The Daimler-Benz DB 603 was a German
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
used during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was a
liquid-cooled
Liquid cooling refers to cooling by means of the convection or circulation of a liquid.
Examples of liquid cooling technologies include:
* Cooling by convection or circulation of coolant, including water cooling
* Liquid cooling and ventilatio ...
12-cylinder inverted
V12 V12 or V-12 may refer to:
Aircraft
* Mil V-12, a Soviet heavy lift helicopter
* Pilatus OV-12, a planned American military utility aircraft
* Rockwell XFV-12, an American experimental aircraft project
* Škoda-Kauba V12, a Czechoslovak experim ...
enlargement of the
DB 601, which was in itself a development of the
DB 600
The Daimler-Benz DB 600 was a German aircraft engine designed and built before World War II as part of a new generation of German engine technology. It was a liquid-cooled inverted V12 engine, and powered the Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Heinkel He ...
. Production of the DB 603 commenced in May 1942, and with a 44.5 liter (44,500 cc) displacement figure, was the largest displacement inverted V12 aviation engine to be produced and used in front line aircraft of the Third Reich during World War II.
The DB 603 powered several aircraft, including the
Do 217 N&M,
Do 335,
He 219
The Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' (" Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. A relatively sophisticated design, the He 219 possessed a variety of innovations, including Lichtenstein S ...
,
Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 ''Hornisse'' (Hornet) is a German heavy fighter and ''Schnellbomber'' used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Though an incremental improvement of the Me 210, it had a new wing plan, longer fuselage and engine ...
,
BV 155 and
Ta 152C.
Design and development
![Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-667-7143-02, Flugzeug Blohm - Voß BV 238 V1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-667-7143-02%2C_Flugzeug_Blohm_-_Vo%C3%9F_BV_238_V1.jpg)
The
Mercedes-Benz T80
The Mercedes-Benz T80 was a six-wheeled vehicle built by Mercedes-Benz, developed and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. It was intended to break the world land speed record, but never made the attempt, the project having been overtaken by the outbre ...
land speed record car, designed by aircraft engineer
Josef Mickl Josef may refer to
*Josef (given name)
*Josef (surname)
* ''Josef'' (film), a 2011 Croatian war film
*Musik Josef
Musik Josef is a Japanese manufacturer of musical instruments. It was founded by Yukio Nakamura, and is the only company in Japan spe ...
with assistance from
Ferdinand Porsche
Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline–electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner–Porsche), the Volkswag ...
and top German
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
racing driver
Hans Stuck
Hans Stuck (pronounced ''"shtook"''; sometimes called Hans Stuck von Villiez; 27 December 1900 – 9 February 1978) was a German motor racing driver. Both his son Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1951) and his grandsons Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck b ...
, incorporated the third prototype DB 603. It was set up for the land speed record run attempt to operate on an exotic fuel mix based on a 63% methanol, 16% benzene and 12% ethanol content, with minor percentages of acetone, nitrobenzene, avgas and ether. Adding to the power output was a pioneering form of the Luftwaffe's later
MW 50
MW 50 (Methanol-''Wasser'' 50) was a 50-50 mixture of methanol and water (German: ''Wasser'') that was often sprayed into the supercharger of World War II aircraft engines primarily for its anti-detonation effect, allowing the use of increased bo ...
methanol/water injection boost, and was tuned to 3,000 PS (2,959 hp, 2,207 kW)— enough, it was believed, to propel the aerodynamic three-axle T80 up to 750 km/h on a specially-prepared, nearly length stretch of the roughly north/south oriented Autobahn Berlin — Halle/Leipzig, which passed close to the east side of
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
(now part of the modern
A9 Autobahn
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Berlin and Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg. It is the fifth longest autobahn spanning .
Route
The northern terminus of the A 9 is at the Potsdam interchange, where it merges into the A 10, ...
) and with the actual length's location due south of Dessau, reworked to be wide with a paved-over median, for the record to be set in January 1940 during ''Rekord Woche'' (Record/Speed Week). Due to the outbreak of the war in September 1939, the T80 (nicknamed ''Schwarzer Vogel'', "Black Bird") never raced. The DB 603 engine was removed from the vehicle for use in fighter aircraft.
As Germany's largest displacement inverted V12 aviation powerplant in production during the war years, the DB 603 saw wide operational use as the primary engine type for many twin and multi-engined combat aircraft designs — the promising twin-engined
Dornier Do 335
The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' ("Arrow") was a heavy fighter built by Dornier for Germany during World War II. The two-seater trainer version was called ''Ameisenbär'' ("anteater"). The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted to be better than other ...
''Pfeil'' prototype heavy fighter, the front-line
Messerschmitt Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 ''Hornisse'' (Hornet) is a German heavy fighter and ''Schnellbomber'' used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Though an incremental improvement of the Me 210, it had a new wing plan, longer fuselage and engine ...
''Hornisse'' heavy fighter and
Heinkel He 219
The Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' (" Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. A relatively sophisticated design, the He 219 possessed a variety of innovations, including Lichtenstein S ...
''Uhu'' twin-engined night fighter were all designed for DB 603 power. The Dornier
Do 217M and -N medium bomber and night fighter subtypes powered by inline engines, and the enormous sixty-metre wingspan, six-engined
Blohm & Voss BV 238
The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a German flying boat, built during World War II. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built when it first flew in 1944, and was the largest aircraft produced by any of the Axis powers during World War II.
History
Develop ...
flying boat prototype, essentially had their DB 603 powerplants installed within what appeared to be the same
unitized complete engine/cowl/radiator assembly as a complete unit-replaceable "power system" for twin and multi-engined aircraft — this particular design featured a "chin"-style radiator installation directly beneath the crankcase, and the oil cooler placed on the dorsal portion of the installation for the earlier examples, as the BV 238 had no visible upper-cowl openings for engine cooling of any sort for its half-dozen unitized DB 603s. The He 219 airframe pioneered what is believed to be a
Heinkel
Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with ...
-specific ''Kraftei'' unitized engine package for the DB 603 engine using a well-streamlined annular radiator set for primary engine cooling between the propeller and its reduction gear housing with a nearly-cylindrical cowl behind it, pierced only by the twin rows of six exhaust stacks, one row per side. The characteristic portside-cowl supercharger intake for Daimler-Benz inverted V12s was usually accommodated away from the nacelle's sheetmetal itself for the Heinkel/DB 603 unitized engine package, most often within the airframe's wing panel design. The same ''Kraftei'' packaging for the He 219 was also used for powering the four-engined prototype
He 177B strategic bomber series, and with an added
turbocharger
In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
in each nacelle, the six ordered (two completed) prototypes of Heinkel's
He 274
The Heinkel He 274 was a Nazi Germany, German heavy bomber design developed during World War II, purpose-designed for high-altitude bombing with pressurized crew accommodation.
Due to the Allied advance through Northwest Europe, the prototypes ...
high-altitude strategic bomber project.
Variants
Production versions
![He 219 Rumpf 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/He_219_Rumpf_1.jpg)
*DB 603A, rated altitude of 5.7 km, B4 fuel
:Power (take-off): 1750 PS (1726 hp, 1287 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
:Combat power: 1580 PS (1558 hp, 1162 kW) at 2500 rpm at sea level
*DB 603AA DB 603A with an improved supercharger, rated altitude of 7.3 km, B4 fuel
:Power (take-off): 1670 PS (1647 hp, 1228 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
:Combat power: 1580 PS (1558 hp, 1162 kW) at 2500 rpm at sea level
*DB 603E rated altitude of 7.0 km, B4 fuel
:Power (take-off): 1800 PS (1775 hp, 1324 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
:Combat power: 1575 PS (1553 hp, 1158 kW) at 2500 rpm at sea level
Prototypes and other versions
*DB 603D, a DB 603A with propellers rotating counter-clockwise; production unknown
*DB 603F, a DB 603E with propellers rotating counter-clockwise; production unknown
*DB 603G (production cancelled)
:Power (max): 1900 PS (1874 hp, 1397 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
:Combat power: 1560 PS (1539 hp, 1147 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
*DB 603L/LA (prototype with two-stage supercharger, B4 fuel)
:Power (max): 2000 PS (1973 hp, 1471 kW)
*DB 603L/M two-stage supercharger, rated altitude of 10.5 km, C3 fuel
:Power (take-off): 2450 PS (2416 hp, 1801 kW) at 3000 rpm at sea level
:Combat power: 2100 PS (2071 hp, 1544 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
*DB 603N (prototype with two-stage supercharger, C3 fuel)
:Power (take-off): 3000PS (2958 hp, 2206 kW) at 3200 rpm at sea level
:Power (max): 2570 PS (2762 hp, 2059 kW) at 3000 rpm at sea level
:Continuous: 1930 PS (1904 hp, 1420 kW) at 2700 rpm at sea level
*DB 603S (DB 603A with experimental TK-11 turbo-supercharger) - Intended (not known if actually used) for the
Heinkel He 274
The Heinkel He 274 was a German heavy bomber design developed during World War II, purpose-designed for high-altitude bombing with pressurized crew accommodation.
Due to the Allied advance through Northwest Europe, the prototypes were abandone ...
prototype airframes.
:Power (max): Not known.
*DB 613 Coupled side-by-side DB 603s, meant to replace the DB 606 and DB 610, in prototype form only from March 1940 through 1943 and weighing an estimated 1.8 tonnes apiece.
:Power (max): Estimated at some 3,854 PS (2,833 kW, 3,800 hp) each per "power system".
*DB 614 a 2000 PS development.
*DB 615 Coupled DB 614 engines
*DB 617 A long-range derivative of the DB 603
*DB 618 Coupled DB 617 engines
*DB 622 A DB 603 with a two-stage supercharger and single-stage turbocharger
*DB 623 A DB 603 with twin turbochargers
*DB 624 A DB 603 with a two-stage supercharger and single-stage turbocharger
*DB 626 A DB 603 with twin turbochargers and intercooler
*DB 627 The DB 603 fitted with a two-stage supercharger and after-cooler.
*DB 631 An abandoned three stage supercharged DB 603G.
*DB 632 A projected development of the DB 603N with contra-rotating propellers.
*MB 509 Development as a
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
engine for the super-heavy
Panzerkampfwagen ''Maus''
All power data is given in
metric horsepower
Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...
as stated per manufacturer. Power (max) is Takeoff and Emergency power (5-min-rating), combat power is climb and combat power (30-min rating), continuous is without time limit.
Applications
*
Blohm & Voss BV 155
The Blohm & Voss BV 155 was a German high-altitude interceptor aircraft intended to be used by the Luftwaffe against raids by USAAF Boeing B-29 Superfortresses. Work started on the design as the Messerschmitt Me 155 in 1942, but the project wen ...
*
Blohm & Voss BV 238
The Blohm & Voss BV 238 was a German flying boat, built during World War II. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built when it first flew in 1944, and was the largest aircraft produced by any of the Axis powers during World War II.
History
Develop ...
*
Dornier Do 217
The Dornier Do 217 was a bomber used by the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II as a more powerful development of the Dornier Do 17, known as the ''Fliegender Bleistift'' (German: "flying pencil"). Designed in 1937 and 1938 as a heavy bomber ...
*
Dornier Do 335
The Dornier Do 335 ''Pfeil'' ("Arrow") was a heavy fighter built by Dornier for Germany during World War II. The two-seater trainer version was called ''Ameisenbär'' ("anteater"). The ''Pfeil''s performance was predicted to be better than other ...
*
Fiat G.56
The Fiat G.55 ''Centauro'' (Italian: "Centaur") was a single-engine single-seat World War II fighter aircraft used by the ''Regia Aeronautica'' and the ''Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana'' in 1943–1945. It was designed and built in Turin by F ...
- two prototypes flown
*
Focke-Wulf Fw 190C - experimental installation
*
Focke-Wulf Ta 152C - the medium altitude/ground-attack variant of the Ta 152
*
Heinkel He 177B - prototype aircraft series
*
Heinkel He 219
The Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' (" Eagle-Owl") is a night fighter that served with the German Luftwaffe in the later stages of World War II. A relatively sophisticated design, the He 219 possessed a variety of innovations, including Lichtenstein S ...
*
Heinkel He 274
The Heinkel He 274 was a German heavy bomber design developed during World War II, purpose-designed for high-altitude bombing with pressurized crew accommodation.
Due to the Allied advance through Northwest Europe, the prototypes were abandone ...
*
Henschel Hs 130
The Henschel Hs 130 was a German high-altitude reconnaissance and bomber aircraft developed in World War II. It suffered from various mechanical faults and was never used operationally, only existing as prototype airframes.
Development
Develop ...
- two DB 603s, supercharged by a single DB 605T engine driving ''HZ-Anlage'' supercharger in fuselage
*
Macchi MC.207
The Macchi C.205 ''Veltro'' ( it, Greyhound) (also known as MC.205, "MC" standing for "Macchi Castoldi") was an Italian World War II fighter aircraft built by the Aeronautica Macchi. Along with the Reggiane Re.2005 and Fiat G.55, the Macchi C.205 ...
- experimental installation, not flown
*
Messerschmitt Me 410
The Messerschmitt Me 410 ''Hornisse'' (Hornet) is a German heavy fighter and ''Schnellbomber'' used by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. Though an incremental improvement of the Me 210, it had a new wing plan, longer fuselage and engine ...
*
Reggiane Re.2006
The Reggiane Re.2006 was an Italian fighter aircraft, of which only one prototype was built.
Development
In 1943, Reggiane started work on a version of the Re.2005 that was powered by a Daimler-Benz DB 603. After the bombing of the Reggian ...
- experimental installation, not flown
Land vehicles
*
Mercedes-Benz T80
The Mercedes-Benz T80 was a six-wheeled vehicle built by Mercedes-Benz, developed and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. It was intended to break the world land speed record, but never made the attempt, the project having been overtaken by the outbre ...
*
Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus
''Panzerkampfwagen'' VIII ''Maus'' (English: 'mouse') was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armored fighting vehicle ever built. Five were ordered, but only two hulls and one turre ...
Specifications (DB 603A)
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
*
*
*
* ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. London. Studio Editions Ltd, 1989.
* Neil Gregor ''Daimler-Benz in the Third Reich''. Yale University Press, 1998
External links
Aviation History.com, DB 600 series page
{{Daimler-Benz aeroengines
Daimler-Benz aircraft engines
1940s aircraft piston engines
Inverted V12 aircraft engines