super charging, bootstraping, all efforts to get more high altitude performance. And don't forget the advantages of fuel injection on high altitude performance. I don't think i have seen nitrous, but would be interesting.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
Yep, turbo charging, super charging, bootstraping, all efforts to get more high altitude performance. And don't forget the advantages of fuel injection on high altitude performance. I don't think i have seen nitrous, but would be interesting.
Click to expand...
It would be interesting for 30 seconds. Best case because the tank ran out that fast, worst case because you blew up a cylinder.
 
great find! thanks for posting. Always looking for engine history stories, they explain so much about how we got to this point.
 
I think Bruce Bohannon used nitrous on his modified RV-4 to set the piston altitude record some years ago. Now I'll have to go look it up.

Ok, looked it up, the RV didn't use nitrous, just a huge turbo, and *only* made it to 47,500', not quite enough for the all time piston record (set by a B-29). His Pushy Galore did use nitrous to get an estimated 250 hp out of an O-200, and set numerous time to climb records.

Patrick
 
Last edited:
Oldmanb777 said:
Yep, turbo charging, super charging, bootstraping, all efforts to get more high altitude performance. And don't forget the advantages of fuel injection on high altitude performance. I don't think i have seen nitrous, but would be interesting.
Click to expand...

I'm confident that nitrous was used in experimental testing in the 30s and 40s. I know that a water/methanol mixture was used by the Germans in WW2 on their fighter aircraft. The duration was more than a few seconds too. I seem to recall numbers like 2 1/2 minutes or so.
 
2-Bit Speed said:
I'm confident that nitrous was used in experimental testing in the 30s and 40s. I know that a water/methanol mixture was used by the Germans in WW2 on their fighter aircraft. The duration was more than a few seconds too. I seem to recall numbers like 2 1/2 minutes or so.
Click to expand...
Why would you want such a thing unless you were fighting in a war?
 
Salty said:
Why would you want such a thing unless you were fighting in a war?
Click to expand...

Well, today the usefulness is dubious because of turbine engines. However, the mixture allowed the Germans to run higher effective compression on lower octane rated fuel. They achieved the compression through supercharging and the MW50 (their name for it) prevented knock.

Today, the militaries of the world use turbine powered aircraft and don't need a way to increase the performance of piston engines...
 
ADI (Anit Detonation fluid) was used in a lot of applications. Basically, as said, water and alcohol mixture. Unlike water injection used in turbines.
 
Salty said:
Why would you want such a thing unless you were fighting in a war?
Click to expand...
It was also used as a stop gap measure in some cases until a more powerful engine was designed. For example, the 1st Bell 206L models which had 7 seats vs the 5 of a 206B used the same C-20 400hp engine as a B since there was no other economical alternate. So they added a water-alcohol injection tank to the baggage compartment which allowed the L model to take off with a useful load on hot days. When the L1 came out several years later it had the new C-28 500hp engine which no longer need the water-alcohol injection.
 
I flew a straight L for a little while. In the summer. In southern Louisiana. What a dog. It was not a load carrier. It was sent to our Alaska operation. The water/alky tank was in the baggage compartment and had a supply for half dozen takeoffs. Maint dept overlooked refilling the tank frequently. Everyone suspected that the water/alky only cooled the temp sensor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top