B-29 Engine startup after dark......
 

B-29 engine night run.wmv - YouTube


3,300 cubic inch aircraft engine, run at night. Skip ahead to 2:24, that's when the action begins.

Someone please educate me on what the blue flames are.
Why are they visible on the front and back of the engine. - couldn't be spark, there'd be no compression?
If exhaust, is this just a bare-bones design with no headers?
Notice at part throttle, right flag is pulling, left is pushing - weird?
thanks
Bill K

that is the exhaust . there are 2 rows of cylinders facing opposite directions so you see exhaust flames coming out both ends of the engine.
Radial engines are awesome

I especially appreciated the camera person's jump when the beast fired up! :D

Thanks for posting.
Best
Les

Normally there would be 2 rows of exhaust stacks on that Pratt & Whitney engine. The BLUE is exhaust fire that would be normally ducted through the exhaust stacks.

Now THAT was seriously cool!!!!

angela

ok, that was cool...

Fantastic - great find.

i almost crapped my pants when it fired up. the old guy behind it did not even flinch.

18 cyclinder engine with 9 firing out the front and 9 firing out the back?

i would love to see it down to the block and pistons. i would also like to see the crank.

pushrod engine? how does the valve train work on one of those? camshaft?

awesome. they are even more awesome to hear fly over. nothing sounds like a radial engine

Nice little gif of how they work...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Radial_engine_timing-small.gif

I have spent many hours watching you tube videos like that one. Great stuff.
Check out this big old bad arse Merlin.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AqrbtxcNqbM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Wow.
I can't imagine back when, to hear all four going.

Thanks! I loved it. Now that is a motor head's dream.

Assisted in ground crew duties on FIFI when she would come into kalamzoo back in the day. What is awesome is engines with inertia starter, especially bigger radials.

Very cool, thanks for posting.

I saw a similar engine, I dont know planes, at the Owls Head museum in Maine. Loudest thing I've ever heard and to say it leaked oil... the operator's suit was covered. Impressive.

Thanks for the link.

Having heard these in real life (in the B29 FIFI), as impressive as the clip is it cannot convey the incredible sound of power these engines generate. Imagine the most impressive muscle car you ever heard, then imagine that multiplied many times.

The B-29 engine is going into this plane:

Doc's Friends

Pretty darn cool. Won't that be something for this to take flight again?

angela

Used to hear them all the time when I was a little kid.

TWA Lockheed Super Constellations used to land and take off right over our house in Albuquerque... same engines.

But that was nothing... literally.

We also had B-36's doing the same. They had 6 much larger engines in pusher configuration.

Light years louder. Pictures fell off the wall, cabinet doors flew open, dishes broke...

6 much larger engines pushing, AND 4 turbojets!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hN2gYduKeW0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Seems to me that new evolving technolgy, makes things less exciting.
At least for the human senses.
Planes. Trains. Automobiles.

What does *Preoil 3350* mean?

Wright Pat AFB has both a B-29 and a B-36.
The 36 dwarfs the 29.

Awesome, especially considering that it happened here in Wichita.

preoil the engine before start, 3350 is the engine size in cubic inches. and the avgas they were burning was 145 octane! good stuff, smells great

this is how a radial engine works, the cams are like round rings with bumps on them, quite simple if you think about it
How a Radial Engine Works - YouTube

Also, these engines use a lot of oil, 100 gallon oil tanks per engine good for 6-8 hours of flight. fuel truck size refulers serviced the tanks. many times they land just for oil and not fuel! funny. Big tolerances in air cooled engines

Neat! Timely as well. FiFi will be here is Southern Illinois again next weekend.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

The crew of "FIFI" like the fact that theirs is the only flying B-29 in the world. I'm thrilled to see another B-29 (Doc) join them.

I have been fortunate enough to see FiFi twice
I think its great to have Doc join the team. it wont detract from FiFi at all.
FiFi was the first to fly. nobody can ever take that away.

I went to a Confederate Air Force show back in the 1980's down in Harlingen, TX. I thought they had 2 flying B-29's, or am I remembering B-17's?

Only 1 B-29 that I am aware of to this day.

CAF does have (2) B-17's.

Commemorative Air Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some years ago, I saw & toured inside a B-17 & B-24 at Essex Co. airport in NJ. Impressive to see & hear them both there.

I thought the B-29 engine was the same Wright-Cyclone R-3350 Duplex engine that powered the Navy A1-E (Sandy), used as low support in the days that I was in Viet Nam. 3,700hp, two-row 18 cyl. I had the opportunity to work on a few over there, and when they fired up those babies and you were close to them, man, an awesome ground-shaking experience.

BTW, a fellow Pelican (B. Biggs) flew A1-E low support in Nam. I first met him there.
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The "Flying Dump Truck":
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CH-53 and Douglas A1E Skyraider CSAR in Vietnam - YouTube
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Douglas Skyraider - The "BIG IRON" Beast of Warbirds!
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Douglas Skyraider - The "BIG IRON" Beast of Warbirds ! - YouTube
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1373728922.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/14/asa7ahaj.jpg Harlingen summer of 78. And also on the Tarmac an even rarer bird the only one in the world flying at the time. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/07/14/use6abaj.jpg

Confederate Air Force changed their name to Commemorative Air Force about ten years ago.

Politically Incorrect.


Started in Harlingen, now there are wings from Alaska to Florida.


Beautiful F-82 Twin Mustang above...

tcar
Registered User
Join Date: Oct 1999
Posts: 6,804

Join Date: Oct 1999 - Are you one of the first PP members?

We would stock pile 55 gallon oil drums for FIFI appearances at the Kzoo air shows back in the 80's...really amazing they use to keep whole squadrons running day to day.