Engines for the B29, found this interesting.

Thanks for posting. What an incredible operation that was!

I've spent quite a bit of time working on those engines. Both the R-3350 for the B29, and the R-4360's for the development of the B-29, the C-97.

The 3350 was the most advanced piston engine built. The large radials had a habit of catching fire, and there was a LOT to go wrong. It often did.

Wow, that’s incredible.

About 5 years ago I was working at home, and from outside I could hear this low rumble getting louder. It sounded like impending doom. Well, I ran outside just in time to see B29 'Fifi' pass right overhead. It was at an airshow not too far away, offering rides. What a sight. What a sound!

What is astounding to me is that they constructed the entire plant, achieved full production and then shut down completely in just a little over 3 years and 3 months.

Today it would take longer than that just to get the facility built.

The good old days!

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
I've spent quite a bit of time working on those engines. Both the R-3350 for the B29, and the R-4360's for the development of the B-29, the C-97.

The 3350 was the most advanced piston engine built. The large radials had a habit of catching fire, and there was a LOT to go wrong. It often did.

Two of the most complicated piston engines ever built. Once they worked out the bugs, Became an Industry Standard.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...-3350_Duplex-Cyclone


R4360 powered the F2G Corsairs. Shame they were not able to bring them into Squadron Service but they were the ultimate development of the Piston Power Train.

I actually have a couple of exhaust valves from those engines.

The Lockheed Constellation used the same power plant, the joke in the industry was the Constellation was the “finest four engined tri-motor ever made”.

They had one of the R-4360 cutaways at the Air Force Museum. A marvel of architecture and engineering.

Amazing!

The speed at which they built the plant, assembled the tooling and made it operational is nothing short of American ingenuity and greatness.

Interesting too how the engine testing was set up to power generator's that powered the plant itself.

Thank you for posting!

Rob

quote:

Today it would take longer than that just to get the facility built.

Yep, 3 years would maybe cover all the approvals.

Although Lufthansa has shut down the Constellation project at Auburn-Lewiston airport there is some good video out there of the overhaul of the R3350-988TC18EA2 engines and components.



https://youtu.be/Xr88hFNm6D8

A friend who is an A&P used to work on a civilian-owned Corsair. He told me the spark plugs were torqued to something like 230 or 250 ft/lbs., and that he had to attach an extension to his torque wrench and hang from it to get that much torque!

I'll admit, he was a skinny guy, but the image of him hanging off that huge motor, dangling from an extension bar, is still funny today!

During WWII, my college room mate's father was assigned to the 509th, flew B-29's out of Tinian. Not the A-Bomb, though. I guess he lit a lot of fires in Tokyo.

A glimpse of the 'can-do' attitude of the America that Trump is making Great Again.

More power to him

quote:

Originally posted by newtoSig765:
A friend who is an A&P used to work on a civilian-owned Corsair. He told me the spark plugs were torqued to something like 230 or 250 ft/lbs., and that he had to attach an extension to his torque wrench and hang from it to get that much torque!

I'll admit, he was a skinny guy, but the image of him hanging off that huge motor, dangling from an extension bar, is still funny today!

There was a scene in the TV show 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' where the maintenance chief goes on 'strike' and makes the pilots do all their own pre flight/post flight maintenance. It showed guys hanging off their torque wrenches trying to get enough ft/lbs.

I'd hate to be the guy that had to change 336 spark plugs on the Convair B-36 ... at Thule Air Base.

quote:

Originally posted by SgtGold:
There was a scene in the TV show 'Ba Ba Black Sheep' where the maintenance chief goes on 'strike' and makes the pilots do all their own pre flight/post flight maintenance. It showed guys hanging off their torque wrenches trying to get enough ft/lbs.

Now that you mention it, I vaguely remember that episode.

When the show was running, I took a vacation in southern California and stopped at Chino Airport, one of the Corsairs was there awaiting maintenance. Relative to this thread, they had a B-50 fuselage there as well. It was the improved model of the B-29.

I just finished The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, which contained this little tidbit.

Early engines for the B-29 had a part made of magnesium, which, as many know, is highly flammable once it gets hot enough to combust. Many of the engines caught fire during flight.

Rather than replace the magnesium part, engineers upgraded the engine cooling systems to prevent the engines from catching fire.