Fuel injection was developed by Bosch for Mercedes aero engines in the 1930's, because carbies stop working in high g-force dives. (which is why Spitfires roll over one wing into a dive rather than just pushing the nose down). Italy was a German ally and were given the technology for their aircraft industry. They came up with electro-mechanical injection because they didn't have the fine manufacturing capability needed to make the Bosch mechanical pump. Alfa used it on their race cars because of the poor quality fuel during WW2.
You mean the Merlin which was developed from the Kestrel, which was copied from the American Curtiss D-12?
K Kestrel is RR and as far as the Curtiss motor my understanding is in design only similar,a single block machined to suit pistons?
I think also Mercedes Benz and Junkers might also have had a good look at the drawings of the Curtiss D-12?
The early Spitfires did indeed suffer from temporary fuel starvation at high negative g’s, but that was remedied (at least partially) in later versions by the installation of a metal diaphragm across the float chambers. Only one Spitfire ever had proper fuel injection.
Often read when say you compare a 109 to same period Hurricane or Spitfire , the Me109 could dive better but the English planes had a better turning circle or skill of the pilot and often how much fuel load the planes had left in a fight . Give me a P51 any day with its fuel range .
yes, a lot of aero engine development happened in the 30's, when everyone was friends for a while. I suspect the Japs copied their radial engines from the Americans too.
The Me109 had a canon armament advantage for a while too, Spits and Hurricanes started out with machine guns only.
I was reading up on the Curtiss, and the Schneider trophy post 1924 , all won by 12 cylinder engines , Curtiss,Fiat , RR. all very similar . The Curtiss win for the US flown by James Doolittle , all American iconic hero.
The 109 was better than the early Spitfires in some respects (such as the dive), but was severely limited by fuel range / endurance. It was significantly better than the Hurricane above 20,000ft in virtually every respect. But the Hurricane's job was to shoot down the bombers, leaving the Spitfire to deal with the 109s (and later, 190s). The Spitfire overall was probably the better aircraft, and it kept getting better as the war went on, whereas the 109 was at the end of its development by around '41-'42. The later versions (although more powerful and faster) were actually worse as combat aircraft as they became heavier and less nimble. The 190, on the other hand was far superior to the Spit Mk V when it entered the war, and they had to quickly come up with what turned out to be the Mk IX to deal with it on a more or less even basis. The Mk IX turned out to be probably the best of the Spitfires in many respects. I love the P51 but it doesn't pull on the heartstrings anything like the way a Spitfire does, even if it is a better aircraft in almost every way. I'd take a Spitfire above any of the others any day of the week.
Spot on the ME109 IMo was 1930s aircraft and the Spitfire got better and better more blades, more HP.But it also was limited by fuel range .
I was at Goodwood for the Battle of Britain day a few years back, lots of fabulous aircraft. The car parks at Goodwood have fairly high hedges around them. As we got to our car afterwards a Spitfire came over about 6 foot above the hedge - I sh@t myself but what a moment!
True. The lack of range is probably the only real weak point in the Spitfire (if you ignore the pitifully fragile undercarriage). The early Spits and Hurricanes had 8 x .303 machine guns, whereas the 109s had (generally) 2 machine guns and either one or three 20mm cannon. The Brits soon worked out that the .303s on their own weren't much chop, and the most common armament for Spitfires after the Battle of Britain was 2 x 20mm cannon and four machine guns. The Mustang came along with 6 x .5in machine-guns (and the P-47 had 8x 0.5in!) which was a pretty good call.
Ian ,perhaps the Rolls Royce Kestrel was copied from the 1917 Napier Lion v12? That pre Curtiss D-12 . All these engine have a wonderful pre war 2 history in that they were all designed for the Schneider trophy .
fantastic ,have you ever been to Duxford ,I've have not been to either but that would be my choice over the car race meet.
Brilliant! Where's that video of the Spitfire nearly taking that reporters head off... Those pics that I've put up previously of the 288GTO, F50, LaF were actually taken at a private airshow in England. The highlight of which for me was seeing a Spitfire and Hurricane flying together. Wonderful stuff.
Here it is. Oh, sorry. Stupid thing won't play on other websites. Just copy and paste the link into a browser.
