At 09:59 PM 3/21/98 -0500, you wrote:
>In a message dated 98-03-18 22:41:58 EST, you write:
>
><< I have been following some of the threads on Nitrous and I thought
> I would put in my $0.02. >>
>
>Hey Joe thanks for your 2 cents, very interesting. Just a note that I had read
>that it got started use as a performance booster in (I think) WW2 by the
>Germans in their aircrafts to help from being hit in attacks.
>
There is a nice section on the history of nitrous in "Nitrous Oxide
Injection" by David Vizard. It was initially developed in WW2 by the
British for use on combat aircraft. The Americans were experementing with
it at the same time, although it wasn't used on very many aircraft. The
ones that it was used on had a distinct advantage over the Axis aircraft.
Nitrous was a VERY heavily guarded secret; so much so that it never did
leak to the axis powers. (pretty amazing, actually!) According to the
book, axis pilots were openly baffled at the high altitude capabilities of
certain allied aircraft. Come to find out, axis scientists were developing
it independently; they thought they were the only ones experimenting
with nitrous. :-) They did retrofit it to a few aircraft near the end of
the war. The Gernans had one system that would run constantly for 20-30
minutes! (Boosted power by 350HP and they injected it at 12 lbs per minute)
Nitrous was very successful on aircraft, and it would still be used
today if it weren't for jet aircraft completely shattering the old
performance envelope.
(Actually, nitrous is still used in some aircraft today; Bruce Bohanan
used it on his purpose built "Pushy Galore" to capture the 3,000 meter time
to climb world record for prop driven aircraft.)
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu -- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---.
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I do not speak for the SUNY College at Fredonia; any opinions are my own.
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