I had a look around on the internet today, and I found this.
..and then I found something interesting. You know that weird washer you yank out of your new PHBG right away?
Well, turns it it was useful at one time or another.
We all know that our carburetors won't work when you turn them upside down. In WWII, British aircraft had this very problem when they tried to fly upside down or nose down very quickly, exposing the carburetor to negative G's. German aircraft, which were fuel injected, didn't have this problem, and proceeded to whoop up on the Allied numpties. Along came this chick, Beatrice Shilling, who must've been a total babe, because she was an aeronautical engineer that raced a Norton 500. One day, presumably while in bed with Mr. Shilling, she had a great idea, and started putting weird washers in the aircraft that would trap enough fuel to allow the engine to continue to operate at full power during brief instances of negative-G. This was called "Miss Shilling's Orifice", and it was shaped like a perforated cupped washer, then stuck under the carb jet.
This is all entirely true and not altered in any way.We've got our very own Orifice in our PHBGs, designed to trap fuel when you're hitting those gnarly jumps (
Mike and Kenden), to keep your engine from seizing from an overly lean condition. Most people take this little piece of metal for granted, but I LOVE my little orifice. Except not. Because I bought a Dell copy, and didn't get one. Bummers.
And that's where babies come from.
