Sunday, October 2, 2016

Radial Airplane Engines

giphy
According to my rule that if I see two postings about the same topic in two days that is an omen to write about that topic, I need to discuss radial engines that were developed for propeller airplanes. In fact, I came across five postings.

I'm still trying to figure out the details of how the connecting rods were offset so that they couald all share the same crank. I was expecting to see fins on the cylinders because they leave the front of the plane open so that there is plenty of airflow over the cylinders so I assume they were air cooled. Maybe that is just a detail that isn't worth the effort to draw.

The article that has the video for the following screenshots says the 1941 P-47 Thunderbolt is "considered as the most powerful single pistol engine aircraft during the time." Not only is "single pistol" a spelling error, I'm sure it had several pistons. In fact, the title of the article, "This P-47 Has the Roughest Sounding Radial Ever" confirms the engine is a radial.

Screenshot
When it starts, you can see exhaust come out of the opening behind the engine that also allows the cooling airflow to exit. Judging from the exhaust flows, more than one cylinder on the right side is not firing. No wonder it sounds rough.

Screenshot
SupplHi posted
SupplHi posted
Women are trained to do precise and vital engine installations.
Photographer: Alfred T. Palmer, 1942.
SupplHi posted
Checking a P-51 "Mustang" fighter plane in construction.
Photographer: Alfred Palmer, 1944
Screenshot of the largest piston driven engine ever built from 10 Biggest Engines
Update:
John Abbott posted
Eddie Martinez I am surprised that they would let the lady on the right wear open shoes like that. I realize that safety issues weren't big back in those days. But, she could easily get her feet cut up.
Don Allen good tractor pulling and old school hydroplane boat motors.
[This is a Merlin V-12 instead of a radial engine, so I'm generalizing this posting to airplane engines. They are adding the shrouding to a P 40 Warhawk.]
USautoIndustryWWII
The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 1,200 hp radial aircraft engine as on display at the National World War Two Museum in New Orleans, LA.  Out the total 173,618 R-1830s that were built during the war, Buick made close to 74,198 of them in the government owned plant in Melrose Park, IL, west of Chicago.  This was 43% of the total.  The engines built by Buick were used exclusively on the 18,190 Consolidated B-24s until April 1944 when it was contracted to build R-1830s for the C-47.  It should be noted that Chevrolet was built R-1830s for the B-24 and C-47 also.   Author's [David D Jackson] photo.

And they just kept getting bigger and bigger until jet engines were developed.

Warbird_Experience posted
What 4360 cubic inches and 3000HP looks like!!

Old Engine posted
[Another example of AI gone bad? Note John's correction below]
13,000 horsepower—a staggering amount of raw power packed into the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engine. 💥 To put this into perspective, the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress had only 4,800 horsepower. That means the XF-12 Rainbow, powered by four of these beasts, had nearly three times the muscle of the B-17. 🚀 The result? A mind-blowing power-to-weight ratio of 0.128, superior even to its competitor, the Hughes XF-11 at 0.103. This engine wasn’t just about brute force; it was a technological masterpiece, propelling the Rainbow into aviation history. 
John Tetlow: gotta love all the false stats. the 4360 made between 3000 and 5000 hp, depending on the configuration(and if you believe it could make that much power reliably). it truly depended on the number of superchargers, turbo-superchargers, and power recovery turbines installed on the engine. while an awesome engine, they had cooling issues for the rear cylinders and maintenance was a challenge due to the complexity. still a great feat of engineering!
[Several comments specified 4300hp for this engine.]

This appears to be the same engine.
PlaneHistoria posted
Not saying it is complicated or anything, but the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at 4,362.5 cu in (71.5 L), it is the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States, and at 4,300 hp (3,200 kW) the most powerful.
It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family, and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology.
Richard Bunn: Changing spark plugs at two per cylinder could take a while.
Clint Royce: Thats my baby. Four mags and 56 plugs. A great sound with 14 cylinders firing on every revolution.
Jack Alexander: Love to see a cutaway of this.
Richard Miller: Jack Alexander, historic Pratt & Whitney hanger in East Hartford, CT has a sample of each engine it made and several amazing cutaways!
Clint Royce: Jack Alexander there is a cutaway 4360 at the Hill AFB air museum.
George Kujanski: There is a motorized, cutaway view of one at The Pima Air and Space museum in Tucson. Very cool!
Paul Smith: What about a 36-cyliner engine, 4 x 9?
Fraser Ralston: Paul Smith there was one. The Lycoming XR-7755, a 36 cylinder water cooled radial. 4 rows of 9 cylinders, the cylinder banks were inline as they were water cooled instead of staggered like the air cooled engines. 7,756.3 cubic inches (127.1 litre) displacement producing around 5,000hp. They only made two units before the project was cancelled in 1946, the rapid development of the jet engine that emerged during WW2 made this engine obsolete whilst it was still being developed.
Ian Cameron: The R-4360 was designed to force air to the rear cylinders when in a standard tractor engine installation. However, in a pusher engine installation (e.g. the Convair B-36 and Northrop XB/YB-35), cooling the cylinders took a long time to get right as the air had to be fed to the engine.
Keith Laird: Bruce Caron One of the other things that adversely affected cooling in the B-36 was the high operating altitude of the B-36. Even though the air was extremely cold up there, it was so thin, it couldn’t absorb much heat from the engine. In the pusher configuration, there actually was an auxiliary fan mounted to the other end of the crankshaft to provide cooling air.
Andrew Nickeas: 71.489 litres for the rest of the world. The Rolls Royce Merlin was , nominally, 27 litres.
Mike Gozia: Six powered the B-36 + 4 small jets for take off. [I one time heard someone comment that the plane had 6 turning and 4 burning. Now I know what was turning.]
Robert Downie Sr: The number of airplanes that used the 4360 is a who’s who of airplanes. B-36, the plane the 4360 was developed for, the B/KB-50, C/KC-97, C-74, C-124, one model of the C-119, and Howard Hugh’s Spruce Goose!
Military Equipment posted
Not saying it is complicated or anything, but the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at 4,362.5 cu in (71.5 L), it is the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States, and at 4,300 hp (3,200 kW) the most powerful. 
It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family, and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology.
Steve OConnor shared
Kirk Hoffman: My favorite round engine! I know where there ae 4 of them in their original home! The C-97 in Dodgeville, WI.

Adam Richard commented on PlaneHistoria's post

Christophter Scott commented on the post by Military Equipment
At our Chico Air Museum in Chico, California, we recently acquired a cut-away version of this wasp engine which demonstrates the internal workings of the P&W engine. Impressive technology!
 
Rob Smith commented on the post by Military Equipment
Yankee air museum, willow run air port, Ypsilanti Michigan.

F Dean Williams commented on PlaneHistoria's post

Tony Skilton 
commented on PlaneHistoria's post
The Spruce Goose had eight of them! Took this photo 5 days ago.
[They were used in many bombers and cargo/transport plaines.]
 
The History of Mechanics posted
The Anzani 20-cyinder air-cooled radial was constructed in a similar fashion as other Anzani engines. The direct-drive engine consisted of four rows of five cylinders. However, the front two rows and the rear two rows were essentially paired together. The engine appeared more as a two-row radial with 10 cylinders in each row. The cylinders of a single row were separated by 72 degrees, paired rows were separated by 36 degrees, and all cylinders were separated by 18 degrees. More details in the first comment.
Details: https://amazing.caphemoingay.com/anzani-20-cylinder-aircraft-engine/

The History of Mechanics posted
The Lycoming XR-7755 was the most powerful aircraft engine in the world when it was built. The XR-7755 was the culmination of Lycoming’s experience with radial and liquid-cooled engines. Conceived in 1943, such a large engine was not needed by the time it first ran in 1946. Details in the first comment.
https://amazing.caphemoingay.com/lycoming-xr-7755-36-cylinder-aircraft-engine/
Sándor Pályi: 4x9 cylinders....
Sergio Diez: Long story short: Jets were coming in fast… in every sense of the word.

The History of Mechanics posted, cropped
Yakovlev M-501 - The BIGGEST Piston Radial Ever Designed. Just after World War II, OKB-500 (Opytno-Konstruktorskoye Byuro-500 or Experimental Design Bureau-500) in Tushino (now part of Moscow), Russia was tasked with building the M-224 engine. The M-224 was the Soviet version of the Junkers Jumo 224 diesel aircraft engine. Many German engineers had been extradited to work on the engine, but the head of OKB-500, Vladimir M. Yakovlev, favored another engine project, designated M-501. The M-501 had a 6.30 in (160 mm) bore and a 6.69 in (170 mm) stroke. The engine displaced 8,760 cu in (143.6 L) and produced 4,750 hp (3,542 kW) without the turbosupercharger. With the turbosupercharger and the thrust it provided, the engine produced 6,205 hp (4,627 kW). The engine weighed 6,504 lb (2,950 kg) without the turbocharger and 7,496 lb (3,400 kg) with the turbocharger. 
https://amazing.caphemoingay.com/yakovlev-m-501-and-zvezda-m503-and-m504-diesel-engines/ 

Comments on the above post

The History of Mechanics posted
The mind-boggling gearing on the Napier Deltic engine. The Deltic is a British engine famous for its complexity and ambitiousness. It is a triangle-shaped, opposed-piston, valveless, supercharged, two-stroke diesel engine with a displacement of 88.2 litres (5,382 cu in). The engine was essentially comprised of three opposed (boxer) engines, with a crankshaft in each corner, forming a triangle. This eliminated the need for cylinder heads thus reducing weight. Each cylinder contained two pistons, with a total of 18 cylinders and 36 pistons. It produced a maximum of 2,500 hp. Development began in the 1940s, and over its career it powered locomotives and naval vessels, including a few German Schnellboots. Details in the comment.
The History of Mechanics

caphemoingay
Nomad 1
"The prototype of the Nomad I is currently exhibited at the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Airfield in Scotland, serving as a testament to this innovative period in aviation engineering."

caphemoingay
Nomad 2
"In this updated version, an additional stage was incorporated into the axial compressor/supercharger. This enhancement effectively eliminated the need for the separate centrifugal component and the intercooler, streamlining the engine’s design and functionality."
 
caphemoingay
Nomad 2
"The Nomad II engine first roared to life in December 1952 and had clocked up 350 hours by mid-1954. It underwent a series of rigorous bench tests, including trials with a 13 ft (3.96 m) diameter constant-speed, reversible-pitch propeller. Interestingly, running the engine on different fuels such as diesel, kerosene, or jet fuel (wide-cut gasoline) showed little variation in power output....While the Nomad showcased remarkable fuel efficiency and power-to-weight ratio, it was ultimately eclipsed by the development of turboprops and turbojets. Financial constraints and the already significant investment of £5.1 million in the Nomad program were factors in its discontinuation....For those interested in aviation history, a Nomad II engine is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia."
The History of Mechanics posted
D. Napier & Son (Napier) was a British engineering firm that designed and manufactured aircraft engines since World War I. In 1931. The Nomad I’s original (upper) and revised (lower) exhaust system and turbine can be compared in these images. In the lower image, the compressor’s intake can be seen near the front of the engine. The polished duct between the compressor and supercharger is where the intercooler would have been installed. Details in the comment.

Note Troy's and William's comments that "Riko january" is wrong!
This is the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major, an absolute powerhouse of an engine! Featuring a 28-cylinder radial layout in four rows, it was used in some of the largest aircraft of the late piston-engine era, such as the Boeing B-50 Superfortress and the Convair B-36 Peacemaker. Producing over 3,000 horsepower, it pushed piston-engine performance to its limits.
⚙️ Mechanical Beast
✈️ Aviation Icon
Troy Westrum: This is a fake engine built with R-4360 components to be double the length.
It’s been displayed at the Reno Air Races for years.
It had lots of people scratching their heads.
Not an operational engine by any means.
Russell Weil: Troy Westrum The guy did such an incredible job on this you couldn’t tell if it’s real or not (it’s not). 56 cylinders, 128 spark plugs! I flew the real engine on a C-119 fire bomber. Lovely engine.
Joe Fee Sr.: Russell Weil The guy just slapped eight seven cylinder engines together to fake the engine of , never to fly monstrosity. He's a good faker !
Wendall G. Hoffman: Russell Weil my Mrs’ uncle and a guy from my Dad’s church worked on R-4360’s. Neither said they were lovely… they were amazed when they ran.
They do take a lot of pride in them however.
J.C. Edson: The R-4360-59 powered the KC-97. It was subject to a lot of abuse, having to run firewalled while refueling B-47's. Our squadron of KC-97's (98th ARES, Lincoln AFB) had few engine failures, and engines often exceeded TBO. No piston radial is as reliable as turbine engines, but they are not as unreliable as many believe.

William Ward commented on the above post
This is an R-4360
James Lapp: William Ward The "corn cob"!

The History of Mechanics posted, cropped
FKFS Gruppen-Flugmotor A, C, and D - The RLM was interested in large, powerful engines for bombers being designed to reach targets in North America. Both Kamm and Krautter believed that air-cooled engines were overall superior for aircraft use, and they designed a 32-cylinder engine intended for the RLM. This radial engine had eight cylinder banks evenly spaced at 45 degree intervals around the crankcase. Each cylinder bank consisted of four inline, air-cooled cylinders and a single overhead camshaft. Details: https://amazing.caphemoingay.com/fkfs-gruppen-flugmotor-a-c-and-d/

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