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Post by Radialicious on Oct 14, 2008 21:49:38 GMT 12
Hey Baz, howzit? My engine is a bit of a mystery. She was intercepted on the way to the Renwick dump in Marlborough along with one of her sisters as the SAFE Air Bristol fleet was being retired. A great load of B170 and Hercules spares was donated to the Friends of the Bristol recently by the gentleman who intercepted it all. He suggested to the truck driver that if it was gonna be dumped, it be dumped at his place. My engine was an almost complete powerplant when I got to it and now is 95% complete (I think). Bristol's term for the complete Hercules powerplant ready to bolt onto an airframe is a 'Power Egg' (WTF?!?). I have all the cowls bar the 'nose ring' - but I have seen some in captivity recently so they can be copied in fibreglass if they can't be obtained. It is my intention to restore her to a full powerplant and run her in that condition instead of a bare engine on a frame. The makers plates were thiefed off with before I got to her so it will be near impossible to trace her history. Many components have been removed from her possibly to service other engines prior to the fleet retirement. There are probably two reasons for being removed from the wing. 1, being time-ex and 2, removed because of failure or defect. I did find yesterday that the carb was full of oil so it appears that some measure of inhibiting was carried out. The answer will become clear when I one day get to pull the oil filters. I have access to a cut down and balanced prop and spinner that will make her look the part when that time comes. When I was a young airforce lad I found a cooling fan ring assembly from a Bristol Hercules round the back of Woodbourne. If only I had known 18 years ago that I may have had a use for it and its many blades, I would have kept it. Who knows where it is now Mind you 18 years ago when I restored my Armstrong Siddley Cheetah, I sourced an Airspeed Oxford crank handle. Yesterday I dragged it out of retirement and it fitted the hand crank adapter on my new starter motor beautifully. Bristol starter motors are fairly common in Marlborough, however are usually buried in the hulls of large yachts as sail winches. Last year I saw one in the local auction and stopped bidding when the price went to Sillyville Alabama. It is probably in a boat right now. From what I have seen of Bristol starters, they could probably power a small frigate with enough speed to tow a barefoot skier. I dived into the Youtube link that w2b23 (Terry, I think) provided, a bare engine on a frame is still an awesome piece of kit. I saw the video clip tonight and I applaud the team that restored her. Well done and welcome to the world that is the sleeve valve radial. I'll use that clip as motivation! ZK-CPT had a wee bit of adjustment done to her STBD engine on the weekend. She has been a bit of a sooty old smoker at low idle ever since her rebirth. A look through the maintenance manual described the ways and means of adjusting this. I had great pleasure in talking my good mate Marty through the technique of starting these wonderful old engines. Alongside him was Brian Morland who has been in the executive of the Friends of the Bristol since its formation in 1986. In all that time, he had never been in the flight deck during an engine run. He was visibly chuffed (understatement x 1000000000). From the jump seat I watched Marty smoothly start her up before climbing up my ladder to carry out the adjustments. The ladder had to straddle the mainwheel to give me access and was roped to the nacelle frames and picketted to the ground to keep it in place. With earmuffs on and shirt tucked in, I climbed the ladder into the slipstream, vibration heat and music. My earmuffs were maybe a foot from the exhausts. Each exhaust outlet is fed by two exhaust ports on two cylinders and each exhaust stroke was clearly felt as almost a percussion against my head. I gotta say that it was a piston freaks paradise except for the fact that there isn't a lot to breathe up there! The mixture adjustment went well and she now seems to be smoother and cleaner at low idle and there isn't such an obvious transition to the mid range. Back upstairs I got Brian to open her up a bit as a final check. With the fuel bill mounting, we warmed her down and shut her off. Back outside, John Evans arrived to see what all the noise was about. John was Harry Wigleys first-ish pilot and pioneered the ski plane trials and operations on Mt Cook in the Auster days. He rose through the C-180, DC-3 and HS-748 ranks to retire as Line Ops Manager for Mt Cook Airline. In 1996 he was one of the foundation members of our Nanchang syndicate. More recently he has built and flown his own GP-4 Osprey ZK-JPE. John admitted to never having seen inside a Bristol cockpit in all his 24000 hrs. It only seemed right that I kill two birds and show him a living Bristol cockpit and give Brian the honours of making the noise. Brian settled proudly into the captains chair (I call it a chair as it is not quite a throne but definitely not just a seat), John in the right, Marty in the jump seat (that is definitely only a seat and only just at that) and me wedged in the old radio rack. With another brief we were set to go. From teaching Wayne and Marty how to start these old girls I have found there is not a lot of use in spitting out a sequence of switch, switch, switch, lever switch lever and lever instructions. It seems easier to describe it a manner that is almost biological. Dunno if that makes sense but you really do feel like you are bringing something to life rather than just switching it on. My B1900D is switched on. There is no triumph, no grinning, no high fives, no shaking hands, no whooping, no staring out at the prop in amazement at what you have just achieved etc etc when you start a Pratt and Whitney PT-6. The Bristol is definitely brought to life and those who have seen her first start on Youtube will agree. A friend likened it to coaxing a dragon out of a cave - get it right or else! She is quite predictable now and I have a technique that seems to work. I'm still keen to record it on film and workload permitting, Allan Udy is too in a synchronised multi camera recording similar to his first. Today I spent the day in Tony Wytenburgs workshop milling up a tool for turning the crankshaft on my own engine. I know that she won't be easy to free up but by jeez it will be easier not being 12 feet up a stepladder!
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w2b23
Leading Aircraftman
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Post by w2b23 on Oct 14, 2008 22:54:48 GMT 12
Al, I have just taken the nose ring off my Hercules 264, if it is suitable you may have it. Whilst it is quite large it is light being made of aluminium and if cut into four pieces could probably be sent by post at not too great a cost. It could quite easily be welded back together.
There is quite a bit of experience here in the EU of attempting to get Hercules turning, sometimes successfully sometimes not, so we could offer some advice when the time comes.
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 14, 2008 23:19:06 GMT 12
Hi Terry, many thanks for the offer for your nose ring. Hang on to it for the moment and I'll let you know if I get stuck for one. I'd hate to see you cut one up in the meantime! I will be dead keen to hear about how you managed to free up your engines. As I said before, congratulations to the team that built the trailer engine on Youtube. Welldone!
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Post by 109augsburgeagle on Oct 15, 2008 18:52:06 GMT 12
Al, Do you know what the story with the Freighter at Ardmore is? It looks decidely sad sitting there with no engines! Managed to get to Motat and found something (actually 3) that might interest you! Cheers Matt
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 16, 2008 20:04:35 GMT 12
Hey Matt, grouse photos! The Bristol at Ardmore is for sale and has been for a while. It is owned by Dwen Aeromotive and is on their website as is where is. I have spoken with them regarding spare parts for Hercules engines - namely spark plugs. They have a mountain of B170 and Bristol Herc spares. Four 40ft containers full to the roof to be exact - the RNZAF's spares inventory following the fleet disbandment. The aircraft and spares are for sale as a package lot. They won't be broken up for two reasons. One is that selling off parts piecemeal will slowly make the greater package less sellable. They have a number of engines in the package and have had many offers for them. Like they said to me, if they sold them, there would be no chance of selling the remainder of the project. The other reason is that the 'manifest' ie what, where and how many got destroyed by mistake. If parts were for sale, they would easily be able to be found. The team at Dwen would love her to be restored as the late Mr Dwen founded Hercules Airlines and operated Bristols in the 80's. There is a fond link remaining within the Dwen family. Mark (I think), whom I have spoken to is hoping to visit Omaka at Easter to show his kids what a living Bristol looks and sounds like. I'd love to get all archeological and go for a crawl around inside those containers.... That big Herc in your photos is a Hastings engine. Quite similar to mine and those in the B170. The main difference are the controllable cowl flaps at the rear. The Bristol doesn't have those. The first photo shows the suck-in doors that are the alternate air to the injector carbs if the main intake ices up. The Bristol has a 3-way air intake that is controllable from the cockpit and gives each engine cold ram air, cold filtered air or warm air sourced from behind the upper rear cylinders. There is a spring loaded door that is sucked open by the engine through the warm air slot. The three way intake is quite clever but in true Bristol fashion is big, beefy and complex. A servo fed gearbox drives two separate chain and sprocket systems through pushrods and bellcranks. A rotary aluminium drum (12" wide by 6" diameter) with a right angle slot cut into it is turned to link the 3 inlet passages to the carb. The Hastings engines couls produce more horsepower than the Bristols because of the cowl flaps that the Bristol didn't have. The clever Hercules injector carb didn't have a mixture control. The Freighter's mixture was deliberately set to be richer than the Hastings to allow them to run cooler. The Hastings crews had a lot more control over their cylinder head temps and were allowed a leaner mixture at takeoff and in the cruise as a result. The leaner mixture gave slightly more power. The second photo includes a Cheetah Mk10 that is identical to mine. What a great 'learners' engine they are. Big enough to be frightening when you start them but simple enough to restore and run. I am about to dig out my Cheetah memories and will be assisting with the reassembly of a Mk9 next weekend here in 'nam. When I first started my Cheetah, it didn't have an exhaust ring. The combination of finger trouble and resultant over priming led to me being spat 7 lung loads of burning petrol as I hand cranked her into life. Luckily there was a lot of water nearby and I had a thick woollen jersey on. My clothes, hair and eyebrows on one side were written off as a result. AND my audience thought it was hilarious. AND I still get reminded of it 16 years later. My famous last words were, "I think she needs more fuel" not knowing that the lead from the booster magneto had come unclipped. Clipping it back on led to her barking into life and spewing all over me as I turned the crank handle. A great day it was and it was a fun way to celebrate the two years of work that was spent rebuilding her. I still have that engine and want one day to make her a bit more presentable. The frame that she used to run on is not quite strong or wide enough and needed needed to be braced with timber to prevent her tipping over with her torque on start up!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 16, 2008 21:53:50 GMT 12
Al, out of interest have you ever traced the history of your Cheetah and discovered which aircraft it used to power?I guess that may be difficult but it would be interesting if you could find which Oxford it was on, and you could find a photo of that aircraft.
Are Dwens hoping the Bristol Freighter will be restored to flight? Or is the whole package just being sold as a potential musuem static?
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Post by 109augsburgeagle on Oct 17, 2008 9:47:06 GMT 12
Thanks for the good Reply Al, Surely leaving the crews the ability to lean the Freighter if needed and just having rich engine running in the SOP's would have been better than just fixing the mixture to rich all the time, or was the carb able to detect barometric pressure and compensate for altitude automatically always leaving the mixture slightly rich for whatever altitude it was at? I'm up at Ardmore again on the 3rd of november so I'll have to take some photos of EPG for you Cheers Matt
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Post by baz62 on Oct 17, 2008 16:43:15 GMT 12
Hi Al I've got to stop coming to this forum. Otherwise I'll wondering into aircraft museums and barns looking for an engine to take home!! Very interesting about your engine. I remember back in the 80s there were a couple of Hercules sitting in a scrap yard here in Christchurch. I recall being on one side of the river looking over at them. I should have asked if I could have bought them!! This might be the same yard the museum dumped a lot of "surplus"(!!!!!!!!!)Anson,Oxford and Harvard parts at! (Unbelievable). If those engines are still there they will probably be seized solid if they weren't inhibited. Damn it I'll have to go see if they are still around now. Thanks Al! (ha ha) I work in an engineering workshop with around 14 CNC milling machines and an AutoCad and 3D Cad equipped drawing office so if you need something made up for your engine drop me a line and I'll see what I can do. (You may have to pay for it..........like run the Freighter!) Now to the Yellow pages and scrapyards! (see what you've done?) ;D
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 17, 2008 20:51:57 GMT 12
Cheers Matt, apparently there is another Bristol carcass at Ardmore in far worse condition... I've seen the more visible one many times in the past but never really taken too much interest in her. Now that I am so much more familiar with the breed, I'd like to have a good look over her and compare her with ZK-CPT I like to think she looks worse than she really is. Perhaps. With reference to the Bristol injector carb, now that is a clever piece of kit. It is as big as a big thing and has the most mechanical brain that I have encountered not counting the fuel control unit of the A4 Skyhawks P&W J52 turbojet. The most striking thing about the carb is the size of the two throats. They are usually blanked off not to prevent the ingress of foreign objects but rather to stop children from falling into the engine. They are a monster! Each throttle butterfly is possible six inches across and them and the carb jacket and filled with hot engine oil for anti-icing. The oil feed to the carb is much bigger than the fuel feed! The Freighter has a line across the throttle quadrant marked ECB. Economical Cruise Boost. In fact the throttle levers aren't really throttles as such. Old Bristol pilots call them boost levers and only really used four settings. Idle, ECB, climb and Takeoff (TB). The pilot has only control of the first 15 degrees of the butterfly positions. This is only enough to position the butterfly's for starting and idle control. As the boost levers are opened for takeoff, they pass through a noticeable detent at ECB and then stop at the takeoff position. In the cruise they are pulled back until they click into the ECB position. From here the carb looks after everything for the pilot. Oil under pressure is used in a hydraulic nature to position all kinds of mechanisms internally. The carb gets signals from ambient (barometric) air pressure, boost pressure, exhaust back pressure, throttle position, inlet air temp and engine rpm. It somehow mechanically computes a throttle butterfly position to achieve the most economical fuel flow for all cruise conditions. Just the same as a mixture control however given a wee bit of fat for the limitations of the fixed outlet cowl system! The levers in the cockpit are boost, prop rpm and fuel run or cut-off. Very simple and identical to my Beech 1900! We have power levers that control torque, prop levers that control rpm and feathering and condition levers that turn the fuel on or off. Our PT-6's handle just like a constant speeding piston engine. Torque (which mimics old-school manifold pressure) drops off as we climb and needs to be manually increased until the engines 'temp out' at a maximum interstage turbine temperature. Just like manifold pressure in a piston, as the prop rpms are changed, the torque reacts too. We cruise at 3000ftlbs of torque and 1400 prop rpm. To set cruise power we tend to set 2800ftlbs and as the props are pulled back from 1550 rpm to 1400 rpm, the torque creeps back up to 3000ftlbs where we want it. I guess you need to have flown constant speeding piston engines to get a fix on what I am writing. A maximum power takeoff is carried out at 3950ftlbs torque (1279hp) and we have to be careful not to exceed that setting. There is no power lever stop and if we want it for emergencies (windshear, terrain alert when in cloud etc), 5000ftlbs (1600hp), is freely available! However, the engines have a data aquisition unit that records all exceedences and stores them away for downloading later on. If that is triggered, in the worst cases, you can expect a phone call from HQ. A 5000ftlb event is not an official exceedence if it is contained within 20 seconds. 20 seconds should easily sort out a terrain alert as upwards of 3-4000 ft per minute rate of climb is pretty much guaranteed. What a weapon! ANYWAY, before I lose my piston fanatic status and put everyone to sleep with turbine talk, the detent system on the Bristol boost levers is the same as what the Airbus and ATR family still use for the cruise. The manuals for the Freighter all state that cruising outside of the ECB setting will result in a disasterous loss of endurance. They are quite clear about that! I should post some detailed shots of the Bristol carb - perhaps with a small child included for the purpose of scale.
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Post by 109augsburgeagle on Oct 18, 2008 10:01:50 GMT 12
I should have imagined it would be a bit more complex than a simple carb, I can also imagine it's a lot of fun when it needs re-setting up! It does make me wonder though, why not just take the extra step and use direct fuel injection and do away with the carb and it's problems e.g. heating the whole thing with oil to prevent icing. The way you describe it sounds like the Germans kommandogerat on the 190 just with a carb instead of fuel injection. Talking about 1900 performace there are some quite entertaining 1900 videos on youtube that I'm sure you've seen! Just in case you needed an explanation of how the kommandogerat worked
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Post by baz62 on Oct 18, 2008 12:04:06 GMT 12
Holy cow 109augsbergeagle! I've worked on a lot of machinery in my engineering career( a few aircraft amongst them) and I've never seen something like that kommandogerat before!! I presume by 190 you mean the FW190? Hope the chaps putting the genuine one in the UK back in the air (not the new build ones) have the manual to tell them how to set it all up! What does it control? Fuel metering?
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 18, 2008 14:37:05 GMT 12
Al, is that Bristol hulk in your Ardmore photo stored behind the ATC barracks? I rememebr when there used to be two there where the prominent one now sits but had always wondered what became of the other one. This hulk must be it. I see they've done some more aerodynamical streamlining on its nose!
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 19, 2008 20:18:32 GMT 12
Dave, you are right about the streamlining. It might have given her a few more knots. Someone obviously wanted a souvenir cockpit. From my study of the great machine, the cockpit is a separate fabrication to the fuselage and is dropped in and fastened somewhere along the assembly line. I suspect if it was derivetted, it would have been a simpler job than cutting it off. Mind you a mean old nasty petrol powered cut-off wheel is probably simpler still. I watched one being used to cut up an Argosy and it made for pretty quick work.... Matt, that picture is priceless! I'd love to know what the translations are. What a piece of work. The Skyhawk FCU would probably have a similar picture to that if all the subsystems where exploded and laid out on paper like that one is. I knew there was one more system hooked into the Bristol carb. It was an output from a throttle activated layshaft that automatically adjusted the magneto advance/retard. Much like the manual advance/retard that the Model T type engines used to have. I'm off to study that beautiful picture again....
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 19, 2008 22:49:49 GMT 12
Maybe the removed front cockpit was used in the film The Rescue? Or perhaps it's the one that forms a doorway at Ferrymead?
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Post by graemewi on Oct 20, 2008 16:58:07 GMT 12
The doorway at Ferrymead is ex ZK-AYG / CWF, c/n 12826 according to the display sheet inside the hangar. Was lucky enough to visit Ferrymead on a road trip earlier this year.
Cheers,
G
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Post by FlyingKiwi on Oct 20, 2008 20:43:26 GMT 12
Regarding the cockpit-less Freighter at Ardmore, it's not behind the ATC barracks, in fact I think it might be gone completely - I've never seen it at Ardmore before and it doesn't show up anywhere in trusty old Google Earth. Anyone know for sure?
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 20, 2008 21:39:29 GMT 12
Flying the Bristol Freighter
George Palmer remembers his time on Air Express’s Bristol Freighters
On 10th May 1975 at 2.20 a.m., Air Express Ltd of Essendon lost a Bristol B170/21 Freighter 17 miles south of Wangthaggi, Victoria. Under the command of Capt Les Barnes and in the company of a young Radio Operator, they went down at night into the sea unable to maintain height after shutting down the port engine. It is not fair nor my intention to speculate, but one believable theory was that following a catastrophic engine failure, one of the petal cowls (hinged from the rear) opened. The resulting drag gave the crew little chance to make landfall and forced a night ditching. Both crew members lost their lives and little of the aircraft was recovered. The then Department of Transport conducted a lengthy investigation, the results being largely inconclusive but several recommendations were made.
Weight restrictions on the lower powered Mk 21 model were imposed and the requirement for two pilots became standard. By mid 1977, the operational changes were in force and Air Express were looking for co-pilots. In need of “Heavy time” to further my career, I applied, and after a successful interview with Derick Scott and Chief Pilot Gordon Howe I was offered one of the positions available.
After a short ground school, I found myself assigned to Capt Len Veger, my training Captain. After 12 days I was cleared to the line as a first officer. My first flight was in a Mk 31, VH-ADL, on the 10th October 1977. The Mk 31 differed from the Mk 21 by having bigger Bristol Hercules engines of 1980 BHP, a dorsel fillet, engine spinners and toe brakes. The Mk 21 had the very English hand operated brakes using a bicycle type lever on the control wheel. The brakes were pneumatic. The “walk around” was standard and straight forward but I do remember being surprised at the amount of oil running down the undercarriage leg and onto the tyres. Wooden cleats used as gust locks had to be removed from the rudder and elevator and these were placed behind a small seat at the rear of the cargo hold. Entry to the cockpit was via a small hatch beneath the nose. Turning the handle, the hatch hung down, suspended from the rear. On the inside of the hatch, two “toe holes” enabled the crew member to climb inside the nose area (known as compartment “A”). The heavy over centre locks holding the nose cargo “clam shell” doors were then checked and also the wire gates separating the cargo department were locked in place. A quick check of the cargo nets and then it was time to climb a ladder on the right forward fuselage wall to the cockpit. Entry was via a hatch in the cockpit floor.
The job of the co-pilot was to take a wooden dip stick stored in the cockpit and climb, yet again , through another hatch in the cockpit roof behind the co-pilot’s seat and onto the wing to check the oil. The oil tanks were directly behind the engine and had a capacity of 20 gallons (the engines used about 3 gallons of oil an hour). One of the hazards of this task, apart from falling off the oily wing, was negotiating an aerial stretching from the top of the fin to an aerial mast just behind the roof hatch. Today I still have a small scar on the bridge of my nose when in darkness and running late I allowed my situational awareness to lapse.
Once back in the cockpit, the pre-flight checks were completed. Like most English cockpits of this era, the cockpit design and ergonomics left much to be desired, with most of the Navigational Aids attached as “add ons” on top of the instrument panel. VH-ADL the Mk 31 had a full ILS but VH-SJG the Mk 21 had only a localiser with no glide path. Both aircraft had DME, ADF and VOR. The control wheels resembled that of the DC3 but much larger, giving a slight “tram” appearance. A large Sperry autopilot dominated the centre panel complete with a lever (not unlike an undercarriage lever) marked “ON” and “OFF”. Three large tuning knobs allowed the Auto Pilot indices to be “trimmed” in roll, pitch and yaw prior to engagement. Years later on the Fokker Friendship we had an Auto Pilot called the AL30/J, quickly nicknamed the “Hi-jack box” because it seemed to have a mind of its own. The difference with the Bristol was it had no mind. The tall “T” handled throttles were coloured red for port and green for starboard as were the pitch levers and friction nuts. In place of mixture controls were “carby shut off valves” marked “OFF” and “RUN”. One of the unique features of the Bristol was automatic mixture control and it worked very well. Both pilots had the standard flying panel and two large feather buttons were positioned just above the Auto-Pilot. The primers and starters were on a small panel to the left of the Captain’s knee.
Engaging the starter we counted out aloud the number of blades passing the cockpit window. Primer buttons hit, ignition on, and the engine fired up as only a large radial can with a lot of smoke and fanfare. The Hercules engine ran very smoothly with a distinct crackle from the stub exhausts. Due to the delay in the pneumatic brakes, taxiing was not as easy as one would imagine and it took several hours before I felt comfortable. The secret was to apply the brakes together and then one more than the other to achieve the desired directional change. To apply one brake only tended to cause overcontrolling. One eye had also to be kept on the split pressure gauge. As I gained more experience, especially when making directional turns, assymetric power helped to contain any tendency to “overswing”.
The aircraft was fitted with another quaint and very English system, an electrical tail wheel lock. You first had to be taxiing very straight. Then when flicking a switch at the rear of the console (trying not to look down and back at it), a red light illuminated and a solenoid dropped a pin into two aligned holes. With a 5 minute limit on its use, a strong wind and long taxi could exceed the limit. VH-ADL was nicknamed “Adolf” by its crews (official company name “Tasmanian Devil”) and with the sun behind you taxiing out, the shadow ahead of the aircraft always resembled a rather frightening monster with the brakes hissing and squealing away. I found the aircraft rather intimidating to begin with. Due to the automatic mixture control, the throttle quadrant was marked with the ECB range ( Economic Cruise Boost). During take off, it was not permitted to pause at this setting and the throttles had to be pushed smoothly through to the take off setting. This sometimes resulted in an early swing developing and care had to be taken to keep it straight, especially when the tail came up. The noise on take off could only be described as painful. It did in fact physically hurt and communication was only possible through the intercom. Once airborne, the aircraft climbed with the strange sensation of a lift with the nose “nodding” in any turbulence. The controls were heavy compared with the light twins I had been flying.
Overall the aircraft was easy to fly but needed course control movements. The landing was another matter. With solid rubber blocks in the oleos, any back pressure on initial touchdown meant the aircraft bounced back into the air, and the subsequent skips took some forward stick to pin the aircraft down. I flew with several Captains who mastered the “three pointer” landings with great skill but sadly I have to record the only way I could land the thing was to wheel it on and apply forward pressure to keep it there. As the tail slowly came down the feet came into play to keep it straight. I must admit it took over a hundred hours before I really settled in, especially in cross winds. Towards the end of my time on the type, I realised that it was really just a giant Tiger moth but this bravado took some time to appear. The aircraft was fitted with an electrically operated auto-course system using a series of pitot-type probes on the wing leading edge - one each in the “free air” and one behind each prop disc. Any loss of power would be sensed immediately and the offending propellor automatically sent into course pitch.
With a payload of 4 tons, the aircraft carried one ton of freight more than a DC3, at only slightly slower speed. We carried cars and general cargo to Launceston, Devonport, Smithton and King Island. The ever versatile co-pilot was responsible for opening the large nose door using a hand crank fitted to the right side of the fuselage. Loading a car onto the parallel ramps we used a notched broom handle to check the correct width of the car tyres to the ramp. The car was then driven on and chained to the floor. Flying at night during the winter months, we often crossed the Bass Straight at low level to keep out of icing conditions. The aircraft had no de-icing or anti-icing devices and to be down to 1500’ the “lowest safe” was not uncommon. I can still remember those heaving Bass Straight swells and white caps visible even at night and listening to the engines anxiously. Here again, the aircraft had a strange quirk, every now and then one engine would miss a beat, a very distinct “thump”. We called this “the Bristol cough” and no explanation of this was ever given despite heavy discussions with ground engineers. After a “cough” we would always just look at each other and smile but nevertheless it was disconcerting.
By June 1978, VH-SJA was grounded due to airframe hours and five pilots, myself included were laid off. After a stint with Connair in Darwin, I finally made it into Ansett. Looking back, I feel the Bristol was the end of an era and I now feel privileged to have been part of it.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Oct 28, 2008 11:37:27 GMT 12
My B1900D is switched on. There is no triumph, no grinning, no high fives, no shaking hands, no whooping, no staring out at the prop in amazement at what you have just achieved etc etc when you start a Pratt and Whitney PT-6. The Bristol is definitely brought to life and those who have seen her first start on Youtube will agree. A friend likened it to coaxing a dragon out of a cave - get it right or else! She is quite predictable now and I have a technique that seems to work. I'm still keen to record it on film and workload permitting, Allan Udy is too in a synchronised multi camera recording similar to his first. Are Turbines Ruining Aviation? We gotta get rid of turbines - they are ruining aviation. We need to go back to big round engines. Anybody can start a turbine, you just need to move a switch from "Off" to "Start" and then remember to move it back to "On" after a while. My PC is harder to start. Cranking a big round engine requires skill, finesse and style. On some aeroplanes, the pilots are not even allowed to do it - it's solely the preserve of a flight engineer. Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a small lady-like "poot" and start whining louder. Big round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho fart or two, more clicks, a lot of smoke, and finally a serious, low-pitched roar. We like that - it's a guy thing! When you start a big round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan. Turbines don't break often enough, leading to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A big round engine at speed looks, sounds and feels like it's going to blow up at any minute. This helps to concentrate the mind. Turbines don't have enough control levers to keep a pilot's attention and to impress visitors to the cockpit. There's nothing to fiddle with during the flight. Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman lanterns. Big round engines smell like God intended flying machines to smell. I think I hear the nurse coming down the hall. I gotta go..... Ex-"big round engine" driver.....Captain Tony Ilyes, Air Nuigini.
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Post by baz62 on Oct 28, 2008 19:01:57 GMT 12
"Are Turbines Ruining Aviation? "
Well said!!
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Post by Radialicious on Oct 29, 2008 22:22:47 GMT 12
Ha! That is the truest of true things and sums up exactly what it feels like to bring a big old round engine around from its slumber. On the weekend, we had the AGM of the Friends of the Bristol committee. It went very well and reflected on a surprising, interesting and inspiring year for ZK-CPT. There was a certain amount of back-patting celebration and with the old girl parked out the front of the aeroclub clubrooms, she peered through the windows in interest. She knew she was being talked about and was dying to join us. Bob Guard was there and as the pilot who delivered her on her final flight a few of us adjourned to her upper deck afterwards for a catch-up.
Over the last week, I have been beavering away on Bristol project #2 - ie the restoration of my own Gas Guzzlehag. Yesterday I collected my four beefy 420kg capacity castors that will support the engines transport stand. It was a quick and easy job to fix them to the stand which I had cleaned up and primed with grey PA-10 over the last week or so. Today's job was to attach the wheels and hang the Guzzlehag from her mounts. Since the mid-1980s, she has sat on a B170 mainwheel tyre on a pallet on her belly. With the castors looked after, Trevor Collins trusty forklift was tasked with lifting the monster off the pallet and onto the frame to finally hang by her engine mounts again. Trevor has just built a beautiful hangar to house his Helio Courier, Porterfield Pup and Fairchild restoration project. The nacelle portion of the QEC has been removed so she is just a bare engine and two W shaped mounting frames. The process of swapping her from pallet to forklift to frame was pretty painless and she is now safely hanging on her transport frame and looks a million dollars to match her thousand kilos. Now that she is up and accessible, I'll look to kick off the long process of getting her freed up and restored to running condition. Lots of work but as I have found with ZK-CPT, lots of fun. AND not one stepladder in sight! For those that haven't yet had the pleasure, I remind all to get on to Youtube and check out the boys with their Bristol on a stand. Oh yeah, and if you are curious for something completely wacked out, type in kiwi whale or beached whale etc etc and look for the cartoon picture of a whale. It is over 2 million hits right now and is starting to pick up a cult following
Cheers!
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