Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis
I was going to say that apart from the Luftwaffe nobody did GDI much until the 1990s.
One of the big advantages of the Me109 vs the Spitfire (apart from outright speed) in the Battle of Britain was the FI system - a Spitfire would roll and the float in the carb would block the fuel flow causing the engine to miss for a few seconds - that killed as well as saved quite a few RAF pilots in close combat. The Spitfire could turn quicker though, but only the right way up.
Thats a couple of years before the B17s arrived BTW - someone was late - again  |
...here's what wiki says about the Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone:
"...Early versions of the R-3350 were equipped with carburetors, though it was the poorly designed elbow, or entrance to the supercharger that led to serious problems with inconsistent fuel/air distribution. Near the end of World War II, in late 1944, the system was changed to use direct injection where fuel was injected directly into the combustion chamber. This change improved engine reliability immediately. After the war the engine was redesigned, and became a favorite for large aircraft of all designs, most notably the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-7."
...the same engines were also used on USN Lockheed P2V Neptunes, as well as on the USAF Fairchild C-119's, among others, including the WWII Boeing B-29.
...some info:
http://www.enginehistory.org/Wright/TC%20Facts.pdf