WesWorld

The turbosupercharger fit in the XP-39 and XP-40 wasn't satisfactory as there was essentially no space left over in the fuselage even without the more elaborate intercooler setups. The only _reasonably_ satisfactory application was in the P-38 where the engine was about 15ft long even without the intercooler radiators.

Somehow this doesn't seem correct, since the B-17s and B-24s were able to fit their turbochargers into the quite small nacelles (especially the outer nacelles on the B-17), and their engines (R-1820s and R-1830s) were of similar displacement to the V-1710. In the B-24, the addition of the turbocharger caused the use of oval vs round nacelles, but certainly the nacelles weren't lengthened by 8+ feet.

December 9, 1936

Continental Motors has broken ground on a new plant in Muskegon, MI.


December 27, 1936 - San Francisco

First flight of the XB-24, Consolidated Aircraft's proposed competitor to the USAAC's B-17.

The wheels are in between the engine and radiators on the P-38 boom which probably accounts for some of the difference.

The installations on the bombers can hardly be called compact as it roughly triples the length. Remember that the turbine has to be about 4ft away in order to cause a big enough drop in back pressure.

My point was that while the turbocharger DOES add systems and bulk, it doesn't appear to add THAT much bulk in many cases (the R-4360, because of that engines size, has a big turbocharger system). The engine nacelles on the bombers were not greatly enlarged when the engines were converted to turbo-supercharged form.

The problems come when you try and cram it into a fighter with limited internal volume. As a result you get a truck like the P-47.

It's probably more a matter of the R-2800 being big: all of the fighters based on that engine are big: the F4U is the smallest of the lot, and even it has a light weight of almost 9000 pounds. The P-47 is bigger, sure, but not by that much: it's light weight is only 10,000 pounds or so. Of course, the Hawker Tempest is actually heavier than the Corsair and while lighter than the Thunderbolt, not by that much (about 750 pounds).