So how did the Germans get around trapped oil in the combustion chamber? Did they have to turn over the engines by pulling through the props like with radials?Originally posted by Kurfurst__:
Hmmm.. the more likely explanaion of not going for inverted Vees is that they didn't have direct fuel injection technology sufficiently developed, and inverted Vee engines can be problematic because of fuel trapping in the cylinders w/o use of DFI.
[quote]Originally posted by Kurfurst__:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ImpStarDuece:
Indeed that sounds possible, basically that would be pretty much a Mk VIII wouldn't it? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>If we are redesigining the Spitfire, its easy:
95 gal front tanks
2 x 18 gal wing tanks
1 x 30 gal rear tank
and a drop tank in 30, 45 or 90 gal size
You burn the rear tank for taxi (est 10 gal), take off and initial climb (20 gal), burn the drop tank on the trip out and then you have 131 gal to return on (out of a theoretical max capacity of 253 gal).
Geoffry Quill advocated putting 30 gal tanks into Mk Vs as combat standard, after their ferry flights to Malta went successfully. But, it was production priority and RAF perception of the fighter as a defensive weapon (a shield rather than a sword) that kept the Spitfire as a short-medium range fighter, rather than any inherent lack of capacity.
It could never be turned into a Mustang, Zero or P-38 in terms of range, but 800 miles on internal fuel and 1100 with drop tanks should of been do-able by mid-1942 (giving a 300 mile combat radius), with a little foresight on the part of the RAF.
A little better than the Mk VIII, which had about 660 miles on internal fuel and 1150 miles with a 90 gal D/T.
Mk VII/VIII had 85 gal front tanks and 2 x 18.5 gal wing tanks.
A better solution, and one that was trialed on Mk XVI, but never implemented for some reason, was to add the larger front tanks in combination with the wing tanks and the rear fuselage tank, giving an extra 40-75 imp gal (depending on the size of the rear tank, either 30 or 65 gallons).
This gives an extra 25-35% range over the Mk VIII, pushing the Spitfire up to about 800-1000 miles on internal fuel, and about 1400-1600 miles with a 90 gal D/T (possibly more, depending on how efficiently you want to cruise).
Mk VIII in the Med and Mk VIIs in Europe, when fitted with 90 gal external tanks, were doing escort missions of up to 850 miles round trip. Its a little strange to think of the Spitfire as spending almost 4 hours on a daylight escort mission, but it did happen. The three Mk VII squadrons in Europe (Nos 131, 124 and 616) worked with the Lancasters of No 5 Group in late 1943 and 1944 to bomb German naval installations on long range daylight missions.