PRATT & WHITNEY R-4360 WASP MAJOR AIRCRAFT - Airplanes powered by this giant radial engine
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- Опубликовано: 6 фев 2025
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Great video, I was mechanic on C-97, Delaware Air Guard in the 50’s. They sent me to 4360 engine school, what a magnificent engineering masterpiece. I then graduated from U of Del with a BSME and went to work for P&W Florida Research & Development Center as test engineer mostly out of respect for their engineering. I retired in 1995 after a very interesting and rewarding career working on RL-10, XLR-129 rocket engines, F-100, 119,135, PW-3005, J-58 gas turbines, and high energy airborne laser ALL.
Wow .great job .
If your R-4360 Tech School was t Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX, I was there in the late-1960s and those engines were still on their test stands on the west ramp! Great comment, thanks!
As an engine enthusiast i can say hands down that air craft engines are indeed the most master pieces of art man has ever achieved . They are the combined power of all our knowledge , from electronics ,fluid dynamics ,chemistry ,machining, engineering , to alloys and metallurgy .
Deep respect for massive engines .working like a swiss watch and powerfull
Two things amaze me about the 4360 engine. First, the design of 4 radial engines stacked on a single crankshaft and all the mechanics required, the WASP is like a 4300 hp swiss watch. The other amazing fact is that P & W cranked out over 18,000 units with no CAD design help, no CNC machining; just basic lathes, mills, drill presses and shapers set up and operated by people with dirt under their fingernails.
Agreed 100% - thanks for the comment!
We need to remember there was still a lot of automation in the manufacture of these engines as repetitive functions were controlled by Cams and Gears, and maintaining the close tolerances while moving from machine to machine.
"... people with dirt under their fingernails...". I hope not. Contamination was and is an issue.
@@fltTech72
Exactly, and most people don't realize that CAD "design" is a misnomer, the computer in CAD doesn't do any of the designing persay, it's still a human that does all the designing, the CAD program only allows them to see what they're designing in 3 dimensions instead of a flat plane, it more speeds up the designing process than anything else.
So much for technology - engineers today couldn't conceive that in their minds let alone design and build it without their computers!
The engine looked beautiful when it was tightly cowled, classic lines
When I was in the Air Force working on this engine, and when the spark plugs needed changing, it was easer to change the engine. That saved a lot of time.
Amazing, thanks!
WOW!
I guess you saying it takes a lot of work
Even valve adjustment required removing the engine. It was possible only when the engine was horizontal.
All the people commenting about how maintenance-intensive the R-4360 must have been never worked on radial engines. Yes, the engine had lots of jugs, spark plugs, seven magnetos on its early models, and so forth, but all radial engines required a lot of maintenance. The 4360 proved to be dependable and as reliable as the state of the art allowed. Its only competition, the Wright R-3350, was comparatively overstressed, less reliable, had poor maintenance access, and in service required probably just as much maintenance as the corncob. The corncob was a great engine.
Absolutely. These engines were at the high water mark of aircraft piston power for large aircraft and were marvels of engineering. The effort needed to keep them running efficiently was significant but certainly not out of line with expectations for this type of powerplant. They could have been developed even further if the superior economics of turbine powerplants did not force them into obsolescence. The final examples of steam locomotives were likewise marvels of engineering for that technology, but could not long compete with the superior economics of diesel-electric locomotives. The achievement of the R-4360 should be appreciated by anyone who admires sophisticated machinery.
They weren't that great, they suffered from the same kind of heat issues as the R3350 and were indeed labor intensive, there's no smoothing that over.
They suffered from detonation problems because the carb at the back of the engine would heat up so bad it'd heat the air intake charge and induce detonation but when they were turned around on the B36 to try to solve that problem they suffered from the carbs icing up from being at the front of the engines.
They're impressive pieces of engineering but the fact is 4 rows is just too much and leads to too many issues, like the R3350 they never really got them right.
The R-3350 is effectively a competitor. also for a bad nickname, the connie in lufthansa was called "the best tri motor in the world".
I think that operators expected a reliability like the P&W R-2800. And it was not.
Radial R-2800 are still in normal service (DC-6) when R4360 ware stopped in 60s and R3350 were stopped in 80s.
The turbocompound versions had enormous maintenance issues but the fuel efficiency compensated for the cost.
@@dukecraig2402 I seriously doubt that the carburetors on these engines had heating and cooling issues, as You proclaimed here.... For one thing, carburetors normally do not heat-up excessively, because of what they have inside of them... Fuel.... The fuel. Would begin to evaporate, and draw excessive heat away from the carburetors in the process. But the liquified fuel being fed into the carburetors would constantly re-supply the carburetor with fresh liquid fuel as the engine it supplied would burn the fuel being supplied to it... Much like a VCM type of an Air Conditioning system works... Secondly, I don't buy Your suggestion that the carburetor on these engines "iced-up" as you suggested here, with the reversed positioning of them on the planes with pusher-props, like the B-36 and the X-B 35 planes.... The carburetor on these engines were the Bendix pressure type designs... They did not have venturi's as so many float type carburetors had on smaller engines... One of the many advantages of pressure-type carburetors is they did not suffer from venturi ice , that the float-type carburetorss did... The other guess's that you made about detonation issues that these engines supposedly had is doubtful as well, because Pratt & Whitney did not 'Accidentally' sell well over 17,000 of these units, which would have NEVER happened if they had detonation issues.... Sorry Amigo, but I just don't believe anything that You claimed here.... Try selling the 'Kool Aid' that You have to offer , elsewhere.... Edit- 5/29/22.. I take back what I said regarding Kool Aid and the carbs being impossible to ice-over... Fuel does have some moisture in it, and It is typically delivered to the fueling storage containers with some small traces of water... Between the storage and the delivery into the planes, more water could enter into the fuel. This is why planes and other things that use liquid fuel have water separators and water drains in the tanks and fuel systems. It is ICE in the fuel system that was believed to have caused the crash of British Airways flt#38 in Jan 2008... I Sincerely Apologise for that outburst that I posted here, 3 months ago, I re-read my comments to you- and I was the one who became embarrassed with what I wrote to you.... And yes, it is possible that the planes that You were involved with (B-36's), did have icing issues in the fuel system... Again, Duke I apologise for saying what I did to You... Sincerely, Mike Martinez
I bought a 4360 at an estate sell for 3k in 2012. I recognized the pressurized container can it came in and saw the lettering. It was sealed and still had pressure. I really wanted it for my hangar as decoration. FYI , it took machinery to move the can around as it weighed as much as a pickup truck. I got it home, depressurized it and unbolted the can. It was brand new from 1946. It’s was mounted to a QEC mount for a Martin Mauler. The logbooks indicated it had 3 hours of run time and was mint and perfect condition. It was so perfect I decided to donate it to the aviation museum at Addison airport in Dallas Tx. They removed the waxy oil coating and left it on the QEC mount and displayed it. It is a masterpiece!
Great presentation Mike!
You missed one, an important one, the Goodyear F2G Super Corsair. A total of 11 were built, 2 remain, and they were among the greatest air racers ever.
Agreed!
What about the Martin AM Mauler a single engine Navy attack aircraft.
... and the Curtiss XBTC-2 (2 prototypes built), one of four designs in response to a Navy requirement for a single seat heavy duty attack aircraft capable of dive bombing and torpedo bombing. The Douglas Skyraider and Martin Mauler were the only ones that went into production, with the Skyraider lasting much longer in service than the Martin Mauler mainly because its R-3360 engine proved to be far less troublesome than the PW-4360.
In general, the final piston engine aircraft designs of the 1940s used either the PW R-4360, or the Curtiss R-3360, the two most powerful US aircraft engines ever built, and those that used the R-4360 did not last as long in service because of the much heavier maintenance requirements and reliability issues of the R-4360.
Great story Sir... gotta say that when I was in A&P school, we had a C-124 Globe Master on loan from the Air Force. We were all in awe , we were showed that you can crawl out to each engine in flight and change the starter-generator if required. I have some experience working R-2800's and was so amazed at looking at two more rows of cylinders... well done Sir!
Many thanks!
I once read something about the difference in manufacturing at Pratt & Whitney and other companies, like Wright, Ford or Packard, the heritage of P&W in tool making etc, very interesting, from a conceptual design perspective and actual producing methods resulting from it. Let's say, it's different, without going too much into detail here. Fascinating.
Mike. Your RUclips channel is criminally underrated. Keep ‘em coming sir!
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
My Dad was the Military test pilot on the XC-120 project for the infield testing
phase at Eglin AFB. The 120 was dropped because of the complexities involved
with actual (on the ground) rough field conditions out in the toolies. Plus my dad
and the Air Force had developed and perfected the in flight and ground effect para
chute extraction system we see today.
Thanks Very Much, Mike. I've Looked At & Collected A-lot Of Aircraft Photos But There Were Several In This Video I'd Never Seen. Thank You.
I was an aircraft line mechanic in the California air national guard during the viet nam war.our squadron flew C-97 four engine cargo planes powered by the P&W- R- 4360. We flew from California to Hawaii to Japan to viet nam and back over and over more times than I can recall in four years. The engine maintenance was intense because the line chief insisted on following the maintenance manuals to the letter. We had an entire wall of 2 inch thick manuals that covered every last nut and bolt in the airframe and engines of the C-97. We kept a back stock of new and rebuilt R-4360 engines all pickeled up in steel weather proof containers. During the NAM war it made more sense to replace an ailing engine with a new unit than spend days diagnosing the old engine.
Our flights were over the Pacific Ocean and back at night and covered many thousands of air miles and often much more, loaded down both ways with personnel, supplies and huge wood crates of 50 cal. Ammunition lined up on the interior both sides of the fuselage, everything and everybody else made do by finding a spot big enough to either sit or actually lay down and sleep.
There was only one eternal problem, which even the flight crews suffered. The cargo version of our C-97 was bare aluminum and rigged with thouands of stainless steel tie down rings. These rings and their hooks could hold many thousands of pounds of cargo. But any loose rings and hooks were at the mercy of the four massive P &W engines pounding through the stratosphere
C
I worked as a Recip Engine Mech in the Air Force from June 1963 to Feb.966.
I worked on the R-2000(HC-54D), R-1300(HH-19B) and the R-4360(HC-97G). LOVED MY JOB!!
My dad was a WB-29 mechanic in Alaska during the Korean war. He said those onld engines were impressive but they were also job security for mechanics, especially because of the superchargers. They cracked a lot in the cold artic sky.
They had overheating issues in WW2 and had to forego many normal preflight checks.
At the bottom of the photo with the "Spruce Goose" in its Long Beach, California dry dock, can be seen a fast-looking boat. This is a war-surplus PT Boat that Hughes used to film the "taxi trials" of the H-4 Hercules which turned into the onlt flight of the mammoth airplane. In the film of that flight there are a few seconds of the boat itself as the waves tossed it around a little. HISTORY!
Good catch, and that's actually a British WWII PT boat that was later sold and used in the 1960s TV show "McHale's Navy" with Ernest Borgnine.
I love watching Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart. Still one of the best aviation movies out there. For some reason my favorite scene is SAC loading all that equipment into a C-97 and C-124. Moving all that equipment with radial engines is an amazing scene.
Yes, I remember that great scene also!
Thanks for sharing. You did forget the Goodyear F2G Super Corsair. It was also powered by the 4360.
Correct!
Thank you for mentioning that! Saved me the trouble, LOL!
Here's a pair of vintage F2G air racers restored not long ago: i.pinimg.com/originals/98/01/ee/9801eef8d76306d2f6543d17f5cc87dd.jpg
As a design engineer I can't help commenting that the 4360 (and all engines of that era) were designed on drawing boards without benefit of the computerized 3-D design tools we have today. The designers had to visualize the third dimension on the paper and get that enormously complex assembly arranged without interference between parts.
Agreed 100%! It was definitely a different era from today's digital world. Thanks for the comment.
Couldn't agree more, The level of engineering excellence achieved is nothing short of mind blowing when one considers that engines from this era are the benchmark bar none when it comes to reciprocating aero engines. They invented it all with slide rules and drawing boards and we're still able to take the idea and the tech of the day to the limit.
David Clark- I have the utmost respect and admiration for the people that designed this wonderful engine! In my opinion they were the brightest and best that this country has ever had! There are several of these and many other great engines still in service today and I stand in awe of the technological marvels of that time! Thanks so very much for your service to this great country of ours!
I just want to know if I can fit this into my Ford Explorer.
@@mabrams8740. The torque would probably flip it.
Enjoyed this one a lot Mike. My dad was a USAF flight mechanic on the C-119 and later the C-124, so I got to see and hear a lot of these engines in their heyday. The 4360s also had a very memorable sound, a kind of deep roar when they would fly overhead. Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
A deep grumble that rattled windows! Only heard it once, will never forget it!
If you ever want to hear these great engines run at full speed, go to the Reno Air Races each September where you’ll see modified Sea Fury’s among others using them to go 400 mph around a course!
Deep down I long for the days of vacuum tubes, old Hollywood movies and piston powered, propeller driven airliners.
Same here!
I miss these vids...guess i have to watch them again. Thanks Mike.
The R4360 engine is a work of art
Super, Mike! I'm amazed that P&W got so much mileage out of that power plant since the "jet age" was a very short time distance away. Definitely a success story!
Thanks, Adam!
I was born too late to be a radial engine mechanic but I worked MANY HOURS on P&W jets. My first civilian job interview was with Northwest Airlines (your first photo in this video). I was asked how my ride up to Minneapolis was & I said great. I asked if those were Rolls-Royce engines on the 757. The guy looked at me, kinda disgusted, & said "son, if we want a fancy car, we'll call Rolls-Royce. If we want a light bulb, we'll call GE. But when we want a jet engine, we call Pratt & Whitney". I thought great. No job offer here. I worked for them for 20 years before some smart ass Wall Street types totally screwed the company.
In the Navy, worked on Grumman A6E Intruder. P&W J-52. Loved em.
The only thing better than seeing pictures of these corncobs, is getting to hear them fire up!
Double compound radial bank engins were the epitamy of piston aircraft engine's in the day.... thanks
@@freddyblack8394 I'm sure it was basically the pinnacle of piston engine development in aviation. I can't imagine anything more powerful being practical for aviation.
@@twistedyogert Yes sounds correct and the R-4360 was the limit of piston aircraft engine performance and practicality but only until reliable jet engine's & turbo props became available & transformed aviation
@@freddyblack8394 I wonder if this engine was installed in non-aviation applications such as in a boat.
@@twistedyogert don't know.. but in w w 2 the U S army used certain type of radial bank engine in it's M4- Sherman tanks in some areas.... tanks...u welcome ✌️😁
"Corn Cob". A fitting description, When I saw the first picture I wondered what it was. Thank you for another history lesson. A solid, sound and extremely useful engine.
Goodyear made about 2 dozen R-4360 powered Corsair fighters as well.
I attended the Navy ADRA school at NAS Memphis in early 1972. Conducted ny the Naval Air Technical Training Command, "NATTC." In the classroom was a cutaway R-4360 engine. Years later, well after the recip school was shut down, a friend was attending the A&P at Orange Coast Community College in California and he invited me over to check it out. I the building was a familiar engine, yes, the very same 4360. The plaque read, "donated by NATTC, NAS Memphis.
Neat story, thanks!
Yup, those were the Goodyear F2G. Corsair. Some of them have been snapped up as surplus war aircraft for racing purposes.
That’s interesting! I attended the ADR- A school at NATTC Memphis in latter part of August and early part of September of 1971. After A school, I was assigned to VP 60 at NAS Glenview. The P2V7 with the R3350-32WA engines. I later heard that ADR-A school was shut down later in 1972. Yes, I remember the various radial engines on engine stands in the shop area of the school….Mark
Graham White’s book on the R-4360 comments that a major failure of the B-35 flying wing was not stability but serious vibration - caused by the swept wing giving uneven wake to each side of the props (the props on the B-36 were in line with the trailing edge).
Great point, thanks!
The B-36 just vibrated everything other than the plane. Houses under the runway glide paths at Carswell vibrated and shook every time a 36 took off over the top of them. Nothing would stay on the counter tops, glasses, dishes, etc. would all end up on the floor after a few took off.
The vibrations were not caused by the swept wing but were in fact caused by the gear boxes used to drive the contra-rotating propellers on the XB-35 and conventional propellers on the YB-35's. The XB-35 and YB-35's were actually very stable bombing platforms. When Northrop added eight Allison jet engines to the design was when the stability problems began. The jet powered YB-49 Flying Wing bomber suffered from dutch roll. A device was created to eliminate pitch in the yaw axis, which corrected the problem. The reason why the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing bomber was not selected was because it didn't meet the design specifications for range and bomb capacity because none of the nuclear bombs of that time would fit inside the bomb bay. Its Allison jet engines were anything but efficient, which shortened its range drastically. The XB-35 design was finalized by Jack Northrop back in 1942 before the atomic bombs even materialized. When it came to Flying Wings, Jack Northrop was 20 years ahead of anyone else, including the Horten Brothers in Germany. He was always waiting on other technologies to play catch up to him in order to make his designs a reality.
Another fine example of brilliant American engineering. When an engine can be used with such versatility, it is an incredible machine. Thanks a lot, Colin UK 🇬🇧.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Excellent job! In A&P college we overhauled WASP R-985’s and it was a joy and educational. They were jus a single row but still a very interesting engine. I have seen these engines in museums and could not imagine the effort it would take to replace a cylinder in the middle of the “pack” while in the aircraft. Amazing engineering. You know your aircraft! Thanks!
Appreciate the great comment, thanks!
The Nacelle as he put it is a QEC. Quick engine change. The nacelle contains the engine, oil tank and components serialized to the motor. You pop the cannon plugs, open and cap oil, fuel connections at the fire wall, pull the prop, grab a suitable dyno and load it to the weight of the nacelle assy, remove a few bolts at the firewall, and back it off the wing. RFI motor goes back on and the plane is down less than a day. Now you have time to change a jug. You needed a lot of boxed end offset wrenches because you break a lot when working on these radials. Very little room to fit a wrench at all let alone a sturdy one. I prefer turbines.
Interesting video, thanks for posting it. I have one more to add to the list. The XB-44 (42-93845) was a B-29 with R-4360s that led to the B-50.
Good catch, thanks!
The Pratt and Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major was truly a formidabile engine for it's period but from what I understood it was very mantainace intensive, the Wasp Major engines also had a prodigious appetite for lubrication oil with each engine required a dedicated 100-gal tank. Normal maintenance consisted of tedious measures, such as changing the 56 spark plugs on each engine as the plugs were often fouled by the lead in the in the 145 octane fuel required by the R-4360 engines. Thus, each service required changing 336 spark plugs. It should be noted that engine fires occurred with the B-36's radial engines, some crews humorously changed the aircraft's slogan from "six turning, four burning" into "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for" because this problem was exacerbated by the propellers' pusher configuration, which increased carburetor icing. Good job again 👍👍
A personal experience when I was 6 years old. With my parents I was on board a PanAm Stratocruiser at Honolulu bound for San Francisco. We had taxied out for takeoff and they ran the usual mag check. My dad who was an aircraft mechanic said "Uh oh, I don't like the sound of that." The pilot and flight engineer didn't like it either so we taxied back in and they changed all 224 spark plugs.
@@mikemcguire1160 A good example of why pistons were replaced by turbines for aircraft powerplants. But the R-4360 was certainly not a deficient example of a breed that was replaced by development of more economical technologies.
They were impressive but in all reality they weren't very good engines, 4 rows is just too much and it led to the same kind of heat issues in the rear bank that the R3350 had if not worse.
Yea, of course I'd like to have one on a stand in my back yard so I could fire it up every morning just to drive my neighbor's nuts and blow the awnings off their house, but they still just weren't a very good aircraft engine.
@@gort8203 But they did have their day as the extensive list of planes in the above video shows. However it can be remarked that the Guppy C97 conversions eventually went to turboprops replacing the R-4360's.
@@mikemcguire1160 Yup, because their day was over. A turboprop is so much more practical that a big radial can't compete. Progress marches on but It was the end of a great era.
IIRC the B-36 had access tunnels in the wings so the crew could perform maintenance functions in-flight. Of course, the tunnels weren't pressurized so the plane had to drop to altitudes below 10,000 feet to allow crewman to use them.
Interesting, thanks!
What a Beast!! Just the fact that it worked and worked well is amazing!!
My dad was one of the last USAF mechanics that was still certified to work on 4360's when he retired. The back cylinders always ran very hot and burned the oil because they didn't get enough airflow, like the back cylinder of a Harley Davidson. He liked the 3350 much better.
My dad was a Marine Corps flight engineer, he said the same thing. Ultimately it was maintenance cost and the fact that jets were getting all the investment for improvements that killed these engines. I also knew a B-36 pilot and said that it was not uncommon to have one of the six fail on a long flight. Mostly the transmission or pitch control for the counter-rotating props. When it was an inboard engine the plane would shake so violently that you could not read the gauges to see which engine failed. The rear gunners would have to crawl into the sighting blisters to see if it was the port or starboard engine and call out on the intercom before it shook the plane apart.
I imagine that problem could have been solved by careful air ducting.
@@stevechapman6551 I've read the B-36 had bad icing probs because of the pusher configuration and the carbs being first in the airflow through the wing. And overheats were a problem with the 4360s as was losing feathering control on the props. Pan Am lost several Stratocruisers in the 50s with the 4360s for the feathering issue and many others limped home. On the B-36 the joke with the engines (including 4 jet boosters) was instead of "6 turning 4 burning" became "3 turning, 4 burning, 3 gone missing and 1 on fire". Must not have inspired confidence on a global SAC patrol.
Thanks! I learned a lot.
I had no idea that there was one single engine powering such a variety of planes
After viewing a splendidly presented cut-away R-4360 turning slowly so all moving parts could be seen, the commentator, after admiring the complexity of the engine said something like "Genius draftsmanship, design and engineering, but the wonder was that they (P&W) could bring it all together and make it work!" Amen.
I'm not a pilot, but learning about all these rare aircraft from your excellent videos, brings me great joy, thank you 👍
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Maintenance on this engine must have been a chore. With 2 spark plugs per cylinder and 28 cylinders that's 56 plugs that need to be removed, cleaned, re-gapped, tested and reinstalled at regular intervals. I'm glad this was before my time as an aviation mechanic. I've seen motorized cut-away displays of this engine at museums and the engineering and machining, all done before the days of CAD and CNC automation, is amazing.
It is a chore, I have the original P&W maintenance manual for it, interesting read. . . . . . . . . .
× 4 engines.
Changing all the plugs and changing the massive engine oil filter was a minor punishment for us line mechanics for a minor infraction of the maintenance procedures. It was Hell
@@timmayer8723 Must have been almost as bad as changing the lower PRT on a 3350.
You would have another set of 56 spark plugs, ready to go, as soon as you remove the fouled plugs.
This must have been a wicked engine. It looks so cool. Man oh man I would love to have one.
Photos of these late 40's planes really were the pinnacle of Aviation.
Also, some big brass balls needed to put your hand up to fly some of those behemoths !!!
Hey Mike, you forgot one! The Goodyear F2G Super Corsair!
The XP-72 "Ultra Bolt" wasn't a test bed for the XR-12 Rainbow, instead it was an attempt to squeeze more performance out the basic P-47 airframe, and it reportedly hit a max speed of 502MPH in a dive.
Another excellent story on a not-so-well know albeit successful power plant. Thanks for posting and keep them coming, Mike!
Many thanks!
Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pa. (temporaily closed due to covid) has a cutaway engine, powered by an electric motor to show the many moving parts. As a guide, I demonstrate it; the thought of six of them running never fails to amaze me.
It's been a few years, but I think the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Az has one as well.
Also SAC Omaha.
I love those cutaways !! Porno for GearHeads ! God made Radials for airplanes and I want a cutaway for an Uber conversation piece for my living room !
I was glad that I spent my whole Air Force and AF Reserves career on C-130s. I was a mechanic / Crew Chief in the Regular AF and a Flight engineer in the AF Reserves. For the most part it was a very pleasant and very educational experience. And I got to see a lot of the world..
Thanks for your service and for watching!
Celebrating Aviation with Mike Machat You are very welcome.
Learn so much from your video. Your composition and artistic talent shows even in the photos and sequencing. 1st class presentation from a knowledgeable fellow
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Another great video and the photos are spectacular. Great work.
Thanks, and 'hope everything went well yesterday!
Great documentary on the good ole radial reciprocating engines of the past..
💪✌️💓🇺🇸😎
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
Thank you!
Wow! Great photos and history of those types of aircraft!! Thanks!
You dug up some excellent pictures of the XF-11 and Rainbow engine installations, subjects that I’ve sought details on for some time. Hughes and Republic knew how to design a good nacelle for that engine, that took advantage of the compactness that designer Andy Wilgoos and team worked very hard to achieve. As did Goodyear with the F2G Corsair.
Well done. concise facts, good photos, no silly music. Informative video well worth watching.
Appreciate the comment Alan, thanks!
I saw one of these giant corncobs in a museum and some of the parts were removed so you can see the guts. I remember staring at it for at least an hour trying to figure out how everything went together.
I understand the basics but if you gave me a room full of parts and asked me to put one together I'd be stumped.
Got a close look at one when I was at the Kalamazoo, Michigan "Air Zoo". In 1990, I was involved in disassembly of a B-36 in Illinois for transport to Castle AFB in California. I didn't work on the engines, though.
That was awesome. Thanks for making and sharing it.
Appreciate the comment, thanks!
I admit I have a soft spot for this engine. My father was an Air Force mechanic in the early 50s when the C-124 was in use. I have many of his old tech manuals for the 4360. Pretty cool to look through now and then.
I wonder how the design tolerances change from the lower temp front of the engine to the hotter back of the engine.
There are plates between the cylinders to balance the cooling.
There were baffles that were on each side and on the top of each row of 4 cylinders that directed the air from the front to the back.
The cylinder head temp was taken from the A7 cylinder which was the hottest.
Dayly maintenance on my R 2000 7 M2.. kept them running and reliable. Never experienced a bent rod coz i drained bottom cylinder s after long periods/ and pulled props through on regular basses. And, have parts available to replace.
This is the best thing I ever saw.
What a marvel !!!! No gasoline engine could put down numbers like that engine,especially at the low rpm's it could work at for hours on end doing top power output!!! Excellent vidio!!!
Many thanks!
Thanks!
Great info about a personal interest of mine these last 50 years. Well done sir.
Many thanks!
When I was a DC7 copilot
Based at Medford, Oregon back in the 90's . Erickson Aircraine operated a Guppy to carry aircraine helicopters. When they would start the Guppy
Those 4360's looked like a grass fire! Local lookout towers would report a fire at Medford Airport!.
Kept the mosquitoes down.
Ha!
I bet it did too! 😉
That airplane now resides at the Tillamook Air Museum located in and around the blimp hangar in Tillamook, Or. Some wise guy put a basketball hoop at the top of one of the nearly 200 foot high doors.
I believe that's the same Guppy I went through at the Tilamook Air Museum. It still had Erickson on it when I was there several years ago.
@@adamhay2798 it is
NASA Super Guppy still at work. Saw it depart McConnell AFB recently.
I worked on P&W R-1340’s for 9 years and they required lots of maintenance. But, these engines were on ag planes, crop dusters as most know them and they held up really well considering. They weren’t surrounded by a cowling, no cooling baffles, none of that. Just a speed ring surrounding the engine. Anyway, they were just one row and I’m happy I never had to work on anything with more than one row, let alone four. The R-4360’s are really cool though. Of course, I may not be saying that if I would’ve had to have worked on ‘em. LOL!
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Thank you for this very informative vidro.I love some radial engines!
Bravo sir for this incredible walk down aviation history.
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28 cylinders of Connecticut manufacturing perfection.
I worked on this engine on the C-124 in the AF, one trivia piece that I always found intriguing, the engine (QEC Kit) was held on the airplane with 4 bolts.
Amazing, thanks!
You mentioned superchargers @4:05. Don't you mean turbo-chargers, or in those days known as turbo-superchargers? 🙂
Me and my family travelled some 20,000 miles on Boeing 377 Stratocruisers. Definitely had POWER!!
Its safe to say the most powerful aircraft piston engine to reach production in any country during WWII was the Pratt and Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major engine. It was designed by Pratt & Whitney's Chief Engine Designer Leonard "Luke" Hobbs. It features 4,360 cubic inches of swept volume. It has 4 rows each of seven cylinders, providing 28 cylinders total. The cylinders are arranged in a carefully coordinated corkscrew concept as a means to eliminate excessive cooling, which led to its nickname, "The Corncob." It has no less than 56 spark plugs. Depending on the model, it has anywhere from 3 to 7 magnetos. It was test flown in the Republic XP-72 Ultrabolt prototypes and in the Goodyear XF2G-2 Super Corsair in 1944. The R-4360-13 used in these prototype fighters were rated at 3,500 horsepower. In fact, there was a contract for 100 Republic P-72's with plans to use these planes as V-1 Buzz Bomb interceptors because of the plane's ability to rapidly accelerate to 490 mph. The order was eventually cancelled in favor of bomber escort fighters. As for the Goodyear XF2G-2 Super Corsair, it had disappointing performance characteristics with its top speed of only 430 mph and it suffered from handling problems that were never solved. Even though 11 were built, only two survive today and of these only one F2G-2 Super Corsair is still flying.
The Rainbow is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. It's a shame it came too late to reach production.
I will enthusiatically second that. It is truly a gorgeous aircraft.
love seeing the AeroSpacelines Guppies. My Grandpa helped make and refit them in Van Nuys back in the 60s.
Great video with very cool & RARE photos of several planes that are now in museums or are no longer with us... What an AMAZING feat of engineering these engines & aircraft were... Thank You for that OUTSTANDING presentation Mike...
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Nicely done. It's always best to keep it simple.
P&W's hero radial engine was certainly a winner. The various design philosophies of various schools, all differed in layout of cylinders and intake/exhaust method. Had the jet turbine not superseded piston engines, I wonder how much room for improvement would have been attained? Certainly, in light of current ICE development, with the increase in efficiency and fuel consumption, who can tell?
Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill AFB Utah also has a cutaway model with and electric motor to show it's operation.
Good video! Glad to see you included the XP72 Superbolt/Ultrabolt, which would have been a monster fighter had it ever reached productive status. I believe the Goodyear FG2 Corsair used the "corncob" 4360, originally intended for kamikaze interception late in WW2.
but the F2G's were no faster than the R2800 powered corsairs !!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Actually I read they were about 10mph faster, but that wasn't enough to make the upgrade worthwhile. Corsairs were already more than fast enough for the majority of Japanese aircraft. Same situation with the P40 attempt with a Merlin, just not worth the expense for a small gain. Too bad the powers that be told Allison not to worry about major supercharging, instead relying on the still teething GE turbos, which wouldn't fit in an aircraft like a P40 anyway. Allison created some enormously powerful aircraft engines, but too late.
Thanks again for more great aviation engineering history.
They were great engines, as long as you can keep them cool !
R-4360 had 4 banks of 7 cylinders . one master cylinder for each bank had a articulating connecting rod. the other 6 cylinder rods attached to it. I was a B-36 and Reciprocating engine mechanic from 1952 t0 1958 at Fairchild AFB and Carswell AFB.
Thanks for sharing! Have you ever thought about an episode dedicated to flying boats or amphibious aircrafts?
A series on Schneider Cup seaplane racers would be cool!
Yes, have had many requests, and that topic is on our list, thanks!
Very informative. I never knew I need to know about this engine, but, now I am glad that I am just a wee bit smarter than I was just 11 minutes ago.
My dad was a pilot in the Berlin Airlift so he may have flown the C-74. Definitely flew the C-124 Globemaster II.
Great video and great narration. Thank you.
What a masterpiece of U.S. engineerity. Like it !
Also the Goodyear F2G Corsair was powered by the R4360. And a couple of Hawker Sea Furies have been converted to race with the R4360. Also one regular Corsair was converted to air racing.
Many thanks for this, Next time I’m whining cleaning plugs on my 310 I’ll remember your vid lol.
Isn’t it interesting that 9-10 years later jet passenger service was inaugurated and the railroads migrated from steam to diesel just a little earlier.
The operating efficiencies had to be boggling
Great comment, thanks! (LOVE the 310!)
Brilliant, yet again, thank you!
Been a few years, but they have a 4360 cutaway engine on display at Kansas City's Downtown Wheeler Airport. It's the version with the individual power recovery turbines. They also had a complete L-1011, sans engines. Huge.
We have a museum here in Maine that has a cut away of this engine. Amazing the amount of parts in it.
My dad was a pilot who flew the B-36, WB-50, C-124 and the AC-119 all with the R-4360's.
Impressive!!! Great work!!!
Fun Vid. Lots of great pictures and information. Takes a lot of research to come up with all those A/C. Don't forget all the race airplanes that had 4360's transplanted to them. At 2:11 the voice over says GE superchargers and the pic is of what I think are twin oil coolers. Probably you didn't intend for the voice over to imply those are superchargers - just a coincident but it could confuse some.
I love that Douglas XBT2D. Would've liked to see that fly. The Boeing XF8B was pretty cool also.
very nice presentation +1
Did you say;
18,000 examples of this beautiful engine were built????
W O W ! ! !
18,697 officially, yes.
What year did the last example came off the production line?