I flew C-97 four engine cargo planes during the Viet Nam war. The planes were equipped with P&W R- 4360 turbocharged water/alcohol injected. We brought troops back from jungle combat. It was a ten hour flight from the California coast to Hickam air field on the big island of Hawaii and another ten hours if we flew into Tan Son Nuit air base. Our flights would leave at sundown from Hickam air base and arrive at about sunrise the following morning at the Cal. ANG base Van Nuys home of the 146th. Air Transport Squadron. We had about twenty of theses C-97s and flew from Cal. To Hawaii up to ten times a week with various reg. Air Force crews and ANG crews. The planes were always loaded with cargo or troops sometimes both. The 4360 radial engines were marvels of reliability. The 6" annular exhaust rings glowed cherry red through the night and the engines never missed a beat. In a military pinch you could toggle all four engines into WEP, war emergency power. This would allow the throttles to jump a detent into an overspeed condition, allow the turbo chargers to spin at max RPM (60") of manifold pressure and activate the 50/50 alcohol/water injection to flood the cylinders for cooling. The engines would then produce about four thousand horse power each for a max run of twenty minutes. As I remember, if the plane landed safely, the engines were sent to the overhaul bay and gone through with a fine tooth comb. I'm sure some of these engines went straight to the junk pile even though they were master pieces of engineering.
i was watching a documentary a couple of years ago about young RAF pilots during the battle of Britain. this old boy was asked what was his lasting memory from those frightful years. his answer? i was 19 years old, flying Hurricanes and Spitfires in the prime of my life. i had a ball. i wish i could go back, i'd do it all again. what a fucking HERO.
The APU is an engine and is just as much a part of the history of the B-29 as the R-3350's, the GE fire control system or the M2 .50 cal machine guns. In fact, many veterans who worked with the B-29 would say that the APU was one of the most important parts of the B-29. Without the APU, you had no power at the hardstand to load bombs into the bomb bay or to even start the R3350's.
The prop is turning in the correct rotation in relation to the blade pitch. It appears to move backward from the stroboscopic effect (wagon-wheel effect) with the video camera frame rate. It's not moving a lot of air since it the blades are cut down. Regarding the direction the flags and smoke are blowing, this is Kansas and its windy there most of the time.
lmao hell i got my ear buds in with the volume wide open. My ass jumped at the same time the camera man did and i almost dropped my phone lol. It was almost like i was there, that was awesome.
I was A/C on P2V-5's and 7's for seven years with essentially the same wonderful engines. They developed 3,750 hp with PRTs I would (and did) fly these aircraft anywhere.
They don't use PRTs anymore on these aircraft, since they're as old as they are. That and they want to preserve airframe hours, so they fly 'normally ass-pirated'...and unpressurized, at lower altitudes.
looked like one stack of flame was missing during frontal view under what probably was about 50% throttle .. o cant imagine being able to pull any more than that even with that funky that sure had a helluva twist
Slang term for the auxiliary power unit from the B-29. There were 2 different APU's speced for the B-29. One by Lawrance and was a 2cyl opposed engine and an Andover V-2. Both were rated at 10hp with a 15hp emergency rating. Both were coupled to generators and brought online to provide electric power to start the B-29s engines. The APU in the video looks to be a V configuration, if so its an Andover. Andovers ran at about 3500rpm whereas the Lawrance ran at about 5000rpm.
My freinds and I attend the annual air show in Willoughby, Ohio. The proceeds go to the restoration of "DOC". Thanks for posting! P.S. Glad they turned the APU off for this video!
Congratulations from TEXAS RAIDERS B-17. We have known some pretty lean times, but keep after it and you will get there! Don Price- Wing Leader- Commemorative Air Force- Gulf Coast Wing
I was told a story by a friend of my father who flew as a passenger on a Lockheed super constellation in the 1950's. During a night time part of the flight, an 👵 old lady summoned a hostess voicing her concerns about the 🔥 flames coming from the engines who in turn brought the captain who looked at the engines then asked her. 'What colour are the flames'?. 'Why, they're blue, just like my gas cooker'. 'If they change colour, please let me know'.
Well, I was kind of thinkin' the very-same thing? Judging by the airflow of the initial start-up smoke, and the flags-flying AGAINST the prop? And the prop-blades are definitely turning CCW---at least from the prop-FRONT-view? But then, I don't claim to be a radial-engine mechanic---I just love 'em for the sound and "show"...!!!
That was a good question about the start up procedure. The only thing that I can think of is that they have it all at a pre set setting for a short engine run that doesn't require further adjustment of the fuel mixture and so on. The engine on the test stand isn't ran for more than a few minutes at a time. I'm assuming.
Hey, If you look at some night time propliner takeoffs like the Super Constelations etc, you will also see the flames come out of the exhausts. This is normal on high power engine settings like on takeoff etc. The metal does not melt due to the cooling air flow. WW2 night fighters and bombers like the Mosquito had special echaust manifolds to protect the pilots eyes from the flames shooting out of the exhaust. So all is normal there. As for the compression i cannot help you i am afraid.
people understand this was the most complex engine every built during WWII.. the peacemaker's engineswas nothing more then a enlarment of this exact engine
Beautiful sight. Weren't the radials engines when mounted on the B-29 supercharged for high altitude, low atmosphere flying? Thank you so much for your time and effort into bringing this great engine of the past to those of us who never got to see one except in the movies.
Lefticy YOU are WRONG ! ! ! the B36 engines were Pratt Whitney R4360 28 cylinder engine the B29 used this engine WRIGHT R3350 18 cylinder engine not an enlarged version....
I don't think I'd run a big radial like that without at least some exhaust stubs on the front pistons so you don't blow big chunks of dirt and debris back into the exhaust valves and score the crap out of the cylinder walls and other things. It looks like it happened a few times with those embers being blown out of the front exhaust valves several times.
Well clearly! But how often do you think of people researching APU's? I only research the things that actually make it fly and fight, like the engines, guns, bombs, and on some planes, rockets.
Wow that thing is intense! When installed in a plane obviously they would have an exhaust manifold and you wouldnt see all the flames, but did they really shoot that much flame out the exhaust ports during normal operation? Or has it been modified for the shows? The constant blue flame just seems like it would melt exhaust manifolds? Also does anyone know the compression ratio they were running? Sounds high! Awesome vid and engine!
I realize this may sound crazy.. but there's one plane that seriously needs to get up in the air.... HOWARD HUGHES HERCULES.. IT flew just a few minutes.. but man she needs to get in the air... I just wonder what it would cost to do that.. I truly think MR HUGHES was a true genius... too bad his phobias got the best of him
Trivia question: An R4360, 28 cylinder radial engine, takes how many degrees of crankshaft rotation, for all 28 cylinders to fire ? ( 180, 360,720,1440 ? )
