The Secret Horsepower Race, Book Info.

[edwest2]

Not that I've seen. Meanwhile, the author has announced that the book is going in for reprint. So, a good sign.

[Graham Boak]

I'm working my way through it, up to 1942 so far. I think it superb. Definitely one of those books.

A couple of minor quibbles: he doesn't know his aircraft to the same depth as his engines, and he is inclined to take Hives' comments as gospel (not always...). But this is the first reference I've seen to an Me409, plus photos.

Lots of praise for other details.

[MW Giles]

An excellent book in many respects, it gives insights that I would not get anywhere else. I would heartily recommend it.

The text jumps around too much for my taste. One minute you are reading about Schneider trophy race engines, then suddenly something about Bristols and then back to Schneider for no apparent reason than they all happened about the same time.

I have a feeling that it is essentially a history of the Merlin and its German competitors, with significant asides for the other makers and their engines, but the Merlin is very much the yardstick he judges everything else against

I wanted more though.

Italy gets a few mentions but nothing really concrete
France - not really mentioned at all
USA - only two engines discussed P&W R-2800 and Allison V-1710

Would have liked discussions about other makers - Wright not really looked at, P&W R-1830 from Wildcat not covered. Implementation differences in Thunderbolt, Corsair and Hellcat of R-2800 would have been interesting

UK - RR Griffon - disappointing coverage
Bristol Hercules - definitely wanted more (I know it was not a fighter engine, but it was a successful sleeve valve engine of similar power to the Merlin)

More of the engines in development as the war ended that went on to bigger and better things afterwards.

I do not know enough to comment on the German coverage, though it appeared to be quite good

Lots of lovely graphs from original reports, but reproduced so small that I need a magnifying glass to see what they actually say

Probably room for a second edition

[schwarze-man]

Originally Posted by Graham Boak

I'm working my way through it, up to 1942 so far. I think it superb. Definitely one of those books.

A couple of minor quibbles: he doesn't know his aircraft to the same depth as his engines, and he is inclined to take Hives' comments as gospel (not always...). But this is the first reference I've seen to an Me409, plus photos.

Lots of praise for other details.

Hi Graham,

Have you finished the book yet? I think that the whole book builds to a crescendo that has some greater clarity after being completely read. I will agree with many comments, "this and that" could have been done differently. The book is not perfect. But, it is a great book that brings many of the important technical aspects of WW2 piston engine development out into wider readership. In fact, there are huge amounts of material that Calum left out of this book, due to publishing constraints. Looking to the future, I see that the substance in "The Secret Horsepower Race" might act as a catalyst for many future studies, and that must be a good thing.
BTW, I get what you mean about Lord Hives, nonetheless, a great man!
Cheers

SM