Design feature on BMW 132 equipped aircraft

[Mikael Olrog]

On some aircraft with BMW 132 engine (for example on some but not on all Ju 86E) one can see three pairs of rods from the nacelle to the base of the propeller shaft and I wonder what’s the purpose of them? Are they part of the propeller gear or intended for the engine? I think I've remembered the same feature on Ar 196 and may be also on He 114 and He 115.

Is it by seeing them in a photo, possible to derive the version of the BMW 132 engine or to identify what type of propeller the aircraft is carrying?

I've tried to attach a photo of an BMW 132 engine with this feature visible to this message but since I haven't done this before I'm not sure it works...

/Mikael

[David Ransome]

Hi Mikael,

I had always believed that these were bracing for the front of the cowl which were fitted to the fixed boss (that the prop shaft went through) at the front of the engine.

On a cowl section that I owned many years ago, aircraft type unknown but was WW2 German, it had the ends of bracing rods attached.

HTH,
Regards,

David

[Mikael Olrog]

Thanks David for sharing this information. I can see now that it does fit with some other information I have.

Best wishes
/Mikael