Junkers Jumo 205D.
[Source: Unknown]

As is typical of two-stroke designs, the Jumos used fixed intake and exhaust port apertures cut into the cylinder liners instead of valves during their manufacture, which were uncovered when the pistons reached a certain point in their stroke. Normally such designs have poor volumetric efficiency because both ports open and close at the same time and are generally located across from each other in the cylinder. This leads to poor scavenging of the burnt charge, which is why valve-less two-strokes generally produce smoke and are inefficient.

The Jumo solved this problem to a very large degree through clever arrangement of the ports. The intake port was located under the "lower" piston, while the exhaust port was under the "upper". The lower crankshaft ran eleven degrees behind the upper, meaning that the exhaust ports opened and, even more importantly, closed first, allowing proper scavenging. This system made the two-stroke Jumos run as cleanly and almost as efficiently as four-stroke engines using valves, but with considerably less complexity.

There is some downside to this system as well. For one, since matching pistons were not closing at quite the same time, but one ran "ahead" of the other, the engine could not run as smoothly as a true opposed style engine. In addition, the power from the two opposing crankshafts had to be geared together, adding weight and complexity, a problem the design shared with H block engines.

In the Jumo, these problems were avoided to some degree by taking power primarily from the "upper" shaft, somewhat offset upwards on the engine's front end. All of the accessories, such as fuel pumps, injectors and the scavenging compressor, were run from the lower shaft, meaning over half of its power was already used up. What was left over was then geared to the upper shaft, which ran the engine's propeller. In all, about three-quarters of the power to the engine's propeller came from the upper crankshaft.

In theory, the flat layout of the engine could have allowed it to be installed inside the thick wings of larger aircraft, such as airliners and bombers. Details of the oil scavenging system suggest this was not possible and the engine had to be run "vertically", as it was on all designs using it.

Components
• Supercharger: Spülgebläse
• Fuel system: Fuel injection
• Fuel type: Diesel
• Oil system: Forced with one pressure and two scavenge pumps
• Cooling system: Liquid-cooled

Performance
• Power output: 880 PS (868 hp, 647 kW) at 2,800 rpm
• Specific power: 39.0 kW/L (0.86 hp/in³)
• Compression ratio: 17:1
• Power-to-weight ratio: 1.09 kW/kg (0.66 hp/lb)