The Aero Engine that Carried the First Nukes - Wright R-3350 

A real human voice and no obnoxious music! That's a win-win! Thank you

Well done! In the 1980s, I worked as a lawyer for C-W right in the Wood-Ridge facility. I actually have a 3350 piston, valve and cylinder barrel destined for the scrap heap, but given to me by the workforce there. In the early 80s they were STILL producing spare parts for engines in service, though not too many. I remember that the Taiwanese AF placed orders for R-1820 spares for their Grumman S-2 A/C, as an example. My dad flew KB-29s in the 1950s, and even then, engine fires were a risk. On one occasion, an engine blew a cylinder head up and out through the cowling while the aircraft was in flight! He got the airplane down in one piece, sans that engine part. I strongly recommend a book by the Smithsonian Institute Press called "Building the B-29." It has a good chapter about the R-3350 engines for the A/C, and the many challenges and problems that occurred in the program.

My father was a War Assets Administration inspector at Boeing/Wichita during the war and his few stories about the development of problems of the R-3350s had impressed me though was very young at the time. On my own in later years, I saw the forward mounted exhaust collector sitting ahead of the engine must have been a significant source of overheated air passing though the engine bay and raising the likelihood of fires and failures. They did eventually redesign the system with the front cylinder bank exhaust tubes running rearward to solve the problem, similar to how the Pratt-Whitney R-2800 is made.

Here is some trivia: The B-28 evolved into the B-50, then the 367 Stratocruiser, with four R-4360 engines. The airliner version was the Boeing 377. These airplanes were B-29's with a second much larger fuselage laid on top of the bomber fuselage. In profile they looked a like an "8", with the upper lobe somewhat wider. Then in 1952, Boeing designed the 367-80 Stratocruiser, which of course was a complete ruse. The 367-80 was none other than the Boeing 707. What they did was take the double bubble fuselage of the 367/377 and fill in the dents and make an egg shaped fuselage. This was the original 707. Later, they widened the fuselage to 148 inches, and this was the production airplane. But also the production 720B, the 727, the 737 [all models] and the 757. Which means that a 737 Max that rolls off the assembly line in Renton tomorrow actually has belly panels that were designed for the B-29.... I'm not kidding, the belly panels of every 737 match the belly curves of the B-29, if not actually are interchangeable!

There was an old saying amongst B29 aircrew based on Tinian and Saipan in 1945: "What do you need to take off in a B29?" The answer was "either a full load of fuel or a full load of bombs, but not both". The 3350s only had a service life of 4 missions due to chronic overheating issues, with many aircraft lost way before reaching the targets in Japan. The first such takeoff from Tinian which was watched by the press and senior brass, thundered down the runway barely got airborne and plunged into the see. All the film was confiscated and the incident was never publicly reported.

all this technology barely 40 years after the Wright Brothers flight just amazing

My grandfather was the top foreman in the engine cylinder production plant in Cincinnati. He won many awards in producing the Wright cyclone engine.

Very interesting! My grandfather was a B-29 Instructor pilot during the last year and a half of WWII. I remember him telling stories about frequent engine fires during the long training flights(NM to AK and back) and having the engine mounts fail catastrophically as a result on several occasions? He had a great deal of respect for(and fear of!) the Superfortress but never liked flying it as much as his IP days in the B17-he dearly loved the Flying Fortress. RIP grandpa John!

GM had the contract building the engines for the B-29, those early engines by GM had abysmal reliability records and the lost a lot of B29's for that reason, Chrysler took over production of those engines and reliability improved because chrysler at the time had superior machining equipment and they invented a process that made superior metallurgy in critical components allowing superior reliability over GM built engines.

Pratt & Whitney engines were better!

The Boeing 307 had a 7:48 pressurized cabin and it predated the B-29.

Something forgotten to history: my grandfather was an A&P mechanic on the B-29 during the war. He was an instructor as well. So he knew the B-29 very well. He said they were taught to work in those engines blindfolded. In case there was a bombing blackout, the could still work on them. I once asked him why it takes so long for those big radials to start. He said, "well....all the cylinders get together and form a committee and they take a vote on whether they want to start or not." Lol! When i saw Lord of the Rings and Tree Beard and the other Ents slowly talking in their committe about whether to go to war, i instantly remembered what my grandad said about the B-29s starting. I was laughing in the theater. Lol

The world's first pressurized fuselage? The Boeing 307 Stratoliner would like a word.

The P&W R2800 was such a robust, highly-refined engine that I cannot see the logic in developing the R3350 for its 20% gain in displacement. The B 29 program would've been cheaper, faster and less lethal. The B-29 quickly evolved into the B-50 and received the P&W corn-cob, anyway. Add power recovery units to that engine and the output / fuel efficiency would be staggering .

The B-29 was the better bomber at any stage of development, but the B-32 was all over it in looks. Sad after the war thousands of brand new aircraft of all types sent straight to storage/scrap or burned where they sat overseas.

I was a Recip Engine Mech in the Air Force back in 62-66. I worked on the R-3350, R-4360, R-2000 and the R1300 engines. The 3350's were on the EC-121, the 4360's were on the HC-97G, the 2000's on the HC-54 D and the 1300 were on the HH-19B. It was quite an experience working on those big engines. I still watch videos of the 4360 being run just to listen to the sound. You never forget the sound that those big engines make.

In 1976 I remember seeing a Connie circling the Belize airport, Central America. One could see it was flying just on the two starboard engines. What had happened was the port outer prop had separated from the engine and it spun into the port inner engine with such force that it not only caused that engine to be shut down due to several cylinder heads being badly damaged, it also bent the engine mounting down about ten degrees buckling the undercarriage doors so the port main gear wouldn't extend. After circling for some time it came in on a long low approach to the runway and touched down on the starboard main and nose wheels until the left wing slowly dropped onto the concrete and it spun off into the dirt at the side of the runway. The gear didn't collapse and nobody was hurt. It made for a memorable day way back then. 🙂

I know the RR Griffon achieved about the same power output (though later on), and even some hotted up versions of the RR Merlin got up to about that much power. The timings meant the RR Griffon (as it was at the time) was not an option, but I still wonder what a B29 would have been like with 4 RR V12 mounted. Or, 4 Bristol Centauri, especially the 2,600hp version.

The B-29 was the most expensive project ever undertaken in the war, dwarfing the cost of the Manhattan Project that built the first nuclear weapons. The Dominator was seen as a conventional option, if the B-29's advanced systems failed to produce.

Its actually "Bockscar," pronounced "box car." Its sometimes spelled "Bock's Car."

I grew up on Sproat lake living close to a pair of colossal 4 engine Martin Mars flying boats powered by the R-3350 used for fighting forest fires until their retirement 2015. Sadly both mars aircraft, still at sproat Lake, are now inactive unlikely to ever fly again.

The r3350 and r4350 engines were never reliable, and why the Stratocruiser was a failure. Killing servicemen was one thing, killing civilians was not acceptable. So many B-29's were lost due to engine/propeller problems that a congressional investigation was conducted after 100's of B-29 pilots contacted Wash DC fearing that Axis spies were working for Wright Aeronautics. Here are the numbers: 414 B-29's lost bombing Japan; 147 shot down, and 267 lost due to engine and other powertrain failures. The r-4350's on the Stratocruisers were also terrible, with a catastrophic failure every 158 flights. Ony 56 were built, 13 were totaled with 137 fatalities. Often the propeller/gearbox failed, engine overspeed, then it would rip off from the wing and crash to the ground. Boeing set a never exceed speed of 351 mph and a max cruise speed of only 280 mph, but the failures continued until they stopped flying. Imagine working at Wright on r3350's knowing that they killed thousands of Americans... 👎

Very nice video of the Wright R-3350 Cyclone engines. Thankyou for sharing. My father was a B-29 pilot in command in June 1945. He referred to the Wright R-3350 Cyclone engines on the B-29 as "Wrong Engines" and "Flame Throwers" because they had a nasty tendancy to overheat and catch on fire during takeoff. On the early R-3350's, the cylinder head temperatures were red lined at 289 degrees Celsius and on takeoff it was not uncommon for the cylinder head temperatures would be reading well over 320 degrees Celsius. My father went on and flew WB-29 Superfortresses after the war for the USAF's Air Weather Service until 1956. Even then the engines still proved themselves to be problematic. It was not uncommon at all for a WB-29 come back to base with three engines running and one engine feathered.

Absolutely fascinating - I love these. Please keep them coming!❤

Minor point:14:52. Wasn't the Boeing 307 fully pressurized? Also you neglected to mention that a waist gunner on the B-29 could control 3 turrets. Front lower, rear lower, and tail (if they weren't in use)

The Enola Gay & Bock's Car had R-3350s. If it hadn't been for their missions, I might never have known my father or any of my uncles!!!!! - Marc Smith, born August 16, 1943

The gun sight/turret demo 6:30 was pretty neat. Lotsa technology right there.

The USAAF placed orders for over 1,500 B-32s. The plan was for them to replace the B-17 and B-24 in their roles, and that would have happened if the war lasted into 1946 or 1947. The end of the war caused the cancelation of nearly all of the planned B-32.

According to some AEHS (Aircraft Engine Historical Society) data; a major cause of overheating was the loose tolerance design of the engines cooling baffles. This resulted in poor cylinder cooling as cooling air washed around the cylinders rather than through the cylinder's cooling fins. The Lockheed Constellation also used this engine and gained the reputation as the world's fastest tri-motor; commonly losing an engine on many flights!

I’ve flown on aircraft powered by the R-3350, but not the B-29. Born in 1954, I’m referring to being a passenger on the Douglas DC7 airliners operated by American Airlines, circa 1958-59. I have a sketchy memory of a night flight from El Paso, TX to Los Angeles where an engine overheated, warranting an unscheduled mid-point landing to let the engine cool before proceeding. The passenger versions of the R3350 were equipped with a power recovery turbine (PRT) as a system that scavanged exhaust pressure redirected via turboshafts as added crankshaft output power. The novel design added substantial power, but at the cost of even more complexities & maintenance costs. I treasure my somewhat fuzzy memories as a young child flying in DC6 & DC7 aircraft…the sounds, smells, buffeting, and the overall experience in what was the inception of the golden age of commercial aviation.

Hey.... I’m new to history or newly found the love of history. I asked my grandfather about this but he gave me an explanation I don’t think I can repeat.... Why do people throughout history give Jews a hard time? And do they deserve it?

The Wright R-2600 didn’t exactly shine either.

My father was a gunner in Korea in the B-29s (later in the A/B-26). He told me a lot of stories about flying in them and about the remote gun systems. etc. He was responsible for starting and then shutting down the small gas generator that gave the plane electric power until the engines were up and running. He said the fumes from that little generator were terrible and many fights he made while sick from the fumes at the start of the flight from the "Putt-Putt". As a model builder I do a lot of contract builds for people. Recently a guy asked me to build a model for him and as a reference he gave me a copy of a home movie from the early 1950s (in color!) of an airshow in Texas. In the film were many aircraft; Hellcats, F-82 twin Mustangs and even a fly over from a very early B-36. In the background, parked on the ramp is what I am sure is a B-32 Dominator. Someday Ill post it to You Tube because it is really cool!

Great video as always, but a bit disappointed that you didn't go into the post war years with the turbo compound versions.

The 3350 was unfortunately rushed into production during the war without proper R&D. The results were scattered all over the Pacific theater. I have documentation in the 50s with pictures showing new engines from the factory having to be disassembled, cases split to drill passages because of oil clogs.Oil technology was in its infancy comparatively but given the problems power recovery systems presented, R2800s with appropriate turbos would have been a far better and much more reliable choice. Even the B50s were using P&Ws as was the B36. These had their problems though as radial technology had peaked.

When your new wonder bomber cant hit valid industrial or military targets from high altitude.........just switch to plastering civilian targets with napalm.

First pressurized fuselage? That would be the Boeing 307 Stratoliner of 1940, two years before the B-29. Or if you include prototypes it could be the Junkers Ju 49 of 1931.

The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone has never been "my" supercharged, air-cooled, radial engine that suffered far too many issues especially suffering overheating ranging from eating .valves, burning magnesium crankshaft. Possibly because the front row exhaust pipes was at the front. A dangerous engine indeed...

Good video. I had to pull out the "bullshit flag" on the comment at@ 3:05. There is no way the engine was mounted usi ng the valve covers...maybe they supported parts of the cowlings but that's about it.

.12 engineering marvel? Yer kidding me right? Look, just because you put 32 cylinders bristling like a corncob on an engine block. And you make 4000 horsepower. Doesn’t make it good. The amount of failures, dropped valves, over heating, seizing…..is un paralleled. In the tropics, it gets …ummmmm…you know….hot. Replacements in as little as 25 hours, and entire top cylinders replaced every day. And…as a bonus, the case was made of magnesium. And you know what happens when that gets on fire…….saw through a wing in seconds. Engineering marvel…..my gawd, who writes these things.

Correct me if I am wrong but I always thought the radial was the Engine that God gave to aviation and they worked flawlessly at 2 rows add any more rows and you can’t get enough air to cool the back row and it seams like that was never solved ! They should have quit while they were ahead . Grandpa worked on and assembled these engines, he so loved these engines he could not get it out of his head , so 5 years after he retired he had put together a Radial Replica, to him it was a functional work of art. The motor spun due to a clock motor that ran the shaft and all of the other things that were supposed to move! This display ran at most 5 RPM ! Many many areas were cut. away just to show how it actually worked . He chose to make this model from a Japanese Zero engine with only 2 banks of cylinders ! What a great choice because I have often seen static cut aways of 2 Bank cylinder radials , but Never one that moved and showed you how it worked ! To call it a conversation piece would really sell it short as he have to kick out some of his visitors because he wanted to go to bed ! It was truly a Gear Heads’ delight ! My uncle got it from the Will and I am determined to get the engine that “God designed for aircraft “

You should have mentoned the R-3350's civil applications on the Lockheed Constellation series and Douglas DC-7. The maintenance-intensive R-3350 was a major reason why those types had little demand for conversion to freighters etc. after retirement by their original operators, compared to the reliable Pratt & Whitney R-2800 on the DC-6 series, some still carrying cargo in Alaska today.

I guess developing new machines with new designs has its share of problems. Working these problems out takes effort, resources, and time. Winning WWII is not that simple. There were many sacrifices.

Its amazing to me what they could do with the technology at the time.

amazing a new video! avidly watching :)

American engineering and mass production ability blows your mind.

With a single mag I bet the mag drop was more than 50 rpm.

I wonder if the P&W double wasp made the same power? It was more reliable.

There's reason deeper than stubborn willfulness for the company & engineers to work so much to rescue a poor initial design into a barely reliable design. Those contracts are many times earned thru graft payola behind the scene politics which greases the wheels of industry to run smooth with the military industrial complex. Too many long nites & days with too much uppers & downers...among the designers provided an aeronautical money pit. Ego drives people beyond reality into realms of idealistic fantasy. More money than the Manhattan project.. Totally ridiculous...

A very beautiful, technically advanced engine for it's time!👍 Too bad 😞, after the war, it was scrapped!!☹️

Powered the Lockheed Constellation and Douglas DC-7 too. It really ushered out the age of the piston powered large aircraft since the Wasp Major never really caught on in civilian applications.

What an interesting documentary! Very well put together. Fascinating specifications on the R3350 engine. 😊

At 11:15 wasn't the second B29 to drop the atom bomb on Japan called Boxcar?

So, the R-3350 had overheating/fire problems. AMD should re-number their RYZEN 9 7900X3D and call it the RYZEN R9 3350X3D. I think this is appropriate for me. Doesn't the letter 'X' usually mean experimental?

all of a sudden every RU-vid video has at least one ad. Disgusting

How to make a bus fly: re-engineer it, add wings and call it a B29.

Japan sued for peace, eh? Didnt know that.......

These machines were amazing... The technology and materials that were available 80+ years ago, was put to good use... Eventually the R-3350 Engines were improved, to put out well over 3,700 H.P. which became reliable, AND last a relatively long time between overhauls... Several civilian and military planes had these engines well beyond the introduction of jet engines.... And they were the preferred powerplants of the fire-bomber planes, cargo planes and unlimited racing aircraft... They took time to develop, but they ended-up being some of the best large reciprocating aircraft engines that were ever made.

3350 cubic inches! 😳

The R-3350-32WA was very reliable in the Lockheed P2V in the firefighting role.

Sorry this is only indirectly related to the 3350, but what were the other two mfgs that had designs for the requirement? Boeing, Consolidated/Consolidated-Vultee/Convair, Lockheed, and ???

0:36 Build an air boat backwards, and there you have it: Wheels, and air pushing the trailer in reverse.

This has become one of, if not my actual favorite channel, on yutoobe. Great research, great info, expertly edited and extremely interesting.

“You can fly a Wright farther than you can ship a Pratt.” -- CAF Col. Randy Sohn, first AC on “FIFI.”

oioioi!!! Yet another awesome aero engine video! thanks

At 2:32 "Bosch also developed a similar fuel injection system" Bosch is a German company. Hello?

I am surprised you did not speak much on the invention of the turbo-supercharger, the single component of that engine which allowed it to fly so high and takeoff on a higher emergency power.

12:22 search for _B-32 Dominator, the other Very Heavy Bomber of WW2_ The clip we are watching is quite informative and presented well, as is all of the content from this provider's channel. The search will yield an hour plus length clip released less than a week before this one.

The B-29 crashed into a meat packing plant.

12:15 "4221 units produced by the end of production in 1945" The figure from most sources is a total of 3970 ending in May 1946. By VJ day, only 1645 had been produced (or taken on charge). These 1600 barely saw 6 months of serious use, which serious use only really began in March 1945, when low altitude fire bombing on civilians was implemented, the bomb bays bringing back a massive stench of barbecue from burning civilians... By VJ day about 500 of these 1600 units were lost/destroyed (only 85 due to fighters), a sobering figure considering the relatively small number of sorties, and the weak to non-existent opposition during the last 6 months of its heaviest use, which saw it carry 8000 pounds of turrets with their guns removed... Improved engines with better reliability were very rare in WWII, and basically limited to the Silver Plate atomic bomber force. To say that the B-29, by the end of WWII, became just as reliable as any other US bombers is just false, especially considering the hundreds lost to engine fires alone, while over 100 simply disappeared... You do not mention that during WWII they often had to be flown full time with opened cowl flaps at a massive performance cost, and that the improvements in reliability you cite were almost all entirely post War. More surprising, you do not mention that a unique attribute of its 3350 engines was that they were made of magnesium, which material caught fire on runaway props or oil starvation, burning at 5000 degrees. A fundamental flaw that was not repeated since. Aside range and bomb load, the best feature of the B-29 was by far its gun turrets, 6 times as efficient as the B-17G(!), but for most missions those ended up being unarmed dead weight... Overall I find you painted quite a rosy picture of the B-29, as it suffered high attrition against a nearly expired opponent, and was only really effective as an indiscriminate night bomber and minelayer, at a cost only the US had the pockets to pay... It proved effective, but was certainly not efficient, and it is likely its numerous flaws would have become much more prominent against a serious opponent. That being said, the revolutionary turrets would no doubt have helped to protect the engines, since at least these worked correctly...

The B-29 has an interesting history as the transmitter platform for Stratovision. They put 25 KW transmitters on board and broadcast television signals. I read a science fiction story about this, and had no idea the author was fully "grounded in reality". Stratovision was used in the Vietnam war, on the Lockheed Super Constellation powered by the same Wright R-3350s.

I don't think these ever became properly reliable. I had a conversation with an ex Qantas Airlines Super Constellation flight engineer at a local airshow where "his" Connie was displaying. He said the oil consumption was incredible and that arriving in Sydney from "Frisco or Vancouver via Fiji was often on 3 Engines. No encouraging to be 1000km from base and engine failure a matter of routine. I wonder if they lost two very much?

I spent about 4000 hours on ASW airplanes and L749 Constellations powered by these unfortunate engines; engine failure occurred every third flight or so. Including running out of oil!!! (60 Gallons) . They were a fine boat anchor but not much else . Sorry for the starry eyed folks... :-)

The engines developed out of necessity for the war were all pretty amazing considering the technology available. Run at high rpms and amazing hp in extreme conditions.

Thanks for a damn good video on a complex subject. 👍👍👍

They built a plant in WoodRidge NJ. My son lives there. I wonder were it is (or was) located. Gonna look for it. They built a mamooth plant in Paterson NJ, and that building still stands to this day. Ive been inside that building and its great overbuild is astounding.

Update! The Martin Mars flying boat Hawaii Mars is active once again (taxiing only, for now) in preparation for its final flight to Sidney BC near Victoria Canada to a vintage aviation museum for public display preserved as a water bomber. The Philippine Mars is also in preparation for its first flight in 17 years for a final trip to Tucson Arizona air museum. Im exited, but sad as well. The planes were a big part of my life. very saddened to see them leaving my community forever, but Im happy they will finally go to good museums to be seen by many people well into the future.

Bro's voice is like butter

The B-29 wasn't DESIGNED for the Wright R-3350, but the Wright-GE R-4880 "Corncob" 48 cylinder triple-staged super-charged 4500-9000 (!!!) HP engine, which wasn't fully developed until 1950 and the B-29B became the B-50A when the were installed. The "Corn-cob" using 135/160 octane AV-gas and water injection could develop 9000 HP EACH for 7 minutes at 64,000 ft @ 86 inches of manifold pressure or 71 pounds of boost. This was a Ricardo Sleeve-valve engine with NO poppet valves per cylinder. "Now she handles like a fighter-plane" B-50A test pilot.

All this stuff designed with paper, pencil, slide rules & adding machines!! Even by today's standards, incredible feats of technology!!!

Aircooled motorcycle engines comfortably make 100 bhp per litre. Japanese bikes could do this all day long. e.g. Yamaha 900 made 90 bhp. Cooling fins on cylinders and heads were spaced about 1/4 inch (6mm) apart allowing air to flow freely and extract heat. R2350 had extremely close packed cylinder fins. It’s hard to see how any useful air could get between those fins. It’s highly likely this is why they overheated so easily.

I am actually looking for a Curtiss Wright R-3350 Engine. We currently use this engine to create wind at our testing laboratory. Any leads would be appreciated I am located in Ontario California.

Wow! They scrapped the Anti-Knock systems? Really why? It doesn't have to be so overly complicated like direct injection like they had originally. Just a few nozzles throughout the intake system and going into the supercharger/ turbocharger system. The mixture of Water/Methanol is all that's required to almost stop all knocking and it also acts like a intercooler by evaporation and cooling down the air fuel charge under pressure into the cylinders. This method is used till today on the fastest of race engines that are not only naturally aspirated or boosted. But they were up against the ticking clock back then. The fact that these engines were already light years ahead of the with roller rocker arms and roller camshafts. This freed up so much parasitic loss, it was considered top secret for the war time engineering. They made amazing amounts of progress and advances in balance and reducing weight as well as not just meeting their goals of 1 HP per cubic inch but superseding this figure by sometimes more than double making HP unheard of at the time! These engines were absolute monster's and reliable once they ironed out all the heat bugs. Another major factor that has been going on in today's racing engines are dry sump oiling systems and the use of precision oil squirters that not only prevent friction and metal to metal contact, they discovered back in the 30s by aiming a squirter at the undersides of each piston the oil lubed not only the wrist pins, and rings but the biggest asset to do this was they found that the oil removed a ton of heat from the piston itself. Which is super critical for any performance engine, especially when you have issues with high compression ratios as the likes of boosted engines as such! These are a few little things I'm aware of that were major developments during this period of time! The war just added more pressure to make these changes happen much more quickly than they would have ever come by on say a race engine builders budget for R&D! When you are dealing with the military industrial complex, as we're well aware of, taxpayers money is no object when it comes to military achievements and developments. 😅

My dad, CVE crew on R&R, told of watching B29s take off. 'They rumbled down the runway, and just before they got to the fence at the end of the runway, they folded up their wheels, never actually gaining altitude until considerably out to sea.'

Wright: How many pistons do you want in the new engine ? America: All of them

This was a POS engine. It still is. And was never correctly engineered.

Thank you.

I think a lot of weapon systems during the war had a lot of "bugs" that finally got worked out . Only thing is how many brave men lost their lives because of it .

We wold not win Word War II today....

They had a very long development to eliminate all the bugs built into the engine. They never were as robust as the Pratt and Whitney R 2800 series.

Back in the days when the US made stuff before C-suite greed shipped it to China .....

Carrying the hopes of an entire nation on their shoulders ... That's definitely one perspective.

What a great video ! I especially loved the animated engine illustrations.

That initial clip showing the crank rotation is arguably one of THE most relevant inventions of all time !

Not quite sure dropping nuclear devices on Japanese cities is something to be proud of.

In Indonesia people called car relay starter : " Bendik " from Bendix

I can’t help but wonder what the P-47 would have been like with this monstrous engine

Nukes don't exist so it's kind of hard to transport something that doesn't exist how do you do that

‘But as they learned from Rolls Royce’s mistakes, the engineers made critical design changes that improved supercharger efficiency by 80%...’ Haha, that’s a sneakily negative way of pouring cold water on the products of another engine manufacturer. Somehow, I don’t think there was a hotline between RR and Wright, to update them on the latest ‘failure’…

Nice work on this vid FD.