Was it Napier who were degrading their sleeve valves by pushing the carts across cobbled roads within the factory while the valves were still cooling?
Or was that Bristol?
Wouldn't surprise me if it was Napier's they were a very old fashioned firm.
Was it Napier who were degrading their sleeve valves by pushing the carts across cobbled roads within the factory while the valves were still cooling?
Or was that Bristol?
Hercules engined Spitfire developed by Fairey. In 1940 it would be the best carrier fighter in service and even by 1945 would be a nasty prospect for anyone.
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But would the lack of range been an issue for a Spitfire
Was it Napier who were degrading their sleeve valves by pushing the carts across cobbled roads within the factory while the valves were still cooling?
Or was that Bristol?
But would the lack of range been an issue for a Spitfire
Although to be fair to Napier (much as it pains me) that was largely because Bristol stumbled across the ‘massaging’ techniques for rounding sleeves. They didn’t know how it worked or why it worked, but it did.Sabre program was saved by Bristol in the short run, who was better in making sleeves needed for valves
They are a perennial butt-chafe if you want to buff the brits in WW2 because all their leading aero engine firms decided to bet big on a radically different technology that took huge effort to get working and then ended up offering little or no practical advantage. No sleeve valves might conceivably get you a Bristol “R3350” in late 1940 and a Bristol “801” for the start of the war, if you look at poppet equivalents of their engines and assume they lost a couple of years due to the diversion.Why so mucg hate for sleeve valves ?
Armstrong-Siddeley didn't design a production-worthy 1000 HP engine for ww2
They did design an engine the Deerhound which had potential but wouldn't have been in service till mid to late wartime.
The Deerhound mark III was planned to be an 1800hp engine but work was cancelled and I don't think it ever flew.Indeed, you're right. A 38L, 21 cyl 3-row radial, rated power of 1115 HP.
I think it’s telling that you are comparing with BMW (a second or third rate player in the aero engine industry), rag-tag losers from the U.K. and engines from the US makers that were focused on the civilian market well after rearmament was fired up in Europe. Bristol was an absolute top league global player in a country that had been rearming hard and betting its hand on air power. It should have been absolutely at the front of the pack in terms of not just engine capabilities but engine production, and the reason it wasn’t was IMO sleeve valves. I mean, their main domestic competitor stepped on their dicks with the whole “ramp head” nonsense and STILL Bristol could not come out convincingly ahead.I don't think that going with sleeve valve was that much of a debacle at Bristol's (on the flip side, I also don't share the opinoin that sleeve valves were the Holy Grail of aero engine design). Hercules gave excellent service during the ww2 (and after), with reasonable power and reliability. Much better reliability than BMW 801, or even some American twin row, big radials.
I think it’s telling that you are comparing with BMW (a second or third rate player in the aero engine industry), rag-tag losers from the U.K. and engines from the US makers that were focused on the civilian market well after rearmament was fired up in Europe. Bristol was an absolute top league global player in a country that had been rearming hard and betting its hand on air power. It should have been absolutely at the front of the pack in terms of not just engine capabilities but engine production, and the reason it wasn’t was IMO sleeve valves. I mean, their main domestic competitor stepped on their dicks with the whole “ramp head” nonsense and STILL Bristol could not come out convincingly ahead.
RR and Bristol were right up there with P&W and Wright, but with a book of blank government cheques years before the Americans got theirs. So why didn’t they punch their weight?
The Simplest way I know to stop all the work on sleeve valve engines in the UK is to some how nobble the influence of Sir Harry Ralph Riccardo. Stop him persuading other engineers that poppet valves are limiting engine power then you might get more big British radials like the Wrights and the PW's from the USA.