A beautiful sight to see and hear

[WB2CAU]

Does anyone else find the sight and especially the sound of a 4 engine propeller driven aircraft to be a beautiful thing like I do?

Every Memorial Day weekend (beginning today) there's an air show at nearby Republic Airport in Farmingdale, New York.

Since I live within 5 miles of the event and they take paying passengers up for rides, I see these beautiful aircraft flying overhead on these special occasions.

To me there is nothing like the sound and sight of these planes.  Today, for the first time I saw a B-29.  I think there are very few examples still flying.  In other years there have been B-17s and the twin-engined B-25. 

I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when 4 engine propeller aircraft were very common.  Then they slowly disappeared, replaced by the jets.  I think of the large propeller driven craft to be akin to our boat-anchor tube type radios. 

It's nice to see and hear these magnificent aircraft even if only a few times a year.  I stop what I'm doing and watch it fly until it's gone from view.

Those radial engines have a distinctive sound all their own.

Eric

[KX5JT]

"Does anyone else find the sight and especially the sound of a 4 engine propeller driven aircraft to be a beautiful thing like I do?"

I do!  In the 70's the Confederate Ghost Squadron used to be a staple of the airshows in the south and they flew B-17's and a host of other WWII aircraft including P-51s, F4Us and even P-38s.  I'm not sure if the Zero's were real but they at least had some mock ups and they would also put on mock dogfights.  I sure miss those airshows!

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I find them "pretty" to watch but make much, too much, ear splitting noise.

[W7TFO]

Aw Pete, you must have wimpy ears!

Besides, none of the old planes even come close to a Harrier or F-16 in terms of noise.

Spend a day at the Yuma, AZ hamfest and 'feel' the price of freedom going over your head all day long.  It can literally rattle tubes from their sockets!

73DG

[KC4ALF]

Love em! A cple of weeks ago one of the Air Forces surviving C-54 "Berlin Airlifters" flew into the Winchester Airport wich ment she had to go right over work. Awsome!

[WB2CAU]

Love em! A cple of weeks ago one of the Air Forces surviving C-54 "Berlin Airlifters" flew into the Winchester Airport wich ment she had to go right over work. Awsome!

The C-54 civilian version was the DC-4.  That was the only plane I've ever flown in... in 1960. 

After I posted, a friend of mine emailed photos he had taken at the show today of the B-29.  It's the only surviving airworthy B-29 named "Fifi". 

Photos by Don Huber, WB2UKA

[W1VD]

The distinctive sound of even one 'round' engine is enough to get my attention and have a look skyward ... pretty much guaranteed there's something interesting attached to it 

[W3SLK]

Jay said:

The distinctive sound of even one 'round' engine is enough to get my attention and have a look skyward ... pretty much guaranteed there's something interesting attached to it

You might not have to look skywards sometimes......

[Ott]

After I posted, a friend of mine emailed photos he had taken at the show today of the B-29.  It's the only surviving airworthy B-29 named "Fifi". 

If I read this right, "FiFi" will be making an appearance next weekend at the Reading Airport's WW2 Weekend...
http://www.maam.org/wwii/ww2_acft.htm

Event includes some rather special guests...
http://www.maam.org/wwii/ww2_guests.htm

Ott

[WA3VJB]

DC-3 has that sound from its radial engines too.

Only two of them, but hey ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnSClrWPb-s&feature=mh_lolz&list=FLYf5YX2slT4M

Scroll up to around TRT 1:40 for the rollout and takeoff.

[Bill, KD0HG]

I can't imagine what 130 octane aviation gas sell for these days.

[WA3VJB]

Bill the 100HL is long gone, that's probably what you're thinking of. Octane at takeoff came in at around 130 (set to rich).

What's left is 100LL.  When I fly (right seat) it's been closing in on $6, not quite there yet, and surprisingly not as high as the amount of jump seen in street gas.  

I'm about to drop the boat in the water. Dock gas.  Now THAT's another price tag altogether.  If you get the good stuph, it won't have any ethanol in it (water being not good in the boat gas tank). Per gallon, I don't yet know the price, but they always blame limited production volume and delivery costs.

It may mean lots of time at anchor this summer. I often just trailer to a gas station...

[K3ZS]

The Constellation or C-121 was the main passenger plane before the jet airliners.  It has four radial engines.   

[Opcom]

I love the radials and other piston aircraft. The oldest thing I ever flew on was a turboprop airliner. It was pretty quiet.

[W7TFO]

Sun-Sky Air used to run a Constellation route between Phoenix-Yuma-LA.  I got to fly in it a few times back in the 80's.  The best part was once standing outside while it started up an engine, with the commensurate cloud of smoke and belching before it smoothed out.

73DG

[W1VD]

Mike ... tnx radial engine motorcycle pix ... impressive! 

Consider myself lucky to have logged stick time in a T6 and a Stearman 4D 'Jr. Speedmail' (that was actually used to deliver mail earlier in life)  ... in trade for electrical system work on the a/c.

Always make sure the 'drip pan' is in place before leaving the hangar 

[KM1H]

Ive always been a radial fan and down the hill here there is a family that restores a lot of the old biplanes and such.

The strangest piston engine sound Ive heard was when a squadron of B-36's went right over my house down in Valley Stream, NY sometime in the early to mid 50's. It was mesmerizing and still gives me goose bumps.

Carl

[kb3wbb]

I love those radials and frankly any of the prop warbirds. Having flown in an SN-J, B-17, and B-25 I can tell you that the B-25 is the loudest by far requiring even the passengers to wear ear protection. I was a member of the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum for a number of years and the wife and I participated in the WWII Weekend in uniform for several years. If you've never been to the show you really should see it at least once.

Larry

[AJ1G]

When my two sons Dave and Ben were young, the Collings Foundation B-24 "All-American" came to Quonset Point NAS just after completing it's restoration.  We took the tour and naturally, one of the highlights for them was "manning" the 50 cal machine guns in the waist.  We saw the B-24 along with the Collings B-17 Nine-O-Nine a few more times over the years in the fall when they would fly into the Groton Airport.  Was always great hearing those two planes taking off and landing in the area.  In the fall of 2002, Dave, now a college grad, and a helo aircraft electrician at the 1109th AVCRAD, CT ARNG at the Groton Airport, helped out in troubleshooting and fixing a bad 28V  generator's voltage regulator on one of the B-24's engines while the Collings planes was there the same weekend as his monthly drill.  Afterward, Dave and his buddy who worked on the regulator got taken up on a check ride and they took a few pictures there.  One was Dave "manning" a waist gun just like when he was a kid...I have pictures from the original visit of him as a kid to Quonset in the same pose somewhere..will have to dig it out and match it up with the later one.

Several months later, Dave, his buddy and the rest of the AVCRAD were sitting in bunkers with SCUDSs flying over them in Kuwait during the opening days of OIF.  Luckily, they all came back in early 2004 before things got really nasty.

As we enjoy our long weekend, let's not forget what price was paid by those whose day it really is on Monday...

[WB2CAU]

The Constellation or C-121 was the main passenger plane before the jet airliners.  It has four radial engines.   

As popular as the Constellation was, total production numbers of the other American made 4 engine radial passenger planes exceeded it.

Lockheed Constellation produced 1943-1958 = 856
Douglas DC-4/C-54 produced 1942-1947 = 1174
Douglas DC-6 produced 1946-1958 = 704
Douglas DC-7 produced 1953-1958 = 338
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser produced 1947-1958 = 56

Total numbers = 3128
The Lockheed Constellation accounted for just over 27% of the total in that era.

The majority of the civilian DC-4s were converted from C-54s that were sold off as surplus by the US military after WWII.  Only 79 were built from scratch as civilian craft.

Eric

[KE5YTV]

About three weeks ago I found that FiFi lives in my backyard. It and the C.A.F. B24 are stationed at Addison airport. Addison is on the north edge of Dallas. I called about a visit and was told they had just left on Wednesday for New Orleans and would begone all summer to air shows around the country. I was told to check back in the fall. 

Mike

[WU2D]

Glen Curtis, father of aviation in the USA was also into motorcycles and you can see some of his work in Hammondsport NY in the Curtis museum. I got to see this V8 that he set the land speed record with in 1907. I visited for a "wine tour" of the finger lakes and found this amazing museum.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Nz13SosIM

[W4EWH]

The distinctive sound of even one 'round' engine is enough to get my attention and have a look skyward ... pretty much guaranteed there's something interesting attached to it 

Are radial engines still manufactured, or are mechanics relying on surplus stock?

W1AC

[W4EWH]

I'm about to drop the boat in the water. Dock gas.  Now THAT's another price tag altogether.  If you get the good stuph, it won't have any ethanol in it (water being not good in the boat gas tank). Per gallon, I don't yet know the price, but they always blame limited production volume and delivery costs.

It may mean lots of time at anchor this summer. I often just trailer to a gas station...

Why does it cost so much? Is it all taxes, or is there some special blend?

W1AC, who is thinking about buying a boat.

[K5WLF]

When I was a kid (long time ago), we lived within a couple miles of Norton AFB in CA. I grew up hearing and seeing B-17s, B-25s, B-29s and many other radial engine birds fly over. I love piston engine sounds in general, but radials are the best. And the B-25 is my favorite plane of all time. Haven't gotten to fly on one yet, but did get to go through "Miss Mitchell" when she was on display at CAF HQ several years ago. Some about the left seat felt very natural ;-)

To all veterans, and all currently serving, my sincere gratitude. Thank you.