You could argue the title; that's for sure! It grabbed my attention, and that is what Jay Leno meant to do. The engines of the Enola Gay and Bock's Car were pretty doggone important.
Andrew, The Double Wasp was a radial engine, not a rotary. With a rotary the whole crankcase revolves and the airscrew is fastened to it, the crankshaft, pistons, and connecting rods are attached to the aircraft's firewall and do not rotate. The set-up is noted for the high gyroscopic forces imposed on the airframe by the rotating mass of the crankcase and only runs at full throttle - hence the distinctive "burp-burp" of the motor when landing, caused by the pilot blipping the ignition switch on and off to control airspeed. These engines operated with a total loss lubrication system and threw oil liberally over the airframe and pilot. The lubricant usually employed was castor oil which accounts for the unique smell of WW1 airplanes. Rotaries were commonplace on WW1 fighter aircraft but died out as more powerful inline and radial engines were developed. Happy landings!
Andrew: This happens to me all the time! I will post, be down the road and realize I screwed it up somehow. Autocorrect on my phone does it to me all the time. People are good here, so you have no worries!
Well, if you discount the whole line of Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engines, then, maybe.
ReplyDeleteBut the fastest prop allied fighter was the P-47M, running that Double Wasp engine.
All our carrier planes were rotary engines, too. And our bombers.
Just the Merlin seems sexier than the big old 'clunky' Double Wasp.
The Merlin was a show girl. Expensive, lots of maintenance. The Double Wasp was a farm girl. Big, powerful, stays with you forever.
Juat watched this one this morning, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRVWyZf5MQk amazing piece of engineering.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, even Rolls Royce couldn't hold the tolerances that Packard did.....
ReplyDeleteYou could argue the title; that's for sure! It grabbed my attention, and that is what Jay Leno meant to do. The engines of the Enola Gay and Bock's Car were pretty doggone important.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, The Double Wasp was a radial engine, not a rotary. With a rotary the whole crankcase revolves and the airscrew is fastened to it, the crankshaft, pistons, and connecting rods are attached to the aircraft's firewall and do not rotate. The set-up is noted for the high gyroscopic forces imposed on the airframe by the rotating mass of the crankcase and only runs at full throttle - hence the distinctive "burp-burp" of the motor when landing, caused by the pilot blipping the ignition switch on and off to control airspeed. These engines operated with a total loss lubrication system and threw oil liberally over the airframe and pilot. The lubricant usually employed was castor oil which accounts for the unique smell of WW1 airplanes. Rotaries were commonplace on WW1 fighter aircraft but died out as more powerful inline and radial engines were developed. Happy landings!
ReplyDeleteAnon - Ah, carp. Dagnabit. I hate when what I want to say gets sidetracked and mixed up. Yes. Radial. Radial.
ReplyDeleteRotaries, well, yes, WWI and boy, did they throw out lots of oil.
Yikes. Big mistake. Big. Huge. And I own making that stupid statement. Gaaahhhhhh!!!
Thanks for correcting me. I knew the word felt 'wrong' but it was all that came out and I shoulda fact-checked myself.
Andrew: This happens to me all the time! I will post, be down the road and realize I screwed it up somehow. Autocorrect on my phone does it to me all the time. People are good here, so you have no worries!
ReplyDelete