WIX Archives
Re: Engines availability
Posted by Mikael on Tue May 14, 2002 01:58:30 AM
In reply top Re: Engines availability posted by Kenneth on Mon May 13, 2002 02:06:07 PM
What you can find in sweden are manuals and documentation on how to repair the engines - but of course that will have to be translated.
My experience is that there are engines out there in the world, though not nearly as many as allied types. The complete ones in good condition are generally preserved or stored in museums and the recovered ones tend to be with private people since the museums doesn't want to part with their engines. To some extent also museums don't want to make it publicly known that they have certain engines in store since they are approached by people all the time who want to aquire it (yes, this means that I know of more preserved engines than is listed on my site! ;-).
A problem with recovering engines from crashsites are that they are often damaged in some way, so you'll need several engines to make one complete. But it's not that easy, since quite often the engines are damaged in the same place so it's "that" special part which is missing on all engines...
The Bod? Museum have this experience to some extent with their Jumo 211's that they've recovered.
I did love the sight of the zero-timed BMW 801 at Gardemoen which will be used in their Fw 190. That engine was taken out of the box it was shipped in from the factory...
So lets hope for more airport digs like the ones last year in Germany which yielded some engines which will be used in restorations.
/Mikael
Whose dream is a DB 605 in my livingroom to put my telly on!!
: It seems to me that the supply of Merlin and Allison parts
: still available today owes its existence at least to some
: extent to the fact that aircraft using these engines were
: operated for a significant period after World War II. Thi
: s does not appear to be the case with German, Swedish, Ita
: lian or Hungarian-built DB605/603/601 engines. In Sweden,
: as far as I know (but this is not my speciality.... Mikael
: Olrog), only the SAAB 18 and 21 used the Daimler-Benz eng
: ine and I seem to have heard that some collectors have alr
: eady tried that lead, but to no avail. Moreover, off the t
: op of my head the number of aircraft built in Hungary and
: Italy with these engines was also rather small. It is also
: noteworthy that the DB605 for the Dittes Bf109 was found
: in a disused swimming costume factory in Italy of all plac
: es! If you have to go such lengths to find an engine, are
: there then any good sources left at all? Lack of such engi
: nes would however certainly appear to be the Achilles Heel
: of any Bf 109 restoration/reconstruction and this may als
: o be the reason why Flug Werk is not getting itself involv
: ed with the recreation of complete Bf 109's, choosing inst
: ead the Fw 190. I am afraid that I remain very pessimistic
: about any significant number of these engines turning up
: any where, much as I'd like to see it happen.