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Pratt & Whitney radials, which have forged-aluminum crankcases, retain their cylinders by studs and nuts. On the other hand, the cylinders of Wright’s big engines are retained by bolts which screw into the steel case—21 individual 7/16 NF bolts per cylinder. The late John Minnich, a Wright engineer during the war, told me that at the level of the intake port, just over a foot away from the cylinder’s upset-forged steel base flange, rod angularity at each firing caused the cylinder to kick sideways by twenty-thousandths of an inch. Because of that flexure, each base bolt sat on a part-spherical washer, fitting into a matching cup in the base flange. Without this feature base-bolt breakage was constant. Everything was constantly flexing. Try to imagine magnesium threads surviving such motions.
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And it is my contention that evo base gaskets leak because the rather tall cylinders rock back & forth on the very narrow base, and disturb the gasket. Earlier motors had larger base flanges, and did not have this problem.
Jim -
That article was outstanding. I didn’t even know Kevin Cameron was still writing.
The guy is brilliant.Comment
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It is also my contention to say that I believe if Harley would never heve foolishly improved the total loss oiling system , i would never had to explain the oil spots left on someone else’s driveway.Comment
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It is my contention that a drip indicates that there is oil in the gearbox.
JimComment
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Useless bit of info here ....
My father worked for the War Assets Administration after WWII ...
He was instrumental in getting a building for Preston Tucker to build his 48 Tucker's ...
That building was used for manufacturing the B-29 motors in Chicago ...
See ... I told ya'll it was useless info .. !!
But a bit of History none the less ...Last edited by Dragstews; 01-29-2022, 12:31 PM.Take my 45 and outrun em all ..Comment
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More useless information
My dad installed the first 75MM cannon in a B 25 Mitchel and after the test firing he refused to fly for several years after the war. He said that the crews that hunted subs with them had to be insane to fire that cannon bolted to the airframe a little to the left of the middle of of the plane that ran right under the pilot and copilot.
More useless info, that your story brought to mind Jessy.
DustyLast edited by DustyDave; 01-29-2022, 4:08 PM.Driving that train, high on cocaine
Casey Jones you better, watch your speed
Trouble ahead, trouble behind
And you know that notion just crossed my mind​Comment
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Very interesting read, thanks for posting. I've been on the 'Nine O Nine' and walked the length of the fuselage... In the bomb bay, you only have a narrow walk board to traverse on. I can't imaging being in-flight and working on / arming an atomic bomb like the quote below describes:
[quote]
The man in charge of the Hiroshima atomic bomb before its delivery over Japan, Navy officer William Parsons, had seen such crashes. He knew that an atomic-armed B-29 exploding on takeoff could destroy all the facilities on Tinian Island and kill its population of roughly 100,000. He decided that the takeoff would be made with the bomb inactivated by partial disassembly. Only once the takeoff was successful did he make his way into the bomb bay, reinstall the missing parts, and verify they were installed correctly. Then he returned to the forward pressure compartment and closed its hatch.
[quote]
B-17 bomb bay:
B-17 observation:
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Take my 45 and outrun em all ..Comment
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No doubt in my mind that and failure to use fucking O-rings (one for the base, one for a spigoted oil passage rather than a hole) instead of a gasket is the reason.
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WWII aviation enthusiasts should watch this. The footage is magnificent.
The 8th AF lost more men in the ETO than the entire USMC lost in the Second World War. Crewing a bomber was also far more dangerous than driving a tank (despite Fury and Belton Coopers understandably biased account, the Armored Force had fewer than two thousand men killed in Europe including troops killed outside their tanks).Comment
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Those guys had grit and courage, without a doubt. The main vulnerability, I think, was the fact that the fighters just didn't have the needed range to escort them to where they needed to get to. After the fighter had to turn back they were open game.
Although I do remember seeing a translated interview with a Luftwaffe pilot who commented how much he hated coming up on the B17's from behind... "It was like trying to make love to a porcupine", he said.
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