Merlin - The Engine that Won the War 

After a couple years of being a car guy... thank you for putting it into English.

Does't it have a lower flash-point temperature?

"Keep calm and find a better stoich"

@@mik99D No, it has a higher flash point. It's harder to ignite, which is why it can bear the higher temperatures and pressures of supercharging. Which is ALSO why it's actually worse in an engine that doesn't require it. You actually get less power and more emissions from the incomplete combustion. Don't waste your money!

@@fffUUUUUU Correct! it in other words extends the range of work that can be extracted from the combustion event, thus improving thermal efficiency.

My mother (still going, bless her, at 96) used to make aircraft engine parts during the war for Armstrong-Siddely in Ulverston (then in Lancashire). They had been bombed out in the raids on Coventry, and I guess decided to open a factory somewhere slightly less likely to be bombed. (nearby Barrow was bombed, but I don't think Ulverston was). Nothing to do with Merlins of course, although from googling, it seems that Armstrong Siddely aircraft engines did eventually (many years after the war) become part of Rolls Royce, although I think the Ulverston works was put to other uses (not with AS) after the war.

Yes, you never know what the Grannies are up to!

I salute you

Wicked story. Big up your great grandma

interestingly, queen of england, also mechanic during ww2. i guess men fighting.

💥 Must be Amazing to Remember Living through those Times , John ! 👍 Can you recall listening to Winston Churchill on the Wireless ? 📻

Many a story from the Midlands was passed on to me through family from those days. One was a dogfight over Oldbury where a German plane was shot down. It crashed somewhere near the Catholic Church on the Wolverhampton Road. Those watching said that as it came down they could clearly see the pilot. My relatives also saw several V1 rockets fall from the sky, but I think that was in London. These memories must be kept alive by passing them on!

The courage of the tanker crews moving Avgas 'the last inch' from Galveston to the UK is one of the great untold stories of the war. They were some of the first Americans to be truly in the fight against the axis.

My dad was one of those Navy officers that served for the first 18 months of WWII on an oil tanker in the North Atlantic. They might as well as painted a bullseye on the sides of it. He served the balance of the war in the South Pacific as the executive officer on the DE707, USS Jobe, a destroyer escort. By the grace of God he and the entire crew on board both ships all made it back home.

What about the tanker crews deliver oil to Nazi Germany from standard oil?

@@michaelidarecis The Altmark had loaded a full cargo of Texas light crude that it used to supply the Graf Spee. I rather doubt any Allied ships delivered oil to Germany

@@benwilson6145 am not sure if United States carried the oil however am 100% positive they sold it to Nazi Germany. Don't let the media fool you it was a sad day in America business circles when Hitler declared war on the United States.

Mustang's are built by Ford you dumb degenerate. They are a American sports car. Lmao get baited. I'm the one who is getting the last laugh.

@@theenzoferrari458 lol are you joking? The mustang, the fighter, used a licensed version of the merlin

@@theenzoferrari458 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang Just for you.

@@theenzoferrari458 who's the dumb degenerate now eh?

@@theenzoferrari458 hope you feel stupid now :)

Liked the robot voice saying "curious droid" in the intro, but they took it off unfortunately... 😳

I miss the Discovery Channel of my youth, but I can fill that hole with high-quality RU-vid video essays, so...could be worse.

"Mark Felton Productions" is a great example of quality historical content

Guaranteed Megashark is still alive free.

CD doesn't show us naked people wandering around nowhere with nothing. :)

Absolutely. It's a great book. I'm glad he got a mention, from the Roll-Royce work right up to Concorde's engine intakes. An important man.

Its windy isn't it? No it's Thursday So am I let's have a cup of tea

you know about ear plugs right?

@@Francois_Dupont I know. But did he knew?

I was thinking that as well.

@@Francois_Dupont PARDON?

And you give Brexit to the next generation.

Bithros because they valued sovereinty over enslavememt.

@@Bithros , and too much of western civilization is being given to the inbreds and africans.

I am sure my grandfather would feel more occupied right now than in 40. Quite obvious when comparing photos of Paris now and then.

@@iconoclastpleonast8726 Here, here. He who does not learn by history is destine to repeat it..

The 99TH fighter squadron (Tuskegee Airmen) If I remember correctly lost a total of 27 american bombers to German fighters which was the average for american fighter squadrons. Also, they were never "requested" for escort. That's simply liberal "White Knighting".

Bravo!

@@cromlaughsatyourfourwinds8333 "which was the average for american fighter squadrons" Your statement appears to be inaccurate: "Of the 179 bomber escort missions the 332nd Fighter Group flew for the Fifteenth Air Force, the group encountered enemy aircraft on 35 of those missions and lost bombers to enemy aircraft on only seven, and the total number of bombers lost was 27. By comparison, the average number of bombers lost by the other P-51 fighter groups of the Fifteenth Air Force during the same period was 46." The 99th fighter squadron was part of the 332nd fighter group. This is the full formation of the Tuskegee airman. The 99th squadron was only a part of the whole. The "never lost a bomber" claim is a myth, but it appears to have basis in fact. As quoted we see this: "The mission reports, however, do credit the group for not losing a bomber on an escort mission for a six-month period between September 1944 and March 1945". We also see that their average bomber losses were quite low compared to other P51 fighter groups during that time: (27 compared to 46, which is less than 60%). We also see that they faced combat on 35 bomber escort missions but only lost bombers on 7 of those 35 (20%), thus feeding the "no losses" myth. It is a myth, but it has enough basis in truth that it is obvious how that myth got started. They were in fact very good. The original origin of the claim was from a newspaper: " the Chicago Defender said that no bomber escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen had ever been lost to enemy fire, under the headline: "332nd Flies Its 200th Mission Without Loss"" They did get their basic information from the 15th air force. Did the 15th deliberately exaggerate for propaganda / moral purposes? Who knows. Maybe the Chicago defender was just an early example of 'fake news'.

@@jajsamurai Appreciate the feedback, we must have different sources and i'm willing to admit that my source may be wrong. But if the bomber loss ratio you quote is accurate then why is it there were no aces in the 99TH? Again, thanks. Take Care.

@@cromlaughsatyourfourwinds8333 Thats a good question, and I don't think I can give you a full answer. The tuskegee airman were the 332nd air group which included the 99th, but also the 100th, 301st and 302nd Fighter Squadrons. To be an ace you need to shoot down aircraft. My understanding is that the 332nd was equipped with older planes (P40 warhawks, p39 airacobras) to begin with and was assigned more ground attack duties. This would prevent you from earning the title 'ace' as you cant shoot down enemy planes when you are only assigned to shoot up trains and transports. Latter in the war they switched to P51's, but also latter in the war opportunities to fight germans were slim as the luftwaffa was much reduced. This is one reason why there are so many german aces with over 100 victories but basically no allied pilots achieved the same record. The germans had a target rich environment because allied planes outnumbered them 3 to 1. They were constantly in combat while allied pilots would often fly missions and never see a german. The 332nd experienced this as well. We see that out of 179 bomber escort missions they flew, they only saw german fighters on 35 of them. Its hard to score victories when the germans dont show up to the dance. The term "Ace" is a bit ambiguous. A pilot was termed an ace if he had a certain number of kills in air to air combat. The number varies but the concept is related to an interesting phenomenon in aerial combat (not strictly limited to air combat though) which is that early on a pilot is easy prey and not very effective but once he has survived enough battles to be experienced he becomes remarkably hard to take down and very effective at taking down others. The air force and navy noticed this and it is the reason for the formation of programs like top gun and red flag. 72 Tuskegee Airmen shot down 112 enemy aircraft. So the kills are there but they appear to be too spread out to distinguish anyone as an ace. In a way, too much competence in general prevents any one pilot from standing out. According to what I can find 3 of the 332nds airman have 4 recorded kills while 6 more have 3 kills each. Given enough time and opportunity these men likely would have been considered aces (assuming they survived). I would have to surmise that the primary reason none of them got to 5 kills (assuming thats your cutoff for 'ace' status) would be simply lack of opportunity. There were a lot of allied fighter pilots and few germans left by the time they were finally considered a front line unit and selected for missions likely to require air to air combat.

I know. I'll bet she was a rum girl in those days. Kind of girl who would have raced you down the road to the pub and beat you. And still get 'em in at the bar.

Shilling?

She is the kind of person you can only dream of having on your team.

Her carburettor modification was colloquially known as "Miss Shilling's Orifice".

Check out her wikipedia page. She was an amateur motorbike racer in the 30s, and was awarded a British Motorcycle Racing Club Gold Star for lapping Brooklands circuit at 100mph.

Yes becus USA and Russia helped 3 vs 1 not exactly URE victory. I wonder UK vs Germany outcome

@James Smith good thing the DB-605 wasn't using the same octane fuel

@@taimermega6447 The most likely outcome would be (if they went to war) Germany actually mounts operation sealion, but their plan goes to sh!t as they land on too wide a front with improper equipment, the RN steams down from Scotland, decimates the German fleet and cuts the German army off from supplies, reinforcements and escape, trapping half a million German soldiers in enemy territory with no supplies. Stop lines wear down the German assault before they can make it far inland, and running low on ammunition, they have to surrender as there is no retreat. Result would be an inverse of Dunkirk but 100x worse for the Germans. As not only have they lost the best part of their army and equipment, they also lost much of their airforce (fighting over enemy territory), as well as surrendering the seas to the RN in the assault. Forced to the negotiating table.

@@taimermega6447 Britain would win hands down. America was late to the war (as usual), and Russia was fighting Germany (which Russia aided at the beginning. From 1939-1941, England fought alone, and beat Germany.

@@LukeShort1854 hahahaaaa are u crazy England was losing got its navy desimated, without American help its was done for, all the weapons and help from the States.

I thought that was Arthur.

Heh, poetic thought. Sadly it is King Arthur who shall return in our hour of need, rather than Merlin. Nice try mind.

subdued reader Yup you are right, my mistake . I feel around about now would be an appropriate time period for a modern day Arthur !?

Mark Pendragon . Yes you are correct. I wonder how many people will spot my clumsy error ?

Victor Seal I'm not British, but I think all of us could use an Arthur right about now.

Not really. The greatest decisions were the Russian use and development of the French Hispano-Suiza 12Y engine and license production of the DC-3 as the Li-2 which was the backbone of Russian Military logistics which the Germans were completely unable to interfere. The Russian choice of the T-34 and the US the choice of the Sherman were also "best decisions". Germany was defeated before the P-51's ever showed up. The rest was just mop up and retaking of ground from a criminal regime that refused to surrender even though it knew it was defeated. P-47's could have done the escort job (and continued to do so through the 15th Air Force) as well as the P-51 as it was being developed with longer range but it also proved extremely successful as a tactical fighter. Both aircraft were superior to the 109 and 190. The P-51 and P-47 were both GREAT fighters and they backed each other up.

@@hoodoo2001 another guy who thinks he knows history and has no clue.

@Shaun Mclaren uh no it wasn't. The Merlin was British. The plane american

@Shaun Mclaren So IRRC, the British wanted to commission North American to build P-40s under license, and NA offered to develop a better plane instead, and thus the Mustang was born. So an American design built to British specifications.

Calling the Mustang a British design is a bit of a stretch, the airframe was designed to British specification by an American aircraft company with the head designer being of all things a German

Warped Perception That’s what you took from this video?🤦‍♀️

More than chocked. It has a stiff leg at the front. It isn’t going anywhere.

@@bstevermer9293 Uhh yes. If this engine has the power they said it does that trailer isn't going to hold it back.

The props are cut down to help reduce the thrust... still they do move occasionally. Guy Martin (the motorbike racer) has a Merlin and after fiddling with the throttle restrictor he too found why it had one when it took off and went through his garage..

No where near full throttle; I run the Merlin at 2300 rpm and -2psi boost pressure (about 480 hp). The trailer is chocked, 4-wheels braked and there is a ramp in the front that digs into the ground; so it won't move forward at all. Torque reaction is the first limitation as the engine can develop 6,250 lbs/ft of torque at the propeller, but not a problem at the above power setting. If you check our FB page, there is technical info on the trailers there.

One thing that isn't mentioned is how much more fuel efficient the Merlin was in comparison to the American Pratt & Whitney and Alison engines. That meant more sorties on less fuel and planes that could by airborne for longer and fly further, particularly important as virtually all the fuel had to be imported from the US.

a great engine gives you options. fighter combat even today is largely down to energy surplus. if you have more energy (speed) you can trade it for manuvering. if you can't replenish speed effectively (due to lack of engine power vs. the opponent) your ability to keep turning is diminished. thus, a great engine with superior energy addition to the other guy can help you sustain the turning fight longer. an airframe that can turn super hard is useless if it bleeds all its speed in the turn and is then having to trade altitude for airspeed because there's only so much of that available...

the phrase goes "necessity is the mother..." but conflict has always been the father.

God was with us during those days....

Britain outproduced Germany in WW2, despite being bombed. Britain sent many of their best inventions to USA with Sir Henry Tizard - including the cavity magnetron for short wave radar small and light enough to fit into aircraft, the atom bomb ( called 'Tube alloy project' in UK before the war ), the proximity fuse, the reflector gun sight and later the gyro gun sight, the jet engine, plastic explosives, and submarine detection systems called Sonar and Asdic. But the real war winner was the Merlin engine...and later the Griffon engine.

Used to live next to southampton airport. One year a flypast took off from there. A lancaster ,two spitties and a hurricane made the loudest noise i've ever heard

Awesoooome. Bet THAT was something to see!

Did you feel/hear that "whoomp whoomp" in your gut from the Mynarski Lancaster passing over? I wonder what effect it had on the citizens in wartime Germany when hundreds of those things were over your city with only one purpose in mind.

@creditcrew No room downstairs. All filled with Germans.

Something about the P-51, especially the D model. Even today it looks as if it could handle itself in a fight against a MiG, it just has that look, like it was the perfect fighter design. When I was growing up I saw one at an airshow, and it blew me away. As it rolled down the runway in front of us on takeoff, the ungodly awesome sound of that Merlin engine and that giant prop is something I'll never forget, how I felt it in my chest, the thunderous roar and sense of power radiating from that beast, gleaming shiny metal in sunlight.

@keith moore No shit. I was talking about looks not performance.

@keith moore excuse me where did you find that 2:1 kill ratio for the corsair?

Similar to the Shelby cobra...American motor, British body

I want a cheeseburger now.

Hahahaha. Thats how us in the rest of the world see yous so thats hilarious

Yup thats the best sounding Diesel engine! Reminds me of catching a trian in my youth.

Huge amount of torque which was great for trains & marine use, but just a tad bulky for aircraft!

++Martin D A++ And there are four Deltic powered locomotives still alive and running on preserved railways in the UK.

@@JohnSmith-pd1fz WOW 4 of 'em! That is really great to hear. I will be checking them out. I seem to like them even more than steam for some reason. Those 50s and 60s big locomotives are truly awe inspiring. Thank you Mr Smith.

The Napier Deltic was featured in the 1950's episode of Britain's Greatest Machines with Paul Barrie; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0h9v0DeN7b4.html

I know right! ❤️

How are you from the future?

@@FXwill0 timezones buddy

Sem papa, what are timezones? And how do we kill Hitler?

Yes waking up in lanzarote on holidays couldn't be better way . Sorry their could the wife could have left me .!!!

I was shocked at that scene. You couldn't even imagine how terribly loud it is and with no ear protection

Pardon, didn’t hear you.

He’s probably already deaf from doing it before

Based on his non reaction it’s probably already gone

Such a relevant comment! So many over the years have lost their precious hearing by being complacent in situations like this. Once those cilia have been destroyed by powerful sound waves they are gone, gone forever.

And????

Helios Sphere haha, I am tempted 😂 But there is a Porsche 917 engine right next to it so I would rather take that

Mark Gillies nothing - I was astonished what great things they have there which nobody can see...

Ask if they’re still using it or needing it say if you can have it for a project or something idk small chance that they’ll say yes but if they do hey free 57,000 dollar engine

@@prowoto the 917 Engine would be over 1mio tho 😂 They don’t use both of them ...

And what about that Norton racer eh? Now she was a real biker chick!

Inventor of 'Miss Shilling's orifice" - as it was known to RAF pilots.

@@raytrevor1 Indeed what an extraordinary person.

@@wideyxyz2271 She used to race them apparently. She refused to marry until her husband to be did 100 mph around Brooklands. He was also a pilot in WWII.

From her autobiography...'Beatrice was authorised to use her racing Norton, detuned for the road, for work, and her appearance at airfields with a bag of tools and a brisk manner became something of a legend'

@soaringtractor Indeed....a licenced built British engine. I'm surprised you are still alive Wilbur

Thats kinda gay.

Poodlestabber,...I agree. Watching/hearing a video at full volume does that to me too. When I hear one "live", my nipples get hard. Ignore "ChickenF*cker"s comment, he must drive a Yugo. [Wink.]

My favorite vid. Best at full volume. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wdy17GmkpWc.html

Back in the late '90s, I was at an air show and got to see a P-51 and an F-15 do a side by side low level fly-by past the airport. Two 'air superiority' fighters from decades apart doing that was a great sight to see.

Just what you want in a tank, a load of really flammable fuel stored close to high explosives. What could possibly go wrong!

Actually, petrol powered tanks were no more likely to brew up than diesel powered ones. The main cause of a "brew up" was the ammo being hit and cooking off. However, once "wet storage" was implemented, this pretty much stopped happening. Check out the vids by the chieftain and lindybeige on those topics.

Made mine too! Iove his videos. The 70 dislikes were confusing, maybe the WW2 German Fans didnt like hearing about their butts getting kicked by the P51s.

No, I didn’t 👎🏼 but... I wonder if he moves his hands up and down when he’s not on camera, too. That’s my only complaint. I can’t stop watching his hands.

All the way to Scotland from France on one engine? I can't think of a reason why they didn't drop it on the first flat piece of land they saw after passing Dover. I don't doubt that they could. I just can't think of why they would.

@@niallkinsella2687 i think i was in error when i said 'France'... discussion was 20 years ago, he may have been returning from a mission further north, but, indeed, crossed a lot of water to get home on one engine.

@@lohikarhu734 Maybe they were on a raid against German targets in occupied Norway? It would make much more sense to be operating out of Scotland in that case, and or would definitely fit with the crossing of the North Sea.

Why ironic? Did you know that the BF-109 first flew with a British engine? I think more ironic was the shipping of whole Spitfires to the USSR.. the co aggressor in WWII.

all the 109's were either in Russia, England or Amerika - being taken appart. Technology wise the german engines were ahead.

Depends what you mean by technology wise ahead. They both had there respective advantages, pros and cons. As indeed does everything. A little more specificity is required. The fuel system, being mechanical fuel injection was superior to the Merlin's twin SU Carbs. However the Merlin's two stage supercharger was superior to the Daimler Benz engine. The DB engine running inverted had it's own particular lot of pro's and cons.

@@martingrundy5475 info, : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NcI67pZe_Ss.html . respectfull regards.

As a car guy who just stumbled upon this, that really confused me until I figured out that the pistons were arranged in a circle and that it wasn't like a wankel rotary.

@@thomashanson6603 There's the wankel rotary, but also in aircraft engines there's a different rotary. In WWI era engines, the rotary looked like a radial, only it had the crankshaft fixed to the airplane, the prop was fixed to the crankcase, and the crankcase, cylinders and prop revolved as a unit around the crank.

@@trackhoe23 oh wow ok. So I suppose there has never been a wankel aircraft engine?

@@thomashanson6603 no not on mass scale.

@@thomashanson6603 The best aircraft engines in WW1 were rotary radial engines in which the crank was stationary and the case and pistons rotated around it, so a rotary radial is a thing. Worth searching for them on YT ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CYc-H8Wg-MQ.html

I always thought it was named after the Wizard. He hit me with a knowledge bomb right off the bat.

Then Rolls Royce named jet engines after rivers. Nene, Avon, Derwent, etc.

Ooh! I'll take one! The Mosquito is my favourite prop driven aircraft! What a beautiful machine!

Didn't they also find some concrete "moulds" (or forms) that were important in creating the plywood/balsa 'monocoque' structures that made the "Mosquito" so light and fast ?

Did you know that all you need to build an original Mosquito and not a replica is a single nut from an original aircraft?

Yes I didn't know exhaust thrust was so much.

Fuel can go far higher than 100 oc, in formula one they were using 132 oc at one point.

I wouldnt forget about the engine that was to radials what the merlin was to the liquid cooled bois...The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double wasp...It powered the B-26 the A-26, and of course the Hellcat, Corsair, and the P-47...And had phenomenal performance

@@granddukeofmecklenburg -- Indeed. The radials kept the prop planes "mixing it up" with the jets for another decade.

@@GilmerJohn I mean there is a reason the radials were the last piston engine type used on combat aircraft...qnd why the Rare Bear is still the fastest piston driven aircraft ever made topping 528mph

@@granddukeofmecklenburg well yes but that engine could not go as high, ever

⁠​⁠@@jacktattisSorry but the P&W Twin Wasp in the P-47 was the king of high altitude. Only the purpose built Focke Wulf Dora late in the war was better at high altitude and it was powered by a Junkers engine. The truth is any engine can be good at altitude if you put a big enough blower on it. The P-47 had the biggest.

@keith moore Fortunately you're not a member of the military because asinine comments like yours are the driving force behind the dumbing down of today's society.

Years later it was Merlin engines that power the concorde. Awesome family.

keith moore There was one of those OLYMPUS ENGINES at the BRITISH PAVILION @EXPO 67 IN MONTREAL CANADA, standing on its end , cheers from NJ USA

@keith moore It's a good thing the merlin mustang was available in '44 prior to D-Day to hunt down the Luftwaffe as far away as Poland and Slovakia. P47s could barely make it past Hamburg with their Double Wasps, that thirsty drag inducing anchor of an engine. Even though the Jug is a massive fighter, it still couldn't carry enough fuel to do the job. And its pretty stupid to talk about the Korean war in a discussion about WW2. Or did you forget that P51s shot down their fair share of Me262s?

Keith, of course the Mig 15 was a better jet than the Me262. My point is the Luftwaffe in WW2 didn't have the former, only the latter. The Korean war has nothing to do with what USAAF pilots achieved in the P51 prior to DDay. And bringing in the Red Baron's personal honour code is just as irrelevant, because in WW2 how you achieved air superiority didn't matter, just that you did, so B17 and B24 crews could get to the target and back, and the troops on the invasion beaches didn't have to worry about strafing and bombing as well as the ground forces they already faced. I used to discount the importance of long range in a fighter, but that was the factor that allowed the P51 to ambush me262s anywhere in Germany. Luftwaffe pilots knew there was no safe area anymore, and the odds of them surviving the war were now extremely long. As the video makes clear, V12 engines had a narrow frontal area allowing sleeker and lighter designs than those powered by radials. The fw190A had poorer high altitude performance than the much older bf109. Kurt Tank reverted to a V12 in powering the dominant fw190D. But the merlin Mustang was a true masterpiece of aviation design in 1944, and the Dora was too little, too late.

Exactly ! The Merlin has a sweet sound.

Also, the second stage engine on the Falcon 1 was called "Kestrel"

@@adimifus And the velociraptor is as a dinosaur a predecessor of todays birds...

so the engineers of Space X are well read.

Kaltenstein Müller That's awesome!