Lesser known details of WW2 part four

I've heard this was due to the carburation system experiencing negative g's - I've read that one 'solution' was a split-ess - ie a snap roll (or wing-over) followed by a quarter or half loop - the effect was loading up the engine with positve g's, and no engine skip was experienced - it still took a bit longer to execute than a simple push over into a dive - and in combat, every nano-second counted.

I seem to recall that Rolls-Royce eventually solved the problem - but others may have more definitive information.

-whatever

-Lou


PS I'm not sure, but I believe the Bf-109 had the engine installed inverted (to accomodate the cannon through the propeller hub) - if in fact that's true, would this account for the Messerschmitt's ability to pitch over in a dive without experiencing the hiccup?.... just a guess.

 

Oberleutnant Jochen Schypek, 5/JG 54, reiterated Mölders' view of the Spitfires' negative 'g' problems:

We were attacked when the bombers had reached the London Docks and I yelled an alarm "Indians at six o'clock!" ...With them, we had developed a standard and often successful procedure - our Daimler Benz engines were fuel injection ones whilst the Spitfires had carburettor engines. This meant once we put our noses down vertically and quick enough, our engines would continue to function without interruption whilst the Spitfires - and Hurricanes - attempting to stick to our tails would slow down long enough for us to put a safer distance between them and ourselves. The slowing down was the consequence of the float in the carburettor getting stuck due the the sudden change in position. I had managed to break away at least a dozen times by means of this manoeuvre but lo and behold, it did not work this time! The 'Indian' was right on my tail in my steep dive and opened fire. I could see bullets hitting my wings and, from the white trails on both sides, I knew he had hit my radiator... My 'Indian' drew alongside and the aircraft appeared strange to me as I had never been so close to a live Spitfire before. I was rather relieved that he recognised I did not have any chance of getting home and that he did not insist he complete his kill... [SIZE=-1]99[/SIZE]


Spitfire Mk I versus Me 109 E​

 

Ahhhh.... carburetion vs. fuel injection.... ok, that makes sense....

(...much more sense than the 'inverted engine' theory.... actually, forget I ever said that....)

-whatever

-Lou

 

Actually, the German DB 601/605/603 engines were inverted V-12s, so you were sort of right. But the real difference is yes, they had fuel injection, and the Merlins didn't till a little later. And yes, rolling inverted and pulling to dive was the usual solution to the nose-over fuel problem in early Hurricanes/Spitfires. Once you had the desired dive angle, you could roll wings-level to the direction you were going.

 

So what advantage does inverting your V-12 have ? Merlin Me-109's had the engine right side up but the Damiler was up side down.

 

Well, for whatever reason, both of the main V-12s the Germans produced were inverted V-12s, while both of the Allies' main ones weren't. To clarify, they were *built* inverted, not just installed that way.

The DB 600/601/605/603 were inverted.
The Junkers Jumo 210/211/213 were inverted.
The Allison V-1710 series was normal.
The Rolls-Royce Merlin/Packard V-1650 was normal.

Weird how that worked out.

For those wondering why inverted, I got this from V12 engine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia so I make no warranties on the source, but it seems plausible.

"In contrast to most Allied V12s, the motors built in Germany by Daimler-Benz, Junkers-Jumo, and Argus (As 410 and As 411) were primarily inverted, which had the advantages of lower centers of gravity and improved visibility for single-engined designs."

 

That sounds good to me. Thank you.

I hope the storms did not affect you too much.

 

In April 1941, Goering ordered the removal of church bells in France "which represent the most important and last reserve of copper and tin," stressing that "no church bells would be removed in Germany before all bells had been removed in France" (EC-323). In 1943, after the removal of church bells from the other occupied countries and even from the Reich, Hitler ordered their removal from Belgium (ECH-11). The Belgians protested, invoking the Hague Regulations, and refused an offer to buy; thereupon the Germans requisitioned the bells against receipt.

Avalon Project : Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression - Volume 1 Chapter XIII - Germanization and Spoliation

 

Classification system for concentration camps

Hittler's "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Problem".

I learnt from the Mauthausen Kz camp document that if you were a jew- you lived weeks perhaps. If you were a homosexual jew, you lived ca. 20 seconds once you entered the camp...

 

In April 1942 Hitler declared that the invasion of Norway had been one of the two most decisive events so far in the entire war—the other being the defensive battle outside Moscow during December 1941.

Claasen, Adam R. A. Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe's Ill-Fated Campaign, 1940-1945.

Second World War Books: Review

 

February 6, 1943: Himmler receives a report on the quantity of garments collected from Birkenau. 97,000 sets of men's clothing. 76,000 sets of women's clothing. 132,000 men's shirts.155,000 women's coats. 3,000 kilograms of women's hair. (The hair filling an entire railroad car.) Children's items included, 15,000 overcoats. 11,000 boys' jackets. 9,000 dresses. 22,000 pairs of shoes. The clothing filled 825 freight cars. Included in this inventory was also close to a half of million in American currency and $116,420 dollars in gold.

NAAF Holocaust Project Timeline 1943

May 13, 1943: Hans Frank sends Hitler a list of the "Jewish concealed and stolen goods," that were recovered. 94,000 men's watches, 33,000 women's watches, 25,000 pens, 14,000 scissors. Many of the watches were melted down for their gold or platinum content.

 

Pin-Ups on US official documents!

The U.S. Army also placed pin-ups on the front of map update documents during WWII. This in an attempt to assure that the person in command of a unit, but also the common GI (according to the remark: "For general distribution. NOT for staff use only") would use the latest available maps.

Propaganda leaflets of World War 2: Italian theatre of operations / "ESSAYONS" - "Let Us Try" / The US Army Corps of Engineers

 

During World War II, Marlene Dietrich did her part for the war effort by persuading drunks in local bars to write checks for the purchase of war bonds. She would then sit on their laps while government agents secretly called their banks to make sure the checks would clear.

Anecdotage.Com - Thousands of true funny stories about famous people. Anecdotes from Gates to Yeats

 

Paul Maitla

Paul Maitla (born March 27, 1913 Kärkna, Estonia - executed by Czech communists on May 10, 1945, Czech Republic) was an SS-Hauptsturmführer serving in the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) of the Waffen SS. He is one of the four Estonian soldiers who received the Knight's Cross. He received his award for leading the recapture of the central hill of Blue Mountains.

The fate of Paul Maitla was uncertain for number of decades, until some information was discovered in 2005 in the city archives of the Czech town of Nymburk. These archives show that Maitla was arrested on May 9, 1945 and executed together with 4 other soldiers on May 10.

Paul Maitla - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Included is one of the last photos before the execution.

According to the document on the battles of Estonia 1944 you were allowed to burn a last cigarette if you had surrendered without a fight. Paul Maitla, I think, is the closest to the camera.

 

Great decisions by German "specialists" on Me-163

- Someone in the ministry had his way and directed that the wings be equipped with a linen covering to be more resistant to enemy ground fire, which means 220 pounds of additional weight and, correspondingly, 220 pounds less fuel

-A wise ass in Berlin insisted that the jettisonable undercarriage had to be equipped with wheel brakes ( Engineer Armbrust in dept L shook his head for hours over that one).

From Top secret bird by Wolfgang Späte

 

It is always interesting how things change with time...

On Me-262 engine life time from Wolfgang Späte´s report April 19, 1943

" The utilization of turbo jet engines would presumably provide some relief to the aircraft engine industry because, according to the opinion of the engine technical experts, it has a life cycle use of five times longer than piston engines before overhaul is required."

From Top Secret bird by Wolfgang Späte

 

July 20, 1940

To meet the German challenge in the Atlantic and the Japanese threat in the Pacific, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill into law which called for the establishment of a "two-ocean navy," at a cost of over $5.2 billion. The U.S. planned to expand the size of the U.S. Navy by 70 percent to address threats around the world. American firms would build 201 new warships, including seven battleships of 55,000 tons each.

Chronology 1940

 

Richard Stafford Cripps

For the first two years of the Second World War Cripps and Bevan provided the main opposition to Britain's coalition government. In a survey carried out in 1941, the public was asked who should be prime minister if anything should happen to Winston Churchill. Of those who replied, 37% said Anthony Eden and a surprising 34% selected Cripps.

Churchill now became concerned about having one of his main critics so high in the polls. In 1942 Churchill appointed Cripps as Lord Privy Seal in his government and put him in the War Cabinet. However, Cripps continued to question Churchill's war strategy and in October 1942 he was removed from the War Cabinet. He remained in the government and now became Minister of Aircraft Production.

On Cripps removal from the War Cabinet, Hugh Dalton recorded in his diary: "He has, I think, been very skilfully played by the P.M. He may, of course, be quite good at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, but seldom has anyone's political stock, having been so outrageously and unjustifiably overvalued, fallen so fast and so far."

Richard Stafford Cripps

 

very intresting thread

anybody know about Luigi Romersa travel in germany in late 1944? He was sent by mussolini to visit Germany secret weapons factories and Peneemunde reserach facilities, but not only. He also tell about an experiment took place in a baltic sea island (Rugen) in the night between 11 and 12 october involving a new kind of explosive: the "bomba disgregatrice" (in english: bomb that reduce to atoms... i think ) actually the first atomic bomb experiment. The episode, described in his book, is controversial... is it true or is a propaganda attempt in order to give trust in the "finaly victory", soo far in the 1944?

 

WW2 period Fallschirmjäger books by Germans

WWII Fallschirmjäger Militaria - WWII Fallschirmjäger Books