I found this short video clip of an Me109 starting up, and thought some of you might like seeing/hearing (smelling) it! [:)] right click/Save Target As
The “planestv.com” website has a few other interesting video clips, including this Tu-95 & IL-78 fly-by! “Turn it up!” ‘Contra-Rotating Prop’ fans will get weak in the knees when they hear this! [;)] right click/Save Target As
Don’t know if you were kidding or not but the 2 guys were spooling up the inertial starter for the engine. Kinda like a heavy weght flywheel that once engaged spins the engine over as opposed to an electric or coffman starter.
I wonder if that was a real DB engine in the 109? They’re definitely not going to sound like a merlin but it sounded pretty good.
Tracy, no I wasn’t kidding. Now I feel like a fool hehe. Well, now I know. Another stupid question… is that how most of the aircraft of this era started??[?]
No stupid questions Radmax8 none at all. Some of the aircraft started this way, some used coffman starters which were basically large shotgun shells that were used to blow down a piston like a normal combustion in the cylinder and thereby turning over the engine. Case in point the original flight of the pheonix movie when they were trying to start the engine of the hodge podge plane they built. Another way was to use starter trucks that had an auxilliary motor that hooked up to a round cleat type affair that was mounted on the end of the prop hub and used to turn over the engine. There might have been electric straters I’m not sure and maybe even some of the old propellor pull through starting like back in WWI depending on the aircraft. I’m sure even some of the aircraft were set up to use multiple starting methods. The inertial starter looks like quite a bit of work to get it spun up though I think i’d rather have a different way of starting one.
I’m thinking that if you could turn the engine over by hand on a 109 or a spit that the engine wouldn’t be in much shape for anything [xx(] But then again they were driven through gearboxes so i can’t say for sure.
An ex F-102 pilot who use to shadow Bears off Alaska’s coastline reported; “You can hear those things when you’re flying trail, like a low pitched groan that’s always present in spite of the whine of your jet and radio traffic.” “You can always hear it… almost feel it.”