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Radial Power Where You Least Expect It

stewartb

MEMBER
I've made annual and multi-annual trips to fish Yakutat for 30 years. That includes lots of trips to Cannon Beach but until I took my wife I never visited the park. It was interesting to say the least. I never expected to see an air-cooled aircraft radial engine in a WWII amphibious troop carrier.
 

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I wouldn't know a Continental from a Jacobs or a P&W. What I noticed was straight pipe exhaust and no cooling fan. That must have been a miserable ride in more ways than one.
 
That's a Continental W670 and the vehicle looks like a LTV-4 Water Buffalo.
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Continental-Radial-Aircraft-Tank-ENGINE-R-670-W670-Pt-17-Stearman-Lycoming-R-680-/322000351362?hash=item4af8b77082:g:BqsAAOSwzhVWtUQ9&vxp=mtr


Glenn
 
I had no idea that "tanks" used radial engines.

FWIW, this example uses front drive and has steel grousers.... mostly intact. Odd what good condition the rubber lines are in. The rest is crumbling away.
 
The M4 Sherman had a Continental. Watch an old war movie and listen when the tanks start up and you can here 'that' sound.

Web
 
One of the few WW-2 stories my Dad would tell is about him and a buddy changing the plugs on a disabled Sherman's radial engine in the dark on Christmas Eve 1944 in Belgium (Battle of the Bulge). He said they couldn't use a light, as whenever they tried, the German's kept shooting at them.

Jim W
 
My moms 2nd husband after my dad died was in the tanks with Patton. He got blown out of 2 different tanks and was the only surviver both times. He told me on a below zero morning they would start the tank an it wouldn't move till the transmission warmed up. They would huddle under the doghouse in the rear of the tank where the exhaust came out to get warm. The Germans would hear them start up and would start shelling towards the noise, they would wait till the shells were hitting within 100 yrds before they would jump in the tank and move. The tank would be full of a 1"thick frosty layer on everything metal from all the moisture left from the day before from their sweat and breath. As the tank warmed it would melt the frost and they would be soaked from the rain inside the tank. They couldn't leave the inside of the tank as they would freeze to death if they did. I sat drinking with Bill many a night listening to him recount many a battle with Tiger tanks and everything else as they crossed France and Germany. I'm in totally awe of what that generation endured

Glenn
 
M7 self propelled 105mm of WW2 had a Wright R975, I think some were made by Continental. We had a dead one at the BRL range I worked at since it was the right height to fire through the indoor Transonic Range. Only played with tanks as a civilian but even then they were nasty in winter, cold and damp. Sun would hit in the morning and it rained inside. Most fun to drive was the M41 Walker Bulldog with big opposed Continental as I recall. Great power to weight but nothing compared to the M1 Abrams.

Jack
 
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One of the few WW-2 stories my Dad would tell is about him and a buddy changing the plugs on a disabled Sherman's radial engine in the dark on Christmas Eve 1944 in Belgium (Battle of the Bulge). He said they couldn't use a light, as whenever they tried, the German's kept shooting at them.

The difference between wartime and peace time is that in peace time, the mechanics don't get shot at until they present the bill.
 
A lot of planes, mostly crop dusters, have been powered with Continental Tank engines. I have a couple prop hubs in my hangar from tank engines with a props installed.
 
My grandfather bought some Sherman's after the war, removed the turret, and used them as a tractor.
good thing they were cheap, the didn't last long or make very good tractors.
Dave
 
Prop Hub for tank engine

Do you still have a prop hub for a tank engine? I know this is an old post, but thought I would ask anyway. I am doing a project with a tank engine on an experimental biplane.
 
Call Air Repair in Cleveland MS. I think they used to convert these engines
I can't remember that Air Repair used to convert them but there was an outfit called "Gulf Coast". They actually made their own crank. It was #30 as it went through the engine and then necked down to #20 outside the engine. The #20 portion of the crank was actually full length so it could take standard #20 spline prop hubs. I have one rat holed in the back of the hangar somewhere.
 
My grandfather bought some Sherman's after the war, removed the turret, and used them as a tractor.
good thing they were cheap, the didn't last long or make very good tractors.
Dave

When I was a kid, the farmer across the road had two Sherman’s without turrets that he used as tractors. They sounded cool, for sure.

MTV
 
Old friend of mine had a S55 Sikorsky helicopter with a big radial in it. Wright I believe. Sat in there at an angle kinda. Sounded good.
 
Old friend of mine had a S55 Sikorsky helicopter with a big radial in it. Wright I believe. Sat in there at an angle kinda. Sounded good.

Sikorsky S-58, aka H-34 / Navy "Seabat" & "Seahorse" / Army "Choctaw", also had a Wright 1820 radial in the nose.
And was a taildragger to boot.
 
Sikorsky S-58, Chickasaw in the Horse pasture at the Naches Ranger Station on Chinook pass 1973. Owned by Olympic Helicopters. When they bought it from the Israeli Army it was painted desert camouflage and had some bullet holes in it.
tLm9zCH.jpg
 
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The first mechanized equipment to Work on the Normile grade at the top of Chinook Pass was a tractor converted from an Army tank in 1924. The track and rollers look like it's a Sherman tank.

vjO4JaX.jpg
 
S-55 with P & W 1340 engine, early 1970's in Yellowknife.
post-537-1174445748.jpg
 

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