Any "experten" on German planes and engines

[bod]

Just curious  

A lot of people state that the FW190 was such a good fighter partly because of the automatic engine management. According to my info this is true, but the 190 also had manual pitch control. This was used during take off and landings (at least, don't know about cruise etc.).

But, another thing that is evident is that just about all the different german planes had automatic engine management, which was more or less an integral part of the engine(s). This was true for all the planes ranging from the smallest fighters and up to the FW200. No allied planes had this equipment, and i dont think it was ever built due to the change to jets.

I read somewhere from a British test of a captured 109 e or f that they where unimpressed with just about everyting, except for one thing: The Benz engine and how it was operated - with a single lever.

I dont have any "first hand" data (and some of the things are a bit contradictary), so if someone else have any info/knowledge/thoughts, that would be nice.


Bod

[Hat Trick]

190 had incredible Roll Rates too. And great Armament.  And Radial Engines that ran forever. So could take a fare amount of damage.  Plus was superior in pilot armor vs most Allied Non Navy Acft. Speeds were mostly higher escpecialy at alltitudes.

The only thing they werent know for was manueverability.  

They had reaaly good pilot visibility in 109 and 190 and 200.  But like most german manufacturing efforts.  The engines and most of the guns and components were precision made.  Much finer craftmanship compared to allied efforts.  The downfall of this.

The Firing pin of a mg151 in your gun...doesnt exactly fit the chamber on my mg151.  No real mass production and die settings. A lesson learned both for the Luftwaffe and the German Army.

But as far as actual engine details...ya got me there.

 http://sites.netscape.net/thomas26wh/homepage

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Hat Trick
-htrk-
War Birds Beta Tester
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[Hat Trick]

Testing something

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Hat Trick
-htrk-
War Birds Beta Tester
Confirmed Kill Beta Tester
Air Warrior one month and hated it!
Aces Hi Wannabe Tester
HiTech Devotee
 http://sites.netscape.net/thomas26wh/homepage

[Topcat]

Speeds were mostly higher escpecialy at alltitudes

I'm sure you're right about this, but I was reading a book "JG26 - Top Guns of the Luftwaffe" where they said that the 109 was preferred at altitudes.  I'll look up the exact details later, but I remerber that they didn't give a reason, just stated that 'performance' dropped off above 25k (feet) compared to Allied a/c.  Any idea what this means?

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Topcat
249 Squadron RAF "Gold Coast"
With Fists and Heels
Tangmere Wing

[Mutt]

If you are looking for one of the most knowledgeable <sp> persons on the LW and its aircraft ask Spades-RH53.  Ruy has some very good information and has talked to a fair number of former LW members. His insights on these aircraft are very interesting.  He just got some very interesting information on the post war tests of the Dora from a former LW pilot.  I'll see if he can pop in here.

Mutt I/JG53

[funked]

The later allied planes had two-stage two-speed superchargering.  I believe the 109 had this as well.  The 190 had only a single-stage supercharger.

All the planes had severe drops in power as altitude.  But with by shifting the supercharger drive gears and by using both stages, the power drop could be "delayed" until higher altitude was reached.

So as the 190 power drop became severe, the other planes were able to maintain power for a few more thousand feet before the inevitable drop occured.

The only planes that could keep most (or all) of their power at extremely high altitude were those with turbosuperchargers or those with nitrous oxide injection.  The P-38 and P-47 had the former, and the latter was used on the Ta 152 and other Luftwaffe fighters.  Many bombers also had turbo installations.

I don't have the curves handy but I believe the P-38J/L had the same rated combat power from takeoff up to 25,000 feet, an amazing accomplishment.

P.S.  I'm pretty sure the BMW 801 Kommandogerat had control over prop pitch as well.