The Battle of Britain

Little Honda

Well Known and Active Forum User
Non-VOC Member
Michael(s) Both of them.!
Some years back we had a super rally at Tonenburg, and some stayed in the Motorcyclist Hotel.
Would love to go back again
Colin,
Vince might be breeding the idea for next summer (after corona restrictions). As I was there during corona
restrictions, with all sorts of good drinks, incl. some scottish medicine after midnight, I did not manage to
catch covid-19, nor missed anything. I´ll keep u informed, if any decisions are ripe.
cheers
 

oexing

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VOC Member
The Hornet had an impressive performance , was used in operations after the war. According to Wikipedia the twin DB 605 engined push-pull Dornier Do 335 was produced from late 1943 in 28 preproduction aircraft and 11 production aircraft but no serious operations when war ended. It was a bit faster than the Hornet at up to 775 kph while the Hornet did 760 kph (Wikipedia numbers) , so you could call it the fastest prop aircraft then, not counting the modern heavily modified Reno racers, these non-series of course.
As to cam lubrication, one can debate what helps more, a hole in the Vincent cam follower contact face in hope for some rare oil drop reaching it once in a while - or a safe supply into the camshaft with a plain contact face and no hole to spoil the built-up oil film.
The SR /XT 500 hardchromed cam followers get an oil feed from a gear pump into their hole in the contact pad but you can clearly see on the worn cams the effect of the hole. Later they fitted a sort of "hardblock" material on the follower, undrilled, oil hole from the side like a jet onto the cam, a little better . My guess, the material of both mating components is critical, stellited followers likely the best bet ?? When the camshafts got bushes inside you have to make sure any oiling from inside can exit at any camshaft positions all around, so some grooving job will be required, either in the camshaft bore or with the bushes, not just drilling through the bushes by the original cam holes on the base circle.
The old Ford 2 l OHC engines had oil jet tubes all along the camshaft but still their troubles remained with cam and follower wear. My thinking is , not only a good oil supply will do it, but at the same time a suitable material combination is critical, as in times you have uncertain lubrication situations with some rubbing contact. In consequence I did some welding on followers with high chrome 55 HRC material which does it since many tens of thousands kms, sort of stelliting I think.

Vic

DB 605 vs. RR Merlin:
DB 605 + RR Merlin.jpg


Dornier Do 335:
Dornier_Pfeil2.jpg



Do 335 after restauration by Dornier from 1974, returned to USA in 1986:
Do 335.jpg


SR 500 cam follower hardchromed, a bit of wear:
P1080736.JPG


P1080739.JPG


welded Ford followers:
P1010191.JPG


P1010213.JPG
 

greg brillus

Well Known and Active Forum User
VOC Member
Quite amazing how many American Aircraft of WW 2 were turbocharged.........this did cause issues for the pilots though, as their planes did not have the automation of engine control like the British and German aircraft.........under the extreme pressures of air battle, all you need is throttle and propeller controls........and not worry about over boost conditions and the like. The Americans readily adopting the " Bigger is better" policy in a similar fashion that the Germans did with regards to engine capacity.......certainly their firepower was something even the British must been in awe of........any adversary with 6 or so 50 cal machine guns trained down on you.........unbelievable. Has anyone ever seen any good literature written about the details of the Fuel injection systems on the DB series of engines........ I believe the engineering tolerances and skills to produce it was outstanding.
 
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