>Both the Axis and the Allies used nitrous quite successfully in their
aircraft, mostly for high altitude operation. The higher you go, >the
less dense the air is, and the engine starts to run really rich. Nitrous
Oxide was a way to maintain a nice dense oxygen >content. There were
some aircraft that would run off nitrous for a half an hour at a time!
Today, turbochargers are used instead, >although nitrous is still used
occasionally. There is a Formula One racer (which uses nitrous)
sponsored by Shell named Pushy >Galore that was purpose built to break 5
specific records (mostly time to climb). (It has broken all 5 records,
and was retired >this year.)
>Speaking of W.W.II and nitrous, an interesting fact is that its
benefits to aircraft engines were discovered and developed
>independently by both the Nazis and the British. (It was considered top
secret and both sides were careful to keep the info to >themselves
Hmmmm... Interesting... From with I have seen both the Allied and Axis
used water and methanol mixtures to achieve what is called War Emergency
Power, and it depended on what aircraft it was used on. If memory serves
me right almost all naval aircraft from the F6F Hellcat on to the F9F
Tigercat, and on Army Air Corps the P40,P51 and the P38 (with TSC's) had
it. The Jap Zero and Zeke both had it as well as the Me109 and FW190's.
Greg Popovich - Service Engineer
D.I.S. Research Ltd
(212)930-4202
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