Hi Rick.

I'm not sure that this is right.

While plausible, I don't think that WWII metallurgy was up to the challenge of turbochargers. I believe (but agree that I may be wrong) that WWII planes all had superchargers (either gear driven or belt driven) rather than turbochargers.

The first operational jet engine was developed in Germany during WWII, and many of the initial engines had the turbine blades melt during operation. My understanding is that high performance piston engines of the period had higher exhaust gas temperatures than these early jets.

My understanding is that the first piston engine turbines were used, in the late 1940s, early 1950s, for turbo compound engines, such as the DC-6, where a supercharged engine used the exhaust gas to drive a turbine that transferred power to the propeller.

So possibly the turbocharger was an outgrowth of the jet engine.

Joe

Turbochargers were used in WWII, but they took a lot of room, which only bombers and some of the big fighters (P-38, P-47) had available. Here is a great article on the subject:

Superchargers and Turbochargers - Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor

Thanks for the replies, I'm updating my notes. And thanks for the link to the article, I'm reading that now.

Yes don't get wrapped up in turbofan vs turbojet, there're basically the same with the exception of the turbofan having a larger front compressor fan section that passes excess compressed air around and outside of the turbines "hot" section.
A turbojet sends the majority of it's compressed air through the hot turbine section and straight out of the tailpipe.
Turbo-props are smaller jet engines with propellors attached to produce the power/thrust required.

I could envision Sam experimenting with the new fuel and compressing it then igniting it out of a nozzle creating a massive plume of fire and energy that's waiting to be harnessed in the new turbojet engines to come.

The Humming bird must be very light and nimble so it will require new materials to construct. Experiment with a honeycomb structure patterned from beehive material. This new material will be covered with golden hued aluminum foil stretched taught across the honeycomb interior (this is current advanced composite design used today). This will allow the wing to flex and bend without damage under the stresses imposed with the high powered turbines embedded within....

The Hummingbirds wings could rotate at fuselage attach point allowing the thrust to be directed straight down enabling pure VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing and mid-air hover. BadAZZ!!

AWESOME! Thank you so much for these ideas!