Thanks for the memories guys.
I made the same flight is January 1960, returning for discharge. Plane was
a Super-G and just past the point of no return to Shannon the windshield
developed a crack. The driver had to go down to 6,000 feet and depressurize.
They almost ran out of barf bags. Stayed overnight while they fixed the
windshield and cleaned up the main cabin. I remember carrying someone's kid
to the terminal because there was about six inches of slush on the ground,
had a nice sleep on the floor (all the furniture was taken).
Typical C-47 Service Report:
PROBLEM REPORTED BY PILOT
evidence of oil leaking from port engine.
SERVICE PERFORMED BY MECHANIC
removed evidence
Bryan (the drivers were so bitchy about little things,
REAL aircraft engines leak oil!)
rtmack wrote:
>
> 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
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Rose & Terry Hunt [mailto:hunt@Kuentos.guam.net]
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2001 5:39 PM
> > To: Land-speed@autox.team.n
> > Subject: Recips.
> >
> > Dick J. and list, I have time in DC-6 and 1049h Constellation aircraft. The
> > 6
> > was nicer to fly and the engine very reliable. The Connie had way more
> > horsepower partly due to the power recovery turbine. An exhaust turbine thru
> > a
> > hydraulic coupler put about 500 HP directly on the crank . A shaft was in
> > there also. The problem was they blew up often. That's why they had those
> > large exhaust pipes. So all the parts could evacuate easily.Terry Hunt, Guam
> > Bomb, #743
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