Over Compressed Engines, Forgotten Tech From WW1

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"The hammer of science. Its calibrated." 🤣

I recall someone at Rhinebeck saying that their D-7 engine still had the original spark plugs and worked quite well thank you.

In aircraft mechanic school in the 70s they touched on "auxiliary throttles" that were all the way open at altitude but had marks that the aux throttle had to be closed down to as one descended - and vice versa. It enabled the regular throttle to be handled as aggressively as necessary for air combat.

As a 13 year old I saw Waldo Pepper when it first came out in the theaters & it changed my life. Even at that age I knew enough aviation history to instantly recognize the Kessler-Udet reference. Zero question about who that character was based on!!

Years ago I was involved with some NASCAR stuff. The restrictor plate engines were built with extremely high compression ratios and the drivers had to be very careful to be smooth with the throttle at low speeds under load. If you snapped the carb wide open and lugged it the engine would suffer major preignition and probably damage it. That is why most of the engine failures you saw happened right after a pit stop. The 390 cfm carb would choke it off enough to keep it out of pre ignition when the engine was at max rpm. When they mandated lower compression ratios it made for much more reliable engines.

The Great Waldo Pepper was my favorite movie as a child. I was 10 when it was released and my parents took me because, having recently picked up a book on World War I fighter aces at the Scholastic book fair at school, I was obsessed with WW1 aiplanes and aces.

There's something about early airplanes and seaplanes that just scream adventure to me. I never get tired of looking at them, and wish I could fly one before I die, even if it's just taking over the controls for a minute or two.

Fun fact: Fokker DVII was the ONLY weapon system mentioned by name in the treaty at the end of the war, the clause forcing the German to surrender all of them to the Allied powers.

I consider “The Blue Max” to be the best WW1 film without cgi. The Great Waldo Pepper as you pointed out is loosely based on Ernst Udet. Not all Fokker DVII’s were fitted with the BMW engine which was designated as the F model. The DVII F was very sought after by German Aces due to increased performance. I read a British test report post WW1 on that engine they it rated at 220hp.

You have a real knack for explaining things like this so a dummy like me can understand them. Thanks.

Thanks again Greg. Your concise dialogue certainly helps us laymen understanding these things

In early 2000s Saab was experimenting with variable compression ratio engine. The entire engine block was pivoting in relation to the crankshaft. The idea was to improve power and efficiency at low power levels (high CR) and allow turbo to safely boost power under load (low CR)

I read the theory more than sixty years ago, without the the historical details you provide. Thank you.

I am 3 minutes in and really wondering how this will connect to the required ending of “and this is how is made the P-47 the best aircraft of WW2”.

I really found your explanation very informative, as most of them are. Thanks, Greg.

Great video! It was little trip down memory lane with the references to older videos.

I saw a D.VII at Schleissheim air museum near Munich and started telling my (very bored) German girlfriend all about the cantilever construction and over-compressed engine and how advanced it all was. Turning around after giving my riveting talk, I discovered a group of Japanese tourists who assumed I was some sort of tour guide and then followed us around asking me questions about all the other exhibits despite my protests that I was also just a visitor.

That's kind of amazing, two throttles... Post-WWII a lot of civilian engines had four levers or knobs per engine, black for throttle, blue for propeller, red for mixture... and then white for _wastegate_. You'd start with the usual three knobs all the way forward, and then as you climbed start nudging the wastegates up, which made the turbocharger spin faster, thus preserving your manifold pressure. Why the heck the civilian engines didn't have automatic wastegates on'em like some did (P-38?) during the war, IDK, but they were there. (Later Garrett turbos did have automagic wastegates, and I think today everybody's got'em... even the Rotaxes.)

This was something I didnt know i didnt know.. the best kind of thing! Thanks Greg