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Ok, so looking into an ATL Bismarck class battleship, I decided go go over many of the things that made up such a unit, and when I got to the floatplanes, the Arado Ar 196, I looked up its engine, the BMW 132, and starting thinking, how could I make such an aircraft better/more capable?

If I were going to make improvements, it seems to me that the first thing that would have to happen is a more powerful engine, hence this thread.

First question, then; As I understand it, the differences between in-line and radial engines are these:

radial in-line
front X
damaged X

Basically, the Radial engine is worse becaue it has a bigger front area that needs to be forced through the air, while the in-line engine has a smaller front, and so is superior in this reguard.
However, the Radial engine can continue to run if it looses a cylinder or two, whereas the in-line will size up. If this is actually correct, then it seems that low speed aircraft, bombers, transports, and civilial craft, would be better off with radial engines, and fighters (with the exception of those employed in CAS missions) would be better off with in-line motors.

I have also read, that when one wants to increase the power of a radial engine, one way to do so is to add a "second row" of cylinders behind the first, and this has it's own pro's and con's.

What I would like to do in this thread, is get a feel for the possibilities of up grading the BMW 132, by adding a second row of 9 cylinders, and finding out what kind of resulting engine that would give me in terms of HP, speed, range, and possible payloads.

I would also like to explore and discuss, wether a third row would be an improvement, or not, and if that work could be started at the same time as the 2 row engine project.
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