>Steve
>> I seem to recall Allison working on a 24 cyl engine that was 2 12
>> banngers
>> connected together like an X.
>
>I am going from memory here, but, the British had a 24 cylinder Napier
>Sabre "H" pattern engine in the "Typhoon" fighter. I vaguely remember
>something about a later "X" pattern in the "Tempest", not sure.
>The "H" in the Typhoon saw lots of use, quite often
>
The Sabre was fitted into the (rocket firing) Typhoon and the early
marks of Tempest but the later ones had the Bristol Centaurus
sleeve-valve radial.
>From an earlier thread, the Typhoon and good visibility had a lot more
to do with the end of the Battle of the Bulge than diesel fuelled tanks.
. . . . . . . .
Napier and the Sabre had an uphill struggle:
1. RR were not pleased that it was claimed to give 5000HP (when the
Merlin struggled to 2000HP) and used their cosy arrangements with the
Ministry to discredit Napier. Such was the string-pulling that the
certificating officer was told not to sign it off; he did as it ran its
100 hrs at the rated power and was promptly sacked.
2. Napier attempted an air speed record with it for publicity but with
a 15ft prop in a 20ft span aircraft, the pilot was told not to wack the
throttle open suddenly, he did after a successful run and died when the
airframe rotated about the prop.
3. The Air Ministry would not allow oil dilution procedures, a 24 cyl
sleeve valve without multi-grade oil is not easy to start cold so was
run up every 2 hrs in cold weather much to the annoyance of sleeping
pilots.
4. Nearly every Typhoon had engine trouble/seized on D-Day owing to
inept ground crews fiddling with the admirable auto-control box that
adjusted pitch/mixture vs boost/revs for the pilot. Napier cured this
by lead seals on the box.
X pattern engines were in service, RR tried to join two V12 Kestrels
this way calling it the Exe and being fitted in the Manchester. The
only squadron to fly the type were know something like the "Third Light
Foot Infantry" owing to the availability/reliability of the type.
>Other than these motor's I recall seeing a 4 row radial, which had
>been sectioned displayed alongside the "Spruce Goose" exhibit in
>Los Angeles in 1984. Impressive to say the least, if I remember
>correctly it was a 24 cylinder motor.
>
The "Goose" was intended as an air bridge to ferry tanks etc., to the
European theatre. The engines are Pratt & Witney R-4360 CB2-B6 Wasp
Majors of 4363 cu in (about 72 litres). They are 28 cyl, 4 bank radials
thus with 7 cyl per bank, dry weight 4039lbs, 55" diameter and
96.05" long with auto water injection above 50" manifold pressure.
(he said, reading from the maintenance manual). It was also used in the
Stratocruiser.
Fearing a justified hard smack for veering somewhat off topic I'm
shutting up now.
Richard
(Southampton UK)
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