WW II - Diesel birds?

Somebody on another forum was trying to convince people that
because of the gasoline shortages during WW-II that there were
quiet a few aircraft that actually used diesel fuel.

I know that people are playing with that today, but was it
really used in aviation back then?

Thanks,
Coug

On Fri, 27 May 2005 15:04:54 -0700, Cougar
wrote:

Somebody on another forum was trying to convince people that
because of the gasoline shortages during WW-II that there were
quiet a few aircraft that actually used diesel fuel.

I know that people are playing with that today, but was it
really used in aviation back then?

Diesel powered aircraft were tried during the 1930s, but not
particularly successful. Giuseppe Bellanca (at least) tried one or
more versions but none made it past the "experimental" stage.

There were no naval aircraft that I know of that used diesels.

There is one modern company in Austria producing them. Go to
http://www.diamondair.com/contentc/TwinFlies.htm

Bill Kambic

wrote:

On Fri, 27 May 2005 15:04:54 -0700, Cougar
wrote:

Somebody on another forum was trying to convince people that
because of the gasoline shortages during WW-II that there were
quiet a few aircraft that actually used diesel fuel.

I know that people are playing with that today, but was it
really used in aviation back then?

Diesel powered aircraft were tried during the 1930s, but not
particularly successful. Giuseppe Bellanca (at least) tried one or
more versions but none made it past the "experimental" stage.

There were no naval aircraft that I know of that used diesels.

The Germans had some Junkers Diesel powered Maritime Patrols
airplanes.
The Blohm & Voss Bv 138 Flying Boat "Die Fleigende Hoelshue / Flying
Clog" was probably the most numerous, and, IIRC, there was a Deisel
powered flavor of the Bv 222.

The Soviet Pe-8 heavy bomber also was originally Diesel powered.
During the summer of 1941, they launched a dozen or so of them on a
raid on Berlin. I don't think any got back to their original base -
they all force landed due to engine failures.

--
Pete Stickney
Java Man knew nothing about coffee.

On Fri, 27 May 2005 19:28:16 -0700, Peter Stickney
wrote:

There were no naval aircraft that I know of that used diesels.

The Germans had some Junkers Diesel powered Maritime Patrols
airplanes.
The Blohm & Voss Bv 138 Flying Boat "Die Fleigende Hoelshue / Flying
Clog" was probably the most numerous, and, IIRC, there was a Deisel
powered flavor of the Bv 222.

The Soviet Pe-8 heavy bomber also was originally Diesel powered.
During the summer of 1941, they launched a dozen or so of them on a
raid on Berlin. I don't think any got back to their original base -
they all force landed due to engine failures.

Interesting. You learn something new every day! :-)

Still, it doesn't seem that they were too successful as their numbers
were small (and the Russian example would not give too many "warm
fuzzies" to a commander).

It will be interesting to see if the Diamond people can make a "go" of
it with their design.

Bill Kambic

Peter Stickney wrote in message ...
snip

The Soviet Pe-8 heavy bomber also was originally Diesel powered.
During the summer of 1941, they launched a dozen or so of them on a
raid on Berlin. I don't think any got back to their original base -
they all force landed due to engine failures.


The failure of their M-40 diesel engines sent their designer to the labour camp... and
success of M-30 back from it! (well, it was a kind of success :-)

The "success" was the other diesel-powered bomber. That was Ermolayev Er-2 which used
various diesels, M-30 and M-30b (later ACh-30b) being most sucessful. Long-range,
twin-engined, twin-tailed aircraft with gull wings was made in small series with various
aircraft engines (almost all available except radials!) troughout the war. Its latest
version, with ACh-30b diesels, actually beat Il-4 in trials and was used until the end of
the war (and developed after the war!). However, there was always the production quality
problem of the diesels built in small series, and the Chief Designer died from meningitis
in 1944.

Nele

NULLA ROSA SINE SPINA

There was a Guiberson radial aircooled diesel engine prior to WW2. I
understand some were used in the US Army's light tanks. After teh war a
lot of thyem were used in Southern California orange groves. They were
mounted on stout poles and they spun props to prevent cold air from
pooling in the groves.
Also, I read that the Ju86 diesel engines were fine when set at a
constant RPM setting but the continual variance while flying formation
cut the engine life drastically - so that was that for the diesel
engine. Contrastingly, it did good service in the BV238 on ocean patrol
duties, where the low fuel consumption paid dividends.
Anybody know anything about the European development of a diesel for
light aircraft?
Walt BJ

wrote in message
ups.com...
There was a Guiberson radial aircooled diesel engine prior to WW2. I
understand some were used in the US Army's light tanks. After teh war a
lot of thyem were used in Southern California orange groves. They were
mounted on stout poles and they spun props to prevent cold air from
pooling in the groves.
Also, I read that the Ju86 diesel engines were fine when set at a
constant RPM setting but the continual variance while flying formation
cut the engine life drastically - so that was that for the diesel
engine. Contrastingly, it did good service in the BV238 on ocean patrol
duties, where the low fuel consumption paid dividends.
Anybody know anything about the European development of a diesel for
light aircraft?
Walt BJ

The first time I went to March AFB TDY (1964?) there were still some of the
engines mounted on poles in groves on University Avenue which runs between
downtown and the University. Most of the locals still called it 8th Avenue,
its former name.

Tex

On 3 Jun 2005 19:02:55 -0700, wrote:

Anybody know anything about the European development of a diesel for
light aircraft?

There is one modern company in Austria producing them. Go to
http://www.diamondair.com/contentc/TwinFlies.htm

Bill Kambic

Cougar wrote:

Somebody on another forum was trying to convince people that
because of the gasoline shortages during WW-II that there were
quiet a few aircraft that actually used diesel fuel.

I know that people are playing with that today, but was it
really used in aviation back then?

Thanks,
Coug

The way that this is written seems to hint that some gasoline
powered aircraft might have been run on diesel...if that's the
case then I can assure you that it didn't happen...
--


-Gord.

"I'm trying to get as old as I can,
and it must be working 'cause I'm
the oldest now that I've ever been"

a few JU 86 highflying reconissance Planes used twostroke Junkers Jumo
205C-4 liquid-cooled Diesel engines for patrol over Great Britain.

Cougar schrieb:

Somebody on another forum was trying to convince people that
because of the gasoline shortages during WW-II that there were
quiet a few aircraft that actually used diesel fuel.

I know that people are playing with that today, but was it
really used in aviation back then?

Thanks,
Coug