AVIATION

Aviation
One of the first applications of a turbocharger to a non-Diesel engine came when General Electric engineer Sanford Moss attached a turbo to a V12 Liberty[citation needed] aircraft engine. The engine was tested at Pikes Peak in Colorado at 14,000 feet (4,300 m) to demonstrate that it could eliminate the power losses usually experienced in internal combustion engines as a result of reduced air pressure and density at high altitude.
Turbochargers were first used in production aircraft engines in the 1930s before World War II. The primary purpose behind most aircraft-based applications was to increase the altitude at which the airplane can fly, by compensating for the lower atmospheric pressure present at high altitude. Aircraft such as the Lockheed P-38[citation needed], Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress[citation needed] and Republic P-47[citation needed] all used turbochargers[citation needed] to increase high altitude engine power.
The first Turbo-Diesel truck was produced by the "Schweizer Maschinenfabrik Saurer" (Swiss Machine Works Saurer) 1938 [1].

The Corvair's innovative turbocharged flat-6 engine. The turbo, located at top right, feeds pressurized air into the engine through the chrome T-tube visible spanning the engine from left to right.
The first production turbocharged automobile engines came from General Motors in 1962. The A-body Oldsmobile Cutlass Jetfire and Chevrolet Corvair Monza Spyder were both fitted with turbochargers.
The world's first production turbodiesel automobile was also introduced in 1978 by Mercedes-Benz with the launch of the 300SD turbodiesel. Today, many automotive diesels are turbocharged.