Radial Engined Lancasters?
Discussion
Surely not?
Look East did a bit on the Lancaster bomber last night which I didn't see. Hoardes of readers rang to complain that the reporter said he was stood in front of a Lancaster engine, but it wasn't a Merlin, it was a Radial of some description.
They did a piece about last nights report on tonights show. They read out all the comments and then went on to drop the bombshell
"And 300 Lancasters were made with radial engines"
Now I am struggling to come to terms with the ramifications..... The Lancaster was all about the sound of those four gorgeous engines . Could this possibly be true?
Oh yes, and it was pretty good at dropping bombs too!
Look East did a bit on the Lancaster bomber last night which I didn't see. Hoardes of readers rang to complain that the reporter said he was stood in front of a Lancaster engine, but it wasn't a Merlin, it was a Radial of some description.
They did a piece about last nights report on tonights show. They read out all the comments and then went on to drop the bombshell
"And 300 Lancasters were made with radial engines"
Now I am struggling to come to terms with the ramifications..... The Lancaster was all about the sound of those four gorgeous engines . Could this possibly be true?
Oh yes, and it was pretty good at dropping bombs too!
The Mk II Lancaster had Bristol Hercules air cooled radials - just like Bomber Command's other major heavies, the Halifax and Stirling.
This version of the Lanc was no less effective than the Merlin version.
There was serious concern that, with the huge demand being made on Rolls Royce for the Merlin, there might be shortages of that engine. The Hercules Lancaster was an "insurance" against there not being enough Merlins to go around. In the event, production of the Merlin was coommenced in the US and Canada which circumvented the problem.
Personally, I love the sound of big air cooled radial piston engines, However, don't assume that they all sound like big Pratt and Whitneys or Wrights. Most Bristol engines had rotating sleeve valves rather than traditional poppet valves which gave their engines a very different sound to the "bucket of tin cans" one traditionally associates with air cooled reciprocating radials. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of Bristol aero engines in operation these days - the most likely example you will hear is the Bristol Centaurus used in the Hawker Sea Fury and THEY sound just FANTASTIC.
This version of the Lanc was no less effective than the Merlin version.
There was serious concern that, with the huge demand being made on Rolls Royce for the Merlin, there might be shortages of that engine. The Hercules Lancaster was an "insurance" against there not being enough Merlins to go around. In the event, production of the Merlin was coommenced in the US and Canada which circumvented the problem.
Personally, I love the sound of big air cooled radial piston engines, However, don't assume that they all sound like big Pratt and Whitneys or Wrights. Most Bristol engines had rotating sleeve valves rather than traditional poppet valves which gave their engines a very different sound to the "bucket of tin cans" one traditionally associates with air cooled reciprocating radials. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of Bristol aero engines in operation these days - the most likely example you will hear is the Bristol Centaurus used in the Hawker Sea Fury and THEY sound just FANTASTIC.
SpencerO said:
Typical. Sky replaced my BBC london with BBC Look East last year for a couple of months. In that entire time every single story was about about sheep, tractors, pensioners or a combination of all three. NOW they put an interesting story on!
Yep, thats news from the provinces for you!
Dave
PS You forgot amusing pig farming stories....
Apparently the first prototype had radials - presumaby since fighters had first call on Merlins.
www.467463raafsquadrons.com/Aircraft/Images/DT810.jpg
Towards the end of its life the Lancaster became a flying test bed for jets, powered by 2 Merlins and 2 jet engines.
www.467463raafsquadrons.com/Aircraft/Images/DT810.jpg
Towards the end of its life the Lancaster became a flying test bed for jets, powered by 2 Merlins and 2 jet engines.
Eric Mc said:
Unfortunately, there are very few examples of Bristol aero engines in operation these days - the most likely example you will hear is the Bristol Centaurus used in the Hawker Sea Fury and THEY sound just FANTASTIC.
Wouldn't the flying Bristol Blenheim (Blenheim Society) have Bristol engines too? It's very quiet.
Unfortunately, the Blenheim is currently in various pieces at Duxford folowing a bad forced landing two years ago. It will be flying again, hopefully next year.
The prototype Lancaster was indeed powered by Merlins. As stated earlier, the Hercules powered MkII was purely an insurance against Merlins being unavailable. In fact, the "true" prototype of the Lnacaster would have been the prototype Manchester, which was powered by the hugely unreliable Rolls Royce Vulture. If the Vulture had been made to work properly, there would have been no Merlin or Hercules Lancasters at all.
Its quite amazing to see how many WW2 aircraft were Merlin powered - both fighters and bombers -
Supermarine Spitfire
Hawker Hurricane
Boulton Paul Defiant
Avro Lancaster
De Havilland Mosquito
Bristol Beaufighters (most had Bristol Hercules though - a kind of reverse Lancaster situation)
Fairey Battle
Fairey Fulmar
Fairey Barracuda
North American P-51B Mustang and later variants
Avro York
Curtiss P-40s of various types. Like the Mustang, some of these were also Allison powered.
Post war they were used in quite a few aircraft too:
Avro Lancastrian
Avro Lincoln
De Havilland Hornet
Boulton-Paul Balliol
Canadair C4 Argonaut
The prototype Lancaster was indeed powered by Merlins. As stated earlier, the Hercules powered MkII was purely an insurance against Merlins being unavailable. In fact, the "true" prototype of the Lnacaster would have been the prototype Manchester, which was powered by the hugely unreliable Rolls Royce Vulture. If the Vulture had been made to work properly, there would have been no Merlin or Hercules Lancasters at all.
Its quite amazing to see how many WW2 aircraft were Merlin powered - both fighters and bombers -
Supermarine Spitfire
Hawker Hurricane
Boulton Paul Defiant
Avro Lancaster
De Havilland Mosquito
Bristol Beaufighters (most had Bristol Hercules though - a kind of reverse Lancaster situation)
Fairey Battle
Fairey Fulmar
Fairey Barracuda
North American P-51B Mustang and later variants
Avro York
Curtiss P-40s of various types. Like the Mustang, some of these were also Allison powered.
Post war they were used in quite a few aircraft too:
Avro Lancastrian
Avro Lincoln
De Havilland Hornet
Boulton-Paul Balliol
Canadair C4 Argonaut
wedg1e said:
Boulton Paul... whatever happened to them? I seem to recall having the Airfix model of the Defiant... and the Fairey Battle...
there is a small museum dedicated to Boulton Paul in wolverhampton.....in the collection there is a Defiant (also find one at Hendon i think) that's made up of major sections of an original.
Eric Mc said:
Personally, I love the sound of big air cooled radial piston engines, However, don't assume that they all sound like big Pratt and Whitneys or Wrights. Most Bristol engines had rotating sleeve valves rather than traditional poppet valves which gave their engines a very different sound to the "bucket of tin cans" one traditionally associates with air cooled reciprocating radials. Unfortunately, there are very few examples of Bristol aero engines in operation these days - the most likely example you will hear is the Bristol Centaurus used in the Hawker Sea Fury and THEY sound just FANTASTIC.
Another plus for the air-cooled radial is the amount
of punishment they will soak up and still keep
running - I've seen an engine from which one of
the cylinders had all but detached but kept
running long enough to get home - hence their
popularity with naval aviators in WW2.
A few of the boys are kicking around the idea
of building once of these...
www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/test%20reports/Pitts%20Model%2012%20flight%20test%20report.htm
...although the spare M-14P we had which was
earmarked for the project is now sadly unavailable.
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff