Nevertheless a twin-Merlin powered aircraft
You mean the planned PV-12, I suppose, depending on timing.
Nevertheless a twin-Merlin powered aircraft
I'm not a fan of the Sabre engine, so this will be all negative. Napier received all the priority of a favored program because of the Vulture's failure, because nobody seemed to be backing Centaurus, or noticing the possibilities. Sabre was a hyper-engine capable of producing more power than Centaurus, on less capacity, but not on less weight or installed drag. Sabre stole development potential from Bristol, and Bristol didn't have enough engineering potential to spare. Taurus production was stripped from Bristol because it was found to have application on Sabre. Production techniques found by Bristol were employed, and metallurgy employed which was developed through Bristol's efforts through cooperation with a couple steel companies. In the end, the Centaurus powered the last Tempest, the best one. The Centaurus was a much smoother, quieter engine with less carbon monoxide, and without exhaust pipe glare to distract a pilot. Centaurus started in cold weather too. It was also a worthy airliner engine, in the end.
The Sabre wouldn't have fit a Beau or Mossie, except as a heavily re-engineered, larger version, such as the eventual Centaurus/Brigand. The effect of better supercharging would have driven the Sabre to destruction, since it was already stressed to the tits. It also didn't need extra weight and complexity.
The Tempest I and Sabre-powered Fury were among the fastest prop-driven aircraft, partly due to their Sabres using the low-drag instalation, that no Centaurus-powered sibling was able to match. Nor it could the power of the Sabre VII with its 3500 HP when using water-alcohol injection ( not available on a Centaurus per OTL) - seems like there was enough of strength on the late Sabres. The ones in ww2 went to 2400 HP in 1944.
Installation of sleeves, that Taurus could've used, on the Sabre was a good thing, too bad it wasn't done several months earlier.
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And this'un here was good for an average 481.7 mph around a pylon course, on a 3350 engine. It was still a Centaurus-powered Sea Fury that went to Korea long after the Sabre was just a memory.
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And this'un here was good for an average 481.7 mph around a pylon course, on a 3350 engine. It was still a Centaurus-powered Sea Fury that went to Korea long after the Sabre was just a memory.
long after the Sabre was just a memory.
The Sabre development came to a dead stop in 1945 when production ready examples where putting out 3,000 plus horsepower. At the same time the R3350 was struggling to put out more than 3,000 and stay in one piece. It would be a lovely TL where the Sabre stayed relevant long enough to be used in racing birds.
Sabre development continued until 1946, when, on August 14, the Hawker Fury I was cancelled. It was the only aircraft on which the engine was scheduled to be fitted. The R-3350 was struggling to operate at 2200 hp with reliability.
Your right I went back and read the source material again I had read it as Aug 45. The Fury MkI with the Sabre VII was a beautiful beast
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The R-3350 was struggling to operate at 2200 hp with reliability.
LeMay seemed to manage with XX Bomber Command to burn most of Japan's cities with B-29s having those engines.
Beautiful alright, but if you're faced with a choice of the Fury or a Vampire it's not a hard choice to make.
The look on Halsey's face when he saw them would have been priceless.
The look on Halsey's face when he saw them would have been priceless
you can still see its Hurricane lineage - the u/c and the tail fin are real giveaways.