John Northrop and Vladimir Pavlecka, two huge aviation pioneers, jointly came up with this key gem for long-distance bomber travel around 1941:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2409446A
It allowed pilots to use electrical equipment for long-distances, which proved to make a huge difference in the War.
I just want to emphasize how underrated Pavlecka really is. You’ll often hear about how Glenn Curtis is underrated in casual opinion(his picture isn’t even hanging at the patent office), but Pavlecka has somehow drifted into complete obscurity. I’m going to post more about him.
Cool does it work like an
alternator. Engine generating electricity.
And do you have more sources how these inventions worked.
Thanks
The patent says "The invention described herewith concerns itself broadly with an airplane power plant in which the thermal efficiency of a gas turbine is improved, both by safely increasing the maximum temperature of combustion gases, and also by increasing the thermodynamic efliciency oi the turbo-machine to a point where such a power plant can be efliciently used to drive airplane propellers through a torque converter at varying altitudes. "
It works roughly like an alternator. It is definitely in the alternator-family of inventions. Right now, my only source for the invention is the patent.
Here is an interesting GE article about the advancements it was making in Airplane Power Plants at the time:
Greggs Airplanes also has some really good videos on powerplants.
Chewbacca, this power plant isn’t of the electrical variety. Though this may have an alternator attached to it as that is also a WWII invention. This patent is for what we would call a turboprop engine today.