There's nothing like upping the horsepower of an engine with boost. Multiple methods of supercharging exist today and have been brought to an incredible level of efficiency.

While these methods were not invented in WWII, their use was vastly studied, tweaked, and tested to their limits back then. This video is the next in a series about the history of centrifugal superchargers and their use on piston engines.

Consider this your 101 level course in WWII supercharging. Here we go over the various methods and systems used on aircraft from the USA, Germany, and Great Britain. Which countries did it best? Which country made a mistake in their method? Who ruled the horsepower roost and why?

It was a war of horsepower and boost was a huge factor in making more of it than the other guys