In Memoriam...
ADRC Ev Littlefield. A friend gone too soon...
We gotta get rid of those turbines, they're ruining aviation and our hearing...
A turbine is too simple minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through it in a straight line and doesn't pick up any of the pungent fragrance of engine oil or pilot sweat.
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 round engine requires skill, finesse and style. You have to seduce it into starting. It's like waking up a horny mistress. On some planes, the pilots aren't even allowed to do it...
Turbines start by whining for a while, then give a lady-like poof and start whining a little louder.
Round engines give a satisfying rattle-rattle, click-click, BANG, more rattles, another BANG, a big macho FART or two, more clicks, a lot more smoke and finally a serious low pitched roar. We like that. It's a thing...
When you start a round engine, your mind is engaged and you can concentrate on the flight ahead. Starting a turbine is like flicking on a ceiling fan: Useful, but, hardly exciting.
When you have started his round engine successfully your Mechanic looks up at you like he'd let you kiss his girl, too!
Turbines don't break or catch fire often enough, which leads to aircrew boredom, complacency and inattention. A round engine at speed looks and sounds like it's going to blow any minute. This helps concentrate the mind!
Turbines don't have enough control levers or gauges to keep a pilot's attention. There's nothing to fiddle with during long flights.
Turbines smell like a Boy Scout camp full of Coleman Lamps. Round engines smell like God intended machines to smell.
Pass this on to an old guy (or his son, or anyone who flew them, ever) in remembrance of ALL those who know the meaning of BMEP.
I learned about Radials as a young sailor, starting S-2F and EC-121s. And yes, you did develop a feel for them or you blew them up...
You learned how to count blades, which engines on which acft were hard starters, which ones were easy, which ones liked to give you a stack fire, etc...
Yes, the Connies had the 'short' stacks, so this was normal to see 'fire' out of every engine...
I can confirm this to be true. I guess that makes me old?
My Dad said one of the chiefs on his Intrepid tour could tell which engine and which cylinder was misfiring just by hearing it fly overhead. He was sitting in a C-1 waiting to take off when one of the engines backfired and everyone got a little panicked but the chief, who told the pilot to run that engine up to full for ten minutes to see how it sounded. After 10 he turned to the pilot and told him they were good to go. Apparently there was an impromptu prayer session upon takeoff.
May your man rest in peace now that his service is done.