Yeah, that was his program. Totally unrelated, but pops also logged some B-17 time a couple weeks back. Sent me the pics and video, I was jealous. Fucking flying octogenarians...........
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Could a T-6B defeat a P-51 in a dogfight?
- Thread starter Deven Bolding
- Start date
Yeah, that was his program. Totally unrelated, but pops also logged some B-17 time a couple weeks back. Sent me the pics and video, I was jealous. Fucking flying octogenarians...........
On 17s and 24s, they were more aircraft handyman than flight engineer, and like Malo mentioned, manned the upper-turret. The B-29 had a dedicated flight engineer station with full control of engine management.
Every general aviation reciprocal engine aircraft I've ever flown had 6 levers in the throttle quadrant. Never heard of anyone saying they were a problem to manage.
Set the rpm for your phase of flight, set the manifold pressure for the airspeed, set the mixture for the altitude you're at. Piece of cake.
Set the rpm for your phase of flight, set the manifold pressure for the airspeed, set the mixture for the altitude you're at. Piece of cake.
I grew up (aviation wise) around big round engines. I remember vividly my first day on the flight deck, and not just because of my first traps. I was preflighting the war hoover and on the opposite side of the aircraft from the landing area. All of a sudden I heard the unmistakable roar of two mighty R1820s. I looked underneath the jet and saw a C-1 straining against the wire with flames popping out it's exhaust. The deck run take off a couple hours later was fun too. It was all so incongruent, jets and 1930s technology on the flight deck. Must have been way cool to see Skyraider ops integrated with jets.
Lockheed Constellations, C-121s, also had throttles, props, mixtures, etc on a separate panel. As I remember it, after the pilot flying stood up the throttles near take off power the call out was something like "trim to take off power, engineer you have the throttles". The pilots rarely touched the engine controls from take off roll until on the approach, even then, only the throttles.
Not exactly, but there is substantially less throttle movement when flying big pistons than in anything turbine.
This is because of both the effects of the reciprocating masses (both the pistons moving around but the prop and hub, too) as well as the potential for thermal shock when increasing and decreasing the throttle settings.
It was (and continues to be) tough for me to un-learn decades of turbine flying throttle technique (of bitch-slapping the power levers around as needed) when flying any of the big pistons.
I knew the FE manned the upper turret as a "battle station" but wasn't sure the extent of their duties when they weren't manning the turret.
So how do you fly a radial engine? If you had to dynamically maneuver a radial engine fighter and you can't slam the throttles around what do you do? Or does it just require more SA/active management of the motor than a turbine?
I always through the liquid cooling on the Mustang alleviated some of the shock cooling concerns.
The gearboxes don't always like to get driven and some of the crankshafts have those bifilar weights like the rotorhead on a 60. Those weights can do weird vibrations if you accelerate or decelerate the rpms too quickly. Shock cooling of piston engines in long, low powered descents is like debating religion so I'll just let you google it instead of getting into that one here.
I was always under the impression that the radials were more rugged/robust and less finicky than the in-line motors. That also had a lot to do with why they were preferred by BuAer.
Google complete. Interesting issue.
But to your point about gearboxes not liking to be driven, bifalrs, etc....do you just run a big radial at a mostly steady RPM and then use prop pitch for most of your control or do you move the throttle in combination with pitch? And some combination of fuel mixture control? I know there's also some cowl flap control in there too. Lots of levers to move. I'm sure once you get the hang of it it becomes second nature and your left hand just does it. Kind of like how once you got the hang of the T-34 you were in the habit of always adjusting trim.
If I remember correctly, you'll set rpm for different phases of flight (higher rpm for maneuvering, TO and landing; lower for cruising, etc.). You'll have a manifold pressure/throttle lever and you'll have a mixture lever, too. The manifold pressure is where the power comes from and you adjust the mixture to lean it out for efficiency. I think we bumped it to full for maneuvering and TO/LD though. The trick was to move the rpm and manifold pressure in the correct sequence to not damage the motor. Again, this is pulling back from the depths of my memory so I may be off.