For All Aircraft Nut's.....a Hemi counterpart...the Incredible Howard 500

[Bladecutter]

tpaero,com The Mighty Howard 500, only 17 built...NOT a PV-1 conversion, those were the non'pressurized 350's ..about sixty were built. the 500 airframes are scratch built and it is a hybrid of heavily modded Lockheed parts. The engines are Pratt & Wittne R-2800's, same variants that DC-7's, Convair 280's and other piston airliners...the engine type saw service throughout WW ll they are double row radials, displacing 2800 ci really two nine cyl radials on common crank. These have two stage blowers...& water methanol injection. 2,500 HP apiece. The blower in 2nd stage allows this PISTON to cruise @ 41,000 ft. The cabin maintains sea level to 16,ooo ft!! @ 22,000, a 2000 ft cabin do the math jet airliners maintain about an 8500 ft cabin @ 41,000, the howard has to come in somewhere around 7,000. @ altitude, this is a 500 mph A/C in level flight and the bitch is pure testosterone, takes two very competent and well orchestrated Pilots to do the gig....landing speed is quite hot @ about 125 across fence....this gets to be one big assed taildragger that can get ahead of You in a heartbeat,,,,but in sheer performance numbers modern day turbo props can't compete with this bitch full headroom and a lavoratory large enough to accomodate comfortably mile high couples. Truly an icon of Aviation.

The one in desert is # 14, is last restorable 500, runs w matched engines @ 1200 hrs on 2400 hr TBO 4000 hrs TTAF ALL logs are complete....i have the A/Cowners permission to push it, i'm looking for SOUTHERN California buyer who will begin resto @ CNO 400K or a decent turbo prop twin...like a 90 or 100, 200 King Air.

read about Howards.....i Used to go in His shop on the Field in San Antone when i was child, Co my Dad flew for purchased a lightl modded Lockheed Lodestar thru Dee & Ed.....Ed swearingen went on to develop & market the Merlin & Metro turbo-props.....THIS is History. 500 was VNE (airframe redline)

tpaero.com

 

[Richard Cranium]

Cool, but can it fly through a billboard and through an open hanger?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsu3hiP1ikQ

 

[Bladecutter]

Paul Mantz, Who was a Friend of my Father's is the Guy who flew that Super H Beech 18 in Mad x 3 world and the restaurant that He taxied into was on freeway airport in Tucson, where i soloed. Paul Mantz later Died in the making of the original Flight of the Phoenix.....they actually built an A/C from the boom section of a C-124 Fairchild "Flying Box Car".....the boom fuseluge broke it's back just aft of wing trailing edge on a hard bounce......they were filming touch & go's for the take off scenes...when back broke the A/C went into to endoes....miraculousy, the mechanic who was riding piggy back escaped unharmed being thrown clear before bird exploded......Of course the Howard can fly through a billboard....but would You play vanishing point with a 1965 Belvedere station wagon? Do You ever give the needle a rest Dick?

 

[super-bee_ski]

Sweet stuff there Bladecutter!
Many "folk" don't fully appreciate the technology and incredible machinery that the aircraft field encompasses!
That my friends would be a "pretty sweet stick"

Remember: When Bladecutter was a young boy, he flew a Constellation!
If you guys want to see a "Powerful Bird" check out Lockheed's "Connies"!

 

[Bladecutter]

Skister! wassup babe? The Martin B-26 also another thing to check is the P & W 4360 that's cubic inches..4000 hp 4! rows of nine...mind boggling about six feet long....the Consolidated B-36 Peacemaker used them and the HK-1 'spruce Goose" had EIGHT of them....amazing they would run 1000 hrs at military power.

yeah, the "Connie" was an early model 749 (round cabin windows)....Stones used one for haulin gear during Beggar's Banquet & Stick Fingers tours...shorter fuse, really a prettier airplane that the 1049's 1149's 1249's & the 1649 Star Liner.....the 1649 was a 400 knot bird. You know who Clay Lacy is right....they were running unlimited cross country races in reno..low level and amongst all the the 51's 38's F-8-F's. strega, red baron. all that unlimited stuff...was a DC-7 and a 1049 "Connie" Lacy ran....was like a replay of France chasing off the winged cars...the 1049 & Dc-7 were so hot and could carry so much fuel, they were chitting on the competition....so they outlawed them....a 'Connie" on the deck at 450 mph yyyyikes. Hey, check out making of Don't Mess With Texas anti litter commercial...they got that B-17 bus height off the deck, very imposing head on...the 51 & F-6-F on His wings wouldn't come down as far as Him...God, a motor out..holy crap/////My Dad was very fond of saying "Airspeed is no substitute for altitude)

 

[tallhair]

Very cool stuff BC ... from your posts its quite obvious you have a vast amount of history and experience between your ears.

Thanks for sharing

 

[Bladecutter]

Thank You Tallhair....You know the Lynard Skynard song
"I Know A Little" ?Kil'r tune that ISN"T Free Bird and That smell. Another great obscure one by them i "Ain't No Good Life".......Yes, i was very fortunate to grow in the environment i did....i learned some of it.....nuthin like the sound of round motors....what harley?

 

[Bladecutter]

Sheer, RAW, BRUTE Forcesfor the big block jocks: P & W R-4360

Pratt & Wittney 4360 (ci) 28 cylinder air cooled radial 4 rows of seven...i correct myself as i earlier stated it was 4 rows of nine. First flown in 1941...this engine saw service on many military birds, both fighter & bomber. This should wet the appetite of big block jocks. 4000 horsepower. The Man Hughes in the Bird He crashed in Wilshire...1st attempt @ counter rotating tandem propellers...one of the props got out of sync and is what brought the plane down as He could not counteract the yaw that was brought on by imbalance in thrust.
The Martin Mars (2 built) That now keep Cali from burning up in fire season.....this is a great shot as She approaches lake either for landing or water pick up..nicked the "Super Scooper" a snorkel in hull deploys and sux up water as Bird skims just above lake surface.I'm not sure what the power plants were in XF-11 & Martin Mars, but since they rolled in w/ 4360 images and the engine nacelles are quite long, most likely they are 4360's the term of endearment to this motor is " Corn Cob"


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Ski brought up that i flew a Lockheed Constellation when i was Young...a retiree from TWA, bought frow TWA's retirees @ Tucson in 67...i was on ferry crew and on initial shakedown out of mothball....when systems tests were done they stuck me in the left seat and said take us home jimi. i was 14...these engines ar C W 3350's (ci) and they are 3 rows of nine 3000 HP x4....lot of horsepower in the hands of a child....most stable A/C i ever flew...down the slot and the mains on the numbers.....Rare memory here....people pay huge money to ride in a Connie now.

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The Martin Mars is Curtiss Wright 3350's, same as Connie & Hughes's Bird, XF-11 is P&W 4360's as i thought and another error, there are two MARS' birds left and both are Fire Birds....it's first use Was as military patrol boat

 

[Richard Cranium]

Those PW engines had to have been a bitch to work on. I'd like to know how the internals were lubricated, considering that the crank is in the center and cylinders are all around it.

 

[Bladecutter]

RC....for once, i don't have an answer to offer, it's beyond me how those things worked, out @ Chino's Planes of Fame Museum here, they have one cutaway, as long as living room couch....all that gearing..the blowers...it's all remote sump ...could be pressurized, but i don't pretend to know..they were supposed to TBO @ 1400 Hrs.(time b4 overhaul)....they made good on a 1000 @ military pwr.....that's pretty amazing and it's 1941 technology......You're not all that far from Tony Phillipi in Minnesota, the Man with the Howards, and other Antique/Vintage birds His bizniss is Phillipi Heavy Equipment...He sells Cranes. His Airplane outfit is called TP AERO tpaero.com
Howards are the P&W R-2800's two rows of nine...very formidable engine used on many many planes, including my all time #1 Martin B-26 Marauder, nicked Widowmaker. I'm going to put up some pics of it and Phillipis immaculate Grumman Albatross flying boat coming up after a while.....and to be clear, beyond the 500 in the desert....all these potos i'm placing here are web images, not personal inventory (i wish)
RC, Thanks for the chime in......somebody told me that Your stuff is right....Good enuf for me L8R

 

[Richard Cranium]

At the Museum of Science in Boston & at the SAir & Space Museum at Dulles, they have a couple PW cutaways & they are just fascinating to look at. The complexity of the things is something else. And like you said; for 1940's technology and especially when you consider that this was the technology 30 years earlier...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk9Dl6RZxmQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHRuEkvO8E

 

[tallhair]

various methods

here is a direct link so you can zoom in to see the legend on the right

scroll to the bottom and open the link that looks likes the picture below

http://www.enginehistory.org/r-4360.shtml

Old codger talking about them in use

JetMech
That schematic of the oil system is great except it shows all the oil returning via the scavenge system to the external oil tank, however with these old engines we know that a fair proportion of the oil was either burnt or leaked over the side to become the aircraft's anti corrosion treatment Big grin On the Wright 3350 [Connie fame] normal oil consumption could be 1 US gal per hour with a max allowable of 5 US gals an hour so the external oil tank had to be large and on the 749 was 55 US gals for each engine. On the 1049 they had a slightly smaller oil tank for each engine , but then they had a large central oil tank from which they could transfer oil to any engine in flight.

When coming to a halt after a flight the crew would go through a scavenge procedure so as to remove as much oil as possible from the crankcase, as any left there when the engine was shut down could drain down into the lower cylinders and so cause that cylinder to hydraulically lock on the next attempt to start the engine.

Those were the days

littlevc10

 

[Richard Cranium]

Linky no worky.............

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /P&W/R-4360/4360oil.jpg on this server.

 

[tallhair]

Linky no worky.............

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /P&W/R-4360/4360oil.jpg on this server.

Hold onto your horsies

OK

try the updated link above and scroll to the bottom and open the picture that looks like the one I posted

 

[Richard Cranium]

Just found this..............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW-G7pF6gUQ

 

[71airgrabberRR]

Hey Bladecutter................... Love the post.

I agree with you on round engines.................... Nothing like 'em. When I was a kid we had a family friend named Harry Doan who owned several F4U Corsairs. We would go over to his shop which was located in a residential neighborhood and stand by as her fired up the R2800. A bunch of blue smoke and it would come to life. Another engine I really like is the Rolls Royce Merlin. (used in the later model Mustangs, Spitfires, Hurricanes, Lancaster bombers and so on. They each have their own distinctive sounds.

Since you like the B-26 Marauder, here are a few photos I took when we went over to visit Kermit weeks Fantasy of Flight museum.

Enjoy Brother!!!

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Here's one of the Corncob too...................

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[71airgrabberRR]

Hey RC, I'm pretty sure it was a "dry sump" oiling system. Just ahead of the firewall on the Corsair, there was a 25 gallon oil tank.

But some of the residual oil would accumulate and drain past the rings if the engine sat too long in between running episodes. If memory serves me correctly, if the engine sat for a period over 8 hours, the props had to be pulled through before starting the engine. This would dump the excess out the exhaust ports.......... and always led to a real smoky start up.

Here's a picture of the 25 gallon tank on a Corsair. Hellcats, Thunderbolts, B-26 and A-26 (anything with a radial all used the same principle.)

 

[tallhair]

pulling through can cause catastrophic failure .. if it is detected there are procedures to drain the oil that would accumulate, or sometime fuel, in the lower cylinders like removing plugs and letting it drain

 

[71airgrabberRR]

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Your right Bryan it can cause failure. I remember talking to several old-timer WW2 vets and they said they would sometimes remove one of the 2 spark plugs first. (the easiest one to get to I might add........if there was such a thing)

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Each cylinder had two plugs, and they would hit the lowest ones.

 

[tallhair]

LOL .. I just didn't want someone to read this thread and go out and destroy a rare and valuable WWII radial engine !!! ROTHFL