Friday 2010-12-17 Dev. update and Discussion

[Sutts]

Originally Posted by T}{OR

Unless I am mistaken, WW2 planes had only superchargers, not turbochargers.

In basic terms, yes.

For a supercharger to work you have to use some of the energy produced on the crankshaft, while turbo uses energy off the exhaust gases which is "free".

The downside is that turbo works best on higher RPM ("turbo lag"), while superchargers can follow and adjust to engine RPM much more rapidly.


IIRC the development of turbochargers and the reason why they are so available todays happened after WW2.


EDIT: As a result, the latest developments led to a process called 'downsizing' where in todays engines you now have a supercharger for low RPM which disengages (usually via magnetic clutch) around 2500 RPM and then turbo takes over.

Not sure if I understand you correctly. Turbochargers were most definitely used during WWII but on aircraft such as the P-47 and P-38 and bombers such as B-17 and B-24. I don't think any BoB aircraft used them.