IL2 Sturmovik Secret Throttle, extra 100 horsepower!

This concept was used for HVAC (heating ventilating and air conditioning) fans. It is called a vortex vane damper. It puts a spin on the airflow coming into usually a backward curved cage type fan. The air spin reduces the amount of air grabbed by the centrifugal fan and reduces the power requirement almost linearly with air flow. Typically a vortex vane damper could reduce airflow from 100% to 40%. In high use from the 70's to early 90's they have as far as I know been replaced by variable speed drives as the electronics in those have become reliable. Variable speed drives add a little parasitic power draw, but power consumption has a cubic relationship to airflow, so they are much more efficient. Also centrifugal cage type fans have mostly been replaced with plug fans. That cubic relationship of power to airflow is also present in aircraft. All things being equal power has a cubic relationship to aircraft velocity. As you increase speed air resistance increases as a square of velocity and because you are going faster you are pushing into the air at a faster rate. So how did they improve speed so much. They made the aircraft more streamlined, they flew higher where the air is thinner, and they increased the size of the engines.

I must express my appreciation of Your "nerdiness" (in it's best sense). I love these details. And I have to say I also like Your voice and pronounciation (I hope that's not too personal)

I just wanted to say these are excellent, well researched and thoughtful!

I appreciate your thoroughness and detailed description. I don't know enough about engineering to ask an intelligent question, but, I love to listen as you explain things, thank you.

Thanks for another great video, Greg. One of the many things that I like about your videos, is that they often answer questions I would have never thought to ask in the first place. Thanks again!

Not sure if the horsepower was boosted to any extent but back in the early 80s when I bough my first car I became interested in boosting the fuel economy on my Chrysler six cylinder 4.0 Ltr engine with two barrel carb. A mechanic told me about a small metal plate that could be fitted between the base of the carburettor and the intake manifold. The plate had a recessed grid that was shaped similar to the throttle shown here and the idea was that a swirling motion was worked into the air/fuel mixture as it travelled to the cylinders increasing volumetric efficiency. I did notice a reasonable increase in fuel economy, not around town but on a long journey with constant and gentle throttle use my mileage increased to between 28-30 mpg as opposed to a previous 25 mpg max. I guess there would have been a slight increase in HP but I never had it measured.

Interesting stuff that documentaries never cover. Thanks for posting, Greg.

Outstanding video! I have been an armchair enthusiast of aircraft engines and I am continually amazed at some of the concepts that have been used! Thanks, Greg!

Very cool piece of engineering. The best application I can think of for it in modern engines would be for aftermarket centrifugal superchargers like ProCharger or Vortec. Racers and enthusiasts are always looking for something to give them a small edge over the competition. Road racers who use Vortecs would gain some boost response when they pick up the throttle at the apex of a turn.

This technology lives on in jet engines. The variable inlet guide vanes on turbine engines essentially does the same thing by restricting airflow at reduced throttle settings and controls the angle of airflow into the compressor.

You do really good work Greg! Thanks.

Excellent video, very well done Greg. Many thanks.

Awesome video as always greg. Keep on rocking!

Greg, I appreciate your wit and wisdom. Your presentations are a model of good analysis. I really enjoy studying historical aircraft, and WWII airplanes are my favorite. I often run across comments in the books I read about engineering design issues that were not caught in testing and caused serious problems in combat (e.g., the cannons that extinguished the jet engines when fired simultaneously - pity the poor guy who first discovered that "feature"!). I would like to see videos on serious design flaws of WWII fighters that made it into production.

Greg, thank you for sharing your in depth knowledge. Just amazing!

Another great video. Thanks Greg, please keep doing what you're doing.

I just re-uploaded this to include a quick answer to the question of "why didn't the Germans use this?".

Great report. Thankyou for the details I enjoy discovering.

it would be nice to have a vid on the P-38.

I LOVE THIS KIND OF INFORMATION , THANK YOU