object on front of DII ?

leonard · February 4th, 2009, 14:16

What is this object that obscures the vision on the nose of the DII?

Maeran · February 4th, 2009, 14:55

http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/proje...-series-engine

This isn't the exact same engine, but it's the best I could find quickly.

That structure at the top and the right looks like the structure you're asking about, is labelled the "Druckluftpump," which I make out as literally "flight pressure pump", or the carburetor.

**Olham54** · February 4th, 2009, 15:23

No, it would rather be "pressurised air pump". But I'm pretty sure, that it is rather a container/tank with a round screw lid on top (for cooling water or oil - I don't know).

Maeran · February 4th, 2009, 15:33

I never did any engineering in German, it was all rather "can you show me the way to the beach?"

Mind you, an Austrian engineer did show me around an Air Lauda plane once. Ah, 9/11 ended those days of friendliness.

Back to the structure in question; it is attached to a tube connected to the cylinder heads and Bletchley tells us that there was no mixture control on this machine. Certainly an air/fuel mix is being supplied, but I am not so sure about pressure.

Scratch all that. I've found a French diagram of the DIII (in Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War 1, but originally from l'Aerophile) that describes this structure as a "Nourice d'eau". The water cooled radiators are on the side of the fuslage, but this structure has something to do with them. So you are correct Olham.

Rooster89 · February 4th, 2009, 16:05

Its a gravity fed water tank. It feeds water to the radiators on the sides of the D.II.

-Rooster

gimpyguy · February 4th, 2009, 17:47

Drag that TAC, to the Lower Left corner, you'll notice it only when you look at there

**Olham54** · February 5th, 2009, 14:07

Thanks, Maeran; I searched Wikipedia and Google for the engine, but couldn't find it. If your link shows pics or drawings, I'd like to see them.

Maeran · February 6th, 2009, 11:01

The link in my first post has as good an annotated drawing of a Mercedes engine as I can find. The water tank tends not to be shown, probably because in the aircraft such as the Albatros CIII this is in the upper wing.

My source for the "naurrice d'eau" label is from a book in my possession (Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War I, published by Studio in 2001 but based on the wartime and 1919 editions of Jane's all the World's Aircraft).

The diagram show the whole aircraft (an Albatros DI, but compare with leonard's 2nd picture) and not the engine. I have scanned these and hope I do not overstep the mark for fair usage. If I do, can someone just drop me a PM and I'll take them down.