Random Aerodynamic Oddity of the Day Thread

[freebeard]

Nobody seemed to mind Permalink #363, so here's another aerodynamic oddity or two that are airplanes. First, One of my favorites, the B-36 Peacemaker, six turning and four burning but it never expended ordinance in anger.

I snagged this out of a Youtube video. Cool, Huh? Don't tell anyone. [click the bar]

That nacelle has the two-bank radial behind a firewall with the turbos, intercoolers and plumbing ahead of it. Six separate intakes — air cooling, oil cooling, 2x turbo and 2x intercooler.

Then there's my new favorite airliner that never made prototype, let alone production; the Douglas DC-8. No, not that DC-8 the other one.

It's like a mini-B-36 with clean wings. The propshaft ran the length of the passenger compartment — a front engine rear driver like an Aircobra in reverse. Anyway cockpit kinda like a Ryan Navion.

Bonus what appears to be a prototype of the Davis three-wheeler.

Davis operated in a 57,000 sq. ft. former aircraft assembly building in Van Nuys, where a prototype three-wheeler named "Baby" was built. Baby was powered by a 47 hp Hercules 4-cylinder engine coupled to a Borg-Warner 3-speed transmission and Spicer rear end. Baby was unique in that it featured four-across seating. It was planned that production, beginning in 1948, would start at a minimum of 50 cars a day later increasing to 1000. A second prototype called "Delta" was built, and a third prototype, the model 482, was completed later. The third model, the "Divan", established standards for the production Davis cars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Motorcar_Company

[Piotrsko]

4360 wasp is more than a 2 bank. Should be 4? Can't recall, time for my nap

[freebeard]

I was going by the picture. Let the record show:

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, and the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_...360_Wasp_Major

It's confusing, banks vs rows.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

It's confusing, banks vs rows.

Banks for inlines, boxers, Vs or Ws, rows for most radials. IIRC there was only one radial which resorted to cylinders arranged in banks, but it didn't get beyond the prototype stage.

[freebeard]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_A57_multibank

A total of 109 Lees and 7,499 Shermans were fitted with the A57. The M4A4 was largely supplied to the British, the US preferring the M4A3 with the more conventional Ford GAA V8 engine, and restricting their M4A4s to overseas use.[5]

Why has no one put one of these in a rat rod?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_GAA_engine

The Ford GAA engine is an American all-aluminum 32-valve DOHC 60-degree V8 engine engineered and produced by the Ford Motor Company just before, and during, World War II. It features twin Stromberg NA-Y5-G carburetors, dual magnetos and twin spark plugs making up a full dual ignition system, and crossflow induction. It displaces 1,100 cu in (18 l) and puts out well over 1,000 pound-feet (1,400 N⋅m) of torque from idle to 2,200 rpm. The factory-rated output was 500 hp (370 kW) at 2,600 rpm.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Why has no one put one of these in a rat rod?

Who knows...

[MeteorGray]

Would the 90mm gun turret come with it?

Sure would help keeping the tailgaters back.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by freebeard

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_A57_multibank


Why has no one put one of these in a rat rod?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_GAA_engine

Rarity and weight. A big block Chrysler was the heaviest. 750-lbs bare long block. Close to 900 dressed.

A 5.9L Cummins is past 1,100-lbs bare. These tank motors well past that. Thus a custom frame and front end. Then all other drivetrain parts customized as well. Medium and heavy-duty truck parts. THEN suspension and steering.

The only “light” reference with these tank engines is packaging and weight versus comparable diesel. Along the way in tank development were dual engine models.

It’s an engine type desired by commercial operators of rail switch engines and barge tugs. I doubt there was ever the necessary aftermarket support. High TQ and low HP demands a heavy, complex transmission. Engine meant to run in a narrow rpm band continuously. Not stop & go.

Despite the movies, a tank is just a way to move a heavy gun with armor protected crew to another location. Infantry had protection on the move, but it was WHERE to set that armored gun that mattered. Tanks are a great way to destroy or defend logistic choke points. Railyards, river crossings, etc. The engine will spend more time running in situ to power the weapon.

Gasoline was our military choice because we had so much of it. Airplane fuel also. Our crude oil stocks were ideal to refine gasoline (diesel not so much). It’s a far cheaper/lighter engine to build. Thus, field swaps possible. Not so with diesel.

But turbines don’t want gasoline, and obviously not diesels. We skipped diesel development in some ways (xtra heavy) as we knew turbines were the future. Naval ships, airplanes, mobile armor. Your daddy was meant to be the beta tester for auto turbine engines that later could be adapted for military. (Light aviation also). Turbines had (have) applications still not filled given simplicity plus very high power-to-weight ratio.

In the late 70’s and early 80’s saw development of wheeled Army land vehicle engines that were multi-fuel. Could be moved from one theater to another more easily. Could use that theaters less desirable fuel. Chicken & Egg problem. These were modified diesels.

The CUMMINS/WESTERBEKE dual-fuel engines are that continuation (using CNG).

.

[slowmover]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Nobody seemed to mind Permalink #363, so here's another aerodynamic oddity or two that are airplanes. First, One of my favorites, the B-36 Peacemaker, six turning and four burning but it never expended ordinance in anger.

I snagged this out of a Youtube video. Cool, Huh? Don't tell anyone. [click the bar]

That nacelle has the two-bank radial behind a firewall with the turbos, intercoolers and plumbing ahead of it. Six separate intakes — air cooling, oil cooling, 2x turbo and 2x intercooler.

Then there's my new favorite airliner that never made prototype, let alone production; the Douglas DC-8. No, not that DC-8 the other one.

It's like a mini-B-36 with clean wings. The propshaft ran the length of the passenger compartment — a front engine rear driver like an Aircobra in reverse. Anyway cockpit kinda like a Ryan Navion.

Bonus what appears to be a prototype of the Davis three-wheeler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Motorcar_Company

Don’t forget the 12,000-mile range. Six turning and four burning (on the late models with two jet engines per wing). Only four existing from hundreds. Huge crew under SAC.

The one that sat outside Fort Worth’s attempt to upstage Dallas Love Field (Greater Southwest) was the last one built at Ft Worth in 1954. Retired just four years later. Finally removed and restored by Lockheed employee volunteers in the 1990s. At Tucson, now.

Big as are other intercontinental bombers, this one dwarfs the 52 and B1. The atomic-powered model was stranger yet.

YouTube has great clips. Local flyovers with training runs, and from the Jimmy Stewart movie, “Strategic Air Command”.

Outside of B58 Hustler supersonic factory test runs that were a thrill of my young years (nothing like a sonic boom to wake up school classroom), only a MITO (baby elephant walk) of 52’s right thru the 1980s was as impressive as the sight and sound of a 36 circling.

Have been up in Massachusetts and watched C5 Galaxies so big they seemed to hover. (Still not as impressive).

June Allyson has always been reason enough to watch the Stewart movie. And it’s wonderful aerial sequences.

Beauty, and Truth (the spectre of planetary nuclear war).

The sound of that airplane (the drone) had but one meaning.



.

[freebeard]

The sound of that airplane (the drone) had but one meaning.

"Peacemaker"?

C5 Galaxies...

Elon Musk says the sub-orbital Starship will cost 1/3 what a C-5A does to deliver the goods.