engines - first half of 30's

First of all, my thanks to all who answered, one way or another, to my question regarding what type of motor powered the Romanian bomber - version of SM-79.

One of the things which intrigued me is the relatively low number of IAR-80/A/B/C produced in Brasov. The fact that the same Romanian IAR 14K motors were also used for the SM-79 proves that more motors were available than airplane bodies, so the motor was not the weak point in the assembly line.
Regarding German military production, usually when there was shortage in supplies, this was regarding motors. One reason (maybe a secondary one) was the demand for German airplane motors in Italy and other Axis allies.

The problem occurred also in Soviet Union. MiG-3 and the Iliusin armored ground attack plane used the same in-line motor, and Stalin decided that the armored Iliusin must have priority against the MiG-3. This was the end of the career for MiG-3, and excellent plane, with the exception of its aim/optical system.

At the beginning of 2002 I could download from Internet a photography of an original motor IAR 14K. Meanwhile I lost the download, and it seems the Internet link / site vanished. Does anybody have such a photo available, to post it here? Does anybody now any museum in Romania where a motor IAR 14K is still accessible to public?

Also, I learned from this topic how the Romanian engineer Carp, the creator of IAR 14K, was a victim of some petty quarrels, and he had to leave for Switzerland. Is this the eternal curse of the good Romanian engineers? Do they have to leave the country to achieve something for the others and for themselves?

It seems that IAR 14K 1000A engine had 1025 hp - not bad at all for those days.

And the attached photo is from
www.ipmsstockholm.org/magazine/2005/03/stuff_eng_iar80.htm



This post has been edited by Florin on August 30, 2005 03:47 am

Carp wasn't the creator of the engine. It was a French design. He is the one that exposed its major flaw (the unusually high oil consumption) and tried to correct it. This very talented engineer was used as a scapegoat in the scandal that followed the aquisition of the license and he didn't get to make all the modifications he thought necessary to correct the problems. Ironically he went to work for Gnome-Rhone IIRC.

There are several 14K still available. Two are mounted on the OAR-80 replicas. There is also one in the National Military Museum and I believe the Air Force Museum also owns one.

As Victor said there is one at the Military Museum - and also a K7 (which is listed there as a K14 so watch out, do not belive what is written on the metal plates, K14 had 2 rows of cilinders while the K7 only had one row with 7 cilinders). There is also a K14 engine at the Aerospace Engineering University. I am not sure about aviation museum which by the way is being moved to Pipera.

Thanks.
It is possible that soon I may pay a visit to the Military Museum. If so, I'll try to make some photos, if I'll be allowed this.

I have seen in a museum an American "double star" motor. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the second row of the cylinders in the rear was much hotter than the first row. And what a formidable air brake - i.e. cause of drag...
Anyway... It was used in so many examples, from German FW 190 to Zero etc.
The Nakajina star motor was very economical - that was the secret of the 3200 km range of the Zero fighter.

I do not want to make anybody to laugh, but I asked myself why no country tried to install the "circle" of star cylinders parallel with the direction of movement, and then a connection of angled toothed wheels would allow the propeller shaft to be installed at 90 degrees from the "circle" of star cylinders. The efficiency of the connection of angled toothed wheels is about 0.95, but the drag (air friction / brake) would be much more reduced. Now is too late, anyway... The place of the star motor is today in the museum.

Also, regarding in-line motors installed in wings, for bombers: No country in WWII tried to align the 2 row of cylinders at 180 degrees (i.e. opposite, instead of the usual "V"), and then to "sink" the motor in the profile of the wing. This would reduce the drag tremendously.


This post has been edited by Florin on August 31, 2005 12:42 am

Florin, this system was used in WWII on He 177 " Greif" but only fore more power ( two engines driving one shaft). Also in WWI french plane Salmson used .
Henri Coanda used this system on one of his Bristol prototipes before WWI.
Maybe if we serch Leonardo Da Vinci drawings we discover the teory of this system long ago before planes could fly The people of early industrial movement were more prolific inventors than today computer players.

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on August 31, 2005 04:48 am

One IAR 80 engine accesible for public it is in Leonida museum in Bucharest.
Try this link for picture.


http://cartula.net/modules/xoopsgallery/vi...=album08&page=3

This post has been edited by Cantacuzino on August 31, 2005 04:58 am

You are so right.
What is moving me when I see technology from past is that people always managed to tackle problems with what they had available.
And the fact that the same technical problem can be resolved in so many different ways can make us proud of bearing a brain.

One IAR 14K 1000A engine is in the Technical Museum Ştefan Procopiu in Iaşi.