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4 Turnin' 8 Burnin'

Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:52 am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pMHZaMF ... re=related

4 engines turnin and 8 flamses a burnin..

Now that is what your call a nice take off by a C-121C.

Has anyone else captured warbirds with this affect in evening take offs?

Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:55 am

....usually.... in statements like this, the 'burning' refers to jet engines.

Neat video none the less.

Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:00 am

Izzat a C-121-C? or an L-1049G?

Or could it be a Douglas DC-6? : )


Saludos,


Tulio

Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:02 am

The HARS Constellation is a ex ANG operated C-121C with L-1049G fake and not usable fuel tanks added to copy the look of the Qantas 1950s L1049G trans ocean flyers.

Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:33 pm

Watching that video reminded me that over the too many years, it always seemed that either the CONNIE had an anemic hydrauic system or odd priority valving as they always seem to retract nose, left main. and right main flapping in the breeze on every one I've seen take off and that's going back to Pacific Northerns 749's as a kid.

Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:46 pm

I took a still photo of the "Save A Connie" bird doing a dusk takeoff at an airshow on Kalamazoo back in '91, but it came out rather blurry. Incredible sight and sound, though!

SN

Sun Mar 29, 2009 5:56 pm

It's just a matter of pressure and flow. Whichever gear leg takes the least work will go first. Since time of retraction isn't really a consideration there was probably no need to sequence the retraction process. On some of the admittedly smaller aircraft I work on the landing gear farthest from the pump is usually last.

Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:25 pm

It seems odd that on the contemporaries (DC-6/7) the gear all stows pretty much at the same time. I know on test flights I was on on 727's and 737's when the crew did the required manual extension on approach you really notice when only one main is in the breeze-

Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:42 pm

My slow dialup does not allow me to access videos, but I'm reminded that, during my senior year of high school, I lived at Sangley Point in the Philippines (John Paul Jones High School class of '65.) The Vietnam thing was heating up and I had one of the most unusual alarm clocks ever: An EC-121 of VW-1 took off from Sangley Point every morning at something like 6:15. I had to be in class at 7, if memory serves. Note also that, as I mentioned earlier in a Lockheed P-2 thread (Your dog chases bicycles or cars? My dog chases P-2s!) we lived in a house closest to the runway about a thousand feet from the western end of the runway.

So, every morning, the EC-121 headed for the Gulf of Tonkin would start at something like 5:45 -- but at the eastern end of the parking apron. Then, about 6 it would taxi by -- perhaps 300 feet from our house. The R-3350s were just idling, but I'd hear 'em and would hear creaking brakes and the like. Then at perhaps 6:05 he'd run up the R-3350s one by one at the end of the runway and I would know it was time to get cracking to get ready for school. By the time he went by on the takeoff roll at full song I was about ready to leave for class.

So -- my 1965 alarm clock had four 3350s, burned thousands of gallons of avgas to get me out of bed and had a crew of 20+! As a side benefit, my alarm clock also monitored the radar picture in the Gulf of Tonkin for the U.S. Navy. :lol:

Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:03 pm

I flew FIFI in the evening once, what a sight, we had eight foot long blue flames coming out of each exhaust!

I worked in Miami in the early 80s for Eastern Airlines and would listen to a concert of DC-3s, DC-6s, C-46s, and an occasional DC-7 take off to the east in the very early morning every day. The good old days.....

Re: 4 Turnin' 8 Burnin'

Sun Mar 29, 2009 10:53 pm

flyingheritage wrote:4 engines turnin and 8 flamses a burnin..
Shoudn't that be 12 flames? There are three PRTs per engine.

An old non-sched pilot I knew said that they would blow the blades out of one of the PRTs on the DC-7s they flew quite frequently. The 8 foot long flame out of the exhaust tended to rattle the passengers who were sure that the engine was actually on fire.

Re: 4 Turnin' 8 Burnin'

Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:18 am

bdk wrote:
flyingheritage wrote:4 engines turnin and 8 flamses a burnin..
Shoudn't that be 12 flames? There are three PRTs per engine.

Yes. The right side of the engine had one exhaust, while the left side had two.
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