TEST PIC..

Mon Aug 04, 2008 2:50 am

Anyone know the story about this test ?

Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:01 am

P & W T-34 test bed

Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:11 am

Ok I worked for Pratt all those years and I was clueless when I seen this pick,guess you learn something every day thanks. I bet thats the Connecticut river too..

Last edited by kenlyco on Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:12 am

Yep..Liberty Belle..too bad they de-modified her. When someone gets serious about resurrecting the
Napier Sabre, it'd be handy to have such a flying test-bed... :wink:

Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:48 am

three more of N5111N

and another testbed.... N6694C

1965 - three-bladed prop

sometime later - four-bladed prop

Martin

Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:02 am

Anyone have any pictures of her at Bradley after the tornado ripped her up?

Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:13 am

warbird1 wrote:Anyone have any pictures of her at Bradley after the tornado ripped her up?

nooooooo......pleeeze.... :cry:

Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:14 am

airnutz wrote:
warbird1 wrote:Anyone have any pictures of her at Bradley after the tornado ripped her up?

nooooooo......pleeeze....

Yes, I would like to see how far Liberty Belle came! I never saw the aftermath, but only read about it.

Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:39 am

warbird1 wrote:
airnutz wrote:
warbird1 wrote:Anyone have any pictures of her at Bradley after the tornado ripped her up?

nooooooo......pleeeze....

Yes, I would like to see how far Liberty Belle came! I never saw the aftermath, but only read about it.

Naw..You gotta see it too.."brace yourself, Tilly" :shock:

...'Scuse me for a bit..I seem to have got something
in my eye..I'll be right back.. :cry:

Mon Aug 04, 2008 4:51 am

Swiss Mustangs wrote:
Martin

I'll bet those P & W mech's liked working on those Wright 1820's?

I see that they removed the hydomatics and threw on Curtis Wright electrics.

Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:04 am

skymstr02 wrote:
Swiss Mustangs wrote:
Martin

I'll bet those P & W mech's liked working on those Wright 1820's?

I see that they removed the hydomatics and threw on Curtis Wright electrics.

Actually, this photo is not the Pratt test bed N5111N. It is the 5-engine test bed that Curtiss-Wright used, that's why the coinversion to the Curtiss props. N5111N had Ham Stans!

I hav elots of pics of the B-17 after the tornado, the only problem is they are slides and I haven't scanned them in yet. I'll try to dig out some.

"Liberty Belle" is pretty much a new aircraft. There was two steel beams put into the B-17 when it was converted to a test bed. they ran the length of the fuselage and helped to strengthen it for the massive engine up front. I understand that the aircraft had so much stress cracks in it, that it was just about a new re-build.

Jerry

Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:37 am

That last photo, isn't that the Wright turbo prop conversion??
I have only seen one picture of the B-17 test engine aircraft, with a round-bulb like structure placed on the nose, when the test engine was removed...and that is just a photo of it sitting on the ground...I would like to know if there are any photos of this onfiguration while in flight??

Another conversion of the B-17 I would like to see more pictures of, are of the illfated B-17F that had all four Wrights replaced by the Rolls-Royce Turbo Dart engines....

Mon Aug 04, 2008 11:45 am

It seems that this particular "Test" 3350 may not have passed the test?

Mon Aug 04, 2008 8:02 pm

warbird1 wrote:
airnutz wrote:
warbird1 wrote:Anyone have any pictures of her at Bradley after the tornado ripped her up?

nooooooo......pleeeze....

Yes, I would like to see how far Liberty Belle came! I never saw the aftermath, but only read about it.

I asked the same question a while back and I think Jerry O'Neill posted this on WIX for me.

Steve

Last edited by planeoldsteve on Tue Aug 05, 2008 6:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

Tue Aug 05, 2008 1:46 am

two more of N6694C

July 1965

1967 - Gary, that one ?

Martin