Neil:
I was an "army brat", and travelled around-- but a lot of my growing up was in
San Antonio, a great air force town. I remember the sound of the 6 Wasp Major
(28cyl) radials on the B-36s (couldn't even hear the 4 little turbojets)-- like
prolonged thunder, for minutes at a time. I would lie on my back in the
sunflowers and watch them for hours, from the time I was 4 'til about 7.
But the first Merlin I ever heard "up close" gave me a better scare than a
wooden
roller-coaster. At 12 years old, my best friend's dad (ex- "Mighty Eighth";
B-17s) took us to a small airshow at Stinson Field. As the audience was in the
bleachers awaiting the opening of the show, a distant scream began to build and
grow closer-- and CLOSER! We all strained to see where the sound was coming
from, and it was right out of the sun. With the hair standing up on the back of
my neck, I dived under the stands along with everyone else-- and peeked out to
see a P-51D level-off a couple hundred feet above our heads. It's a wonder
nobody had a heart attack-- or maybe they did; I was so focused on the airplanes
that day, I might not remember. I do remember being glad that I had just gone
to
the bathroom! I've wanted a 51D ever since.
Russ Mack
"Albaugh, Neil" wrote:
> 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:
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