For use in emergency situations, it produced more than 100% of the engine's normal rated power for a limited amount of time, often about five minutes.
In the P-51D Mustang, the model most produced and used during World War II, the WEP increased engine power from 1,490 to 1,720 hp (1,110 to 1,280 kW), over 15%.
The German MW 50 methanol-water injection system required additional piping, as well as a storage tank, increasing the aircraft's overall weight.
Kurt Tank reportedly once did this, using both boost systems simultaneously when he was flying a Junkers Jumo 213E-powered Ta 152H prototype fitted with both MW 50 and GM-1, to escape a flight of P-51D Mustangs in April 1945.
The US Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (cancelled in 2011) sported a 12-cylinder 1,200 bhp (890 kW) diesel engine developed by the German company MTU.
[10] Such extreme war power setting allows the MTU engine to drive four massive water-jet exhausts which propel the surface-effect riding EFV vehicle at sea speeds reaching 35 knots (65 km/h).
Although the EFV prototypes demonstrated revolutionary performance on water and land, the reliability of their extremely boosted powerplants never met stringent military standards and the vehicle failed to enter Marine Corps service.