LAST EDITED ON Jun-07-15 AT 02:37 AM (EDT)
>Isn't this the one that had a running time of about ten hours? Not
>"time between major services", but total operational running time...Well... there's not really any such thing as a finite engine lifespan if the engine isn't run to failure; if it's still serviceable when it comes in for overhaul, it can be refurbished. They may end up replacing so many of the parts that you end up with kind of a Ship of Theseus problem, but that would fall under the purview of your conundrums of philosophy.
That said, yes, the Jumo 004 was a fragile beast. Partly that's because the mass-production version, the 004B, had to be made with inferior materials that couldn't resist heat as well as the materials the engine was designed to be made from, on account of Germany was pretty manifestly losing the war by that point. Partly it was just that it was an infant technology. And partly it was that the 004 just wasn't as advanced as the BMW 003, its nearest competitor - although it was for that very reason that the 004 ended up being the one put into production, since, as I say, losing the war.
All the same, an experienced and careful pilot could theoretically get up to about 50 hours out of the 004B between overhauls. Of course, to get that, you had to have a pretty delicate touch with the beasts and not ride 'em too hard. As Matt noted above, hen we see her there, Trude's had her foot to the floor (so to speak) for about two solid hours; and though von Hammer looks after her equipment, we have no idea how close the unit was to the end of its overhaul interval when she took it. Either way that's gonna leave a mark.
Admittedly, it's likely that the OWaW Striker version isn't as poorly made as the real-life equivalent, since Karlsland (despite its displacement to South Liberion) is neither losing the war nor standing alone against its enemies, so the "strategic materials" limitation is less likely to be an issue and the factories aren't being bombed all the time. Still, the point about hard usage above stands. It's an early engine design and not a terribly robust one, and Trude didn't just push the envelope, she went and canceled the postage on some other envelope that didn't think it was involved in the metaphor in the first place. :)
--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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