German Magneto-Disablin' Death Ray

[KJ_Lesnick]

Okay, I've heard claims of some aircraft running into problems flying over some German airspace revolving around a betatron which would interfere with the magneto's in the engines.  Supposedly a passive sensor was hooked up to it which could pick up the electrical currents in the engines from the spark-plugs or something.

Sounds a bit bizarre, but there was some documentation (made up I don't know) about it.

I am curious about something: How much energy is produced by those spark-plugs in engines of those days?

[Hobbes]

Spark ignition systems can be very noisy in the radio spectrum. A couple of years ago I visited a radio telescope (Westerbork), they had a 2-km exclusion zone for motor vehicles for this reason: even though their antennas are highly directional and never pointed at the ground, they'd still pick up the noise.

So it's at least conceivable the Germans found out they could use a direction finding set to locate aircraft.

Interfering with an engine from the ground is another matter. Required reading (esp. page 47-48):

http://www-library.desy.de/preparch/books/death-rays.pdf

Theoretically, you could use the output from a betatron to ionize the air in the cylinders and make ignition impossible. But even the people who came up with that idea thought they wouldn't be able to get it to work. They managed to sell the idea to the Nazis though, draining resources and keeping their research staff from doing any work that would have contributed to extending the war.

[jcf]

The ignition harnesses were insulated/shielded/bonded/grounded to limit/prevent electrical
interference with the radios on the aircraft, so I don't see how they would be usable
for detection.

A magneto is a very simple mechanical device that generates a current, so I don't
see how a "ray" is realistically going to interfere with its output. Especially, as already stated,
the ignition system is shielded.

[pyro-manic]

Sounds like something fitted to Die Glocke or Haunebu...

[TallEng]

I fear you've been reading far too much W.E. Johns, 
If I remember correctly Biggles had what were thought to
Be similar problems during the 2nd world war in the Far East
(I believe )

Regards
Keith

[KJ_Lesnick]

Hobbes

Spark ignition systems can be very noisy in the radio spectrum.

When you say noisy... you mean they emit large amounts of radio waves?  How much would you say?

So it's at least conceivable the Germans found out they could use a direction finding set to locate aircraft.

Makes sense enough

Interfering with an engine from the ground is another matter.

Well, since the Luftwaffe weren't planning on disabling a car-engine far as I know that's not really relevant.

Theoretically, you could use the output from a betatron to ionize the air in the cylinders and make ignition impossible. But even the people who came up with that idea thought they wouldn't be able to get it to work. They managed to sell the idea to the Nazis though, draining resources and keeping their research staff from doing any work that would have contributed to extending the war.

Oh... basically getting them to waste research effort on that instead of something truly important.


joncarrfarrelly

The ignition harnesses were insulated/shielded/bonded/grounded to limit/prevent electrical interference with the radios on the aircraft, so I don't see how they would be usable for detection.

That is a good question...

[Rick Lowe]

Quote
Theoretically, you could use the output from a betatron to ionize the air in the cylinders and make ignition impossible. But even the people who came up with that idea thought they wouldn't be able to get it to work. They managed to sell the idea to the Nazis though, draining resources and keeping their research staff from doing any work that would have contributed to extending the war.
Oh... basically getting them to waste research effort on that instead of something truly important.
unquote

Would this come under the general heading of 'They also serve'? 
Kind of like Oskar Schindler??