Can anyone ID this WW2 Aero Supercharger Impeller
Discussion
A bit of a long shot but the backstory is that I recently purchased what was advertised as part of the engine from a Short Stirling Mk.1.
The item would appear to be a supercharger impeller, however from the drawings of the Bristol Hercules engine I have seen these were fitted with a single sided impeller where as this one is double sided (I think referred to as a twin intake). The only double sided one I can find reference to was fitted to the Napier Sabre.
Its a huge lump, must weigh c.30kg and is more than twice the size of other impellers I have in my collection which came from a P-38 (Alilson V1710) and a B17.
I purchased a section of the supercharger housing from what is supposedly the same aircraft some time back, and the circumference does seem to be a fit, however it just seems to be a massive departure from the type that is documented to have been used, given its width would have been double.
I will pop some pictures up a bit later but any help in confirming the id would be great!!
The item would appear to be a supercharger impeller, however from the drawings of the Bristol Hercules engine I have seen these were fitted with a single sided impeller where as this one is double sided (I think referred to as a twin intake). The only double sided one I can find reference to was fitted to the Napier Sabre.
Its a huge lump, must weigh c.30kg and is more than twice the size of other impellers I have in my collection which came from a P-38 (Alilson V1710) and a B17.
I purchased a section of the supercharger housing from what is supposedly the same aircraft some time back, and the circumference does seem to be a fit, however it just seems to be a massive departure from the type that is documented to have been used, given its width would have been double.
I will pop some pictures up a bit later but any help in confirming the id would be great!!
Krupp88 said:
The only double sided one I can find reference to was fitted to the Napier Sabre.
Is that smaller brown coloured impeller in front of it part of it, or the one from the B-17 you mentioned, placed in front?If part of it, then its not from a Sabre.
While the big does indeed look similar to a Napier Sabre one, the Napier Sabre didn't have that additional smaller impeller in front of it. There are photo's on the Canadian Typhoon project of them stripping down their Sabre supercharger.
aeropilot said:
Krupp88 said:
The only double sided one I can find reference to was fitted to the Napier Sabre.
Is that smaller brown coloured impeller in front of it part of it, or the one from the B-17 you mentioned, placed in front?If part of it, then its not from a Sabre.
While the big does indeed look similar to a Napier Sabre one, the Napier Sabre didn't have that additional smaller impeller in front of it. There are photo's on the Canadian Typhoon project of them stripping down their Sabre supercharger.
I have had a look for any makers/inspection stamps but drawn a blank so far, just seen some pictures of the Sabre one, as you say its not that.
If you look on page 20 here:
https://www.spilve.lv/library/construction/The%20J...
It looks very similar to that impeller (with the separate, bolted-on rotating guide vanes).
If so it's a Rolls-Royce engine, but I can't see the type.
ETA maybe a Derwent from a Meteor or something? Looks like it's been in a massive crash.
https://www.spilve.lv/library/construction/The%20J...
It looks very similar to that impeller (with the separate, bolted-on rotating guide vanes).
If so it's a Rolls-Royce engine, but I can't see the type.
ETA maybe a Derwent from a Meteor or something? Looks like it's been in a massive crash.
Edited by dr_gn on Wednesday 18th November 10:10
Found this pic of a cutaway Derwent.
On the back of the impeller you can see that the impeller is made from two parts, (the guide vane as mentioned above) and from a different type of metal. I wonder if your one is meant to look like this, but where it's all been bent, it's ended up looking like two separate impellers and should all line up like this:
More pics here:
http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~aviation_engine_histor...
On the back of the impeller you can see that the impeller is made from two parts, (the guide vane as mentioned above) and from a different type of metal. I wonder if your one is meant to look like this, but where it's all been bent, it's ended up looking like two separate impellers and should all line up like this:
More pics here:
http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~aviation_engine_histor...
Edited by lufbramatt on Wednesday 18th November 10:55
Great suggestions - thanks
The pics above appears to show the ends of a similar type of nuts as you can see on my one.
The dealer I purchased it from often has Gloster Meteor parts for sale that were found buried on a airfield at Melsbroek in Belgium. 616 Squadron were based here operating Meteor F.3's in early 1945. Most of these F3's were Derwent powered however a few were still powered by the earlier Welland (which also had a double sided impeller).
Possibly the dealer has mixed up his items.
The pics above appears to show the ends of a similar type of nuts as you can see on my one.
The dealer I purchased it from often has Gloster Meteor parts for sale that were found buried on a airfield at Melsbroek in Belgium. 616 Squadron were based here operating Meteor F.3's in early 1945. Most of these F3's were Derwent powered however a few were still powered by the earlier Welland (which also had a double sided impeller).
Possibly the dealer has mixed up his items.
Krupp88 said:
Great suggestions - thanks
The pics above appears to show the ends of a similar type of nuts as you can see on my one.
The dealer I purchased it from often has Gloster Meteor parts for sale that were found buried on a airfield at Melsbroek in Belgium. 616 Squadron were based here operating Meteor F.3's in early 1945. Most of these F3's were Derwent powered however a few were still powered by the earlier Welland (which also had a double sided impeller).
Possibly the dealer has mixed up his items.
How many crashed there?The pics above appears to show the ends of a similar type of nuts as you can see on my one.
The dealer I purchased it from often has Gloster Meteor parts for sale that were found buried on a airfield at Melsbroek in Belgium. 616 Squadron were based here operating Meteor F.3's in early 1945. Most of these F3's were Derwent powered however a few were still powered by the earlier Welland (which also had a double sided impeller).
Possibly the dealer has mixed up his items.
Whilst googling Meteor losses I came across the following article, in which there is a picture of a imepller imbedded into a tree, certainly looks to be a similar type.
http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
Krupp88 said:
Whilst googling Meteor losses I came across the following article, in which there is a picture of a imepller imbedded into a tree, certainly looks to be a similar type.
http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
I expect there were a lot of Metor losses. There's a crash site near me - on Hagg Side in the Peak District (right next to where the Dambuster's practiced). Luckily the pilot survived. I've never found the crash site - mainly due the book containing the grid reference being wrong!http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
https://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/glos...
dr_gn said:
Krupp88 said:
Whilst googling Meteor losses I came across the following article, in which there is a picture of a imepller imbedded into a tree, certainly looks to be a similar type.
http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
I expect there were a lot of Metor losses. There's a crash site near me - on Hagg Side in the Peak District (right next to where the Dambuster's practiced). Luckily the pilot survived. I've never found the crash site - mainly due the book containing the grid reference being wrong!http://nicwhe8.freehostia.com/millthorpe/1955/1955...
https://aircrashsites.co.uk/air-crash-sites-5/glos...
https://www.peakdistrictaircrashes.co.uk/crash_sit...
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