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RE: Recips.

To: "'RTMACK@concentric.net'" <RTMACK@concentric.net>
Subject: RE: Recips.
From: "Albaugh, Neil" <albaugh_neil@ti.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2001 10:45:13 -0600
Great story, Russ. Those Constellations were certainly great looking planes!
Big radials are great sounding engines... but a hot V-12 Merlin ain't bad,
either!

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

-----Original Message-----
From: rtmack [mailto:RTMACK@pop3.concentric.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2001 10:28 PM
To: Albaugh, Neil
Cc: 'Rose & Terry Hunt'; Land-speed@autox.team.n
Subject: Re: Recips.


Neil, Terry:
I had a similar experience with Terry's "other" recip airliner: the Super
Connie.  Left Frankfort, Germany March, '55-- my first flight (not quite 10
years
old).  Stopped at Shannon, Ireland for fuel, then on to Gander,
Newfoundland.
Not quite as dramatic as Neil's-- but by the time we landed in Gander, one
of
those big turbine-compounded radials was dead.  We had to wait in the
terminal
(damn near froze!) while they swapped-out.  When we re-boarded, seems like
they
spent 10 minutes on the end of the runway with the brakes locked and the
engines
at takeoff power (??)-- testing them, I guess.  The noise and vibration were
incredible-- unbelievable, to a 10-year old!
Boris  Said (sports car racer) recently said of his skull fracture that it
was a
lot like a tequila hangover-- well, when I got my first tequila hangover
some
years later, I instantly recalled that Super Constellation doing its
4-radial
"dyno test"!  Haven't quit loving big engines, though (haven't quit drinking
tequila, either).

Russ Mack

p.s.-- was the wing loading a lot less on airliners back then?  That was
also the
bounciest flight I have ever had on a big plane.


"Albaugh, Neil" wrote:

> Terry;
>
> I'll take your word on the reliability of the engines on a DC-6 but my one
> experience flying in one (as a passenger back in '57) was otherwise. We
took
> off from Rhein- Main Airbase (W. Germany) and were flying back to NJ. Six
> hours out of Prestwick, Scotland we lost an engine and headed back to
> Prestwick. Seeing the wing tanks dumping fuel to lighten the load was not
an
> inspiring sight! After a layover, we had another DC-6 flown in from Rhein-
> Main and continued over to Goose Bay, Labrador and then to NJ without
> incident. Whew! That was a few days after I graduated from high school.
I'll
> never forget the sound of a big reciprocating engine cranking up and then
> firing in the still, cool darkness as the sound carried over the tarmac.
> Those inertia starters still give me a real chill when I hear them
cranking
> over a big engine.
>
> Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

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