Test stand video of the Pratt & Whitney 4360 Wasp engine introduced in 1944. Slated for a Reno unlimited. The "corncob" engine was 28-cylinder four-row air cooled radial engine. Improper starting technique could foul all 56 spark plugs, which would require hours to clean or replace. Turn the speakers all the way up. Bask in the roar of twenty-eight cylinders belching the sound of freedom. http://vimeo.com/16117810
Man that's freaking cool. I just recently started learning about radial engines. Are all radial engines Wankel engines? I started my research with Mazda engines, so I don't know much about anything else yet.
Wankel's are rotary-type engines with eccentric combustion chambers/pistons. And this is a radial-type engine with round combustion chambers/pistons. Jack E/NJ
Cool thanks. I kinda thought it would be different since it's "28 cylinders," but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
I used to work at Pratt&Whitney..I visited their museum several times which had most models/series radial piston engines they built plus experimental/test ones and rotating cut-a-ways....They also made some Flathead radials!! Called them small diameter engines..While there wasn't a whole flathead radial there was a cylinder barrel with valves and head bolted to it from one..Some huge ports and valves!
i to got to work on radials. they defy all known laws of internal combustion. first few of them have a choke as we know it, they would just keep priming them till enough fuel was hitting the ground under the plane then they hit the starter button. on the engine first mentioned the push tubes for the valves were not a staight piece of metal they bent in the middle. it was a 4 row engine, with each row being a feww degrees off so the cyls had a fighting chance of getting some cooling air. they didnt have a cam shaft as we think. they have a cam ring. thats another story completely. the main reason our military stuck with radials so long . was that they thought watercooled engines were to complicated. the radials were tough thou some brought there crews back with some of the cylinder heads literally shot off. but they had little longevity. they required complete overhauls in as little as 80-100 hours of use in some types. if you have heard a big radial idling you can understand why we like the sound of a cammed up engine. and the smell of cam2
That is cool as hell! It would be kind of scary walking around it like those guys are with the prop spinning. Sent from my iPhone using TJJ app
It says it holds 80.5 gallons, yes gallons and burned/leaked 4 gallons an hour. That will leave a little puddle on the driveway.
Can remember as a kid, B-36s from Fairchild AFB near Spokane flying over our school, six 4360s and four J47s roaring, had to stop class until they passed!
AMERICAN talent at it's best! I live on the other side of our airport (Paine Field-Snohomish County Airport), where the Flying Heritage Museum, and Future of Flight are both located. They fly the old war birds on sunny weekends, and whenever I hear that "sound", I've got to run outside to look. I grew up on Air Force Bases around the world, and grew up to the "sound of freedom". Keep em' flyin". Butch/56sedandelivery.
When I was young I worked on 2800 and 3350s at UAL. You had to be there when they were running one up on the test stand. 4360s were long gone by the time I got there 1965
There is NOTHING, like the sound of a big radial engine, or better yet a quartet of them. We often have the Coulson Flying Tankers, Martin Mars fly over, and I can't resist stopping whatever I'm doing to stand and watch/listen to that big bird!
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