Warbird Information Exchange

I know standard Sea Furies had the engine air intakes at the wing roots, and many still do even though they have been re-engined. Other racers have the intake on top of the cowl, like Dreadnought, and keep the oil cooler(s) in the original location but have the air intakes closed off. I am puzzled though by the arrangement for Blind Man's Buff and Critical Mass. The photos that I have found (not many of BMB) do not show the wing roots on these great aircraft very clearly. Can anyone shed some light on the air intake arrangements for both aircraft.

Cheers
Dave

Stock Sea Fury had an oil cooler on one side and a small air intake on the other. Dreadnought replaced the small intake with a second oil cooler. The R-4360 used by Dreadnough has a downdraft carb, hence the intake on top of the cowl. Not sure of the arrangement on the 3350 powered Sea Furies.

NACA intake ?

Thanks for the suggestions, but I believe I have found the answer for BMB at least in these two links.

http://aafo.com/hangartalk/showthread.php?t=5320
and
http://www.taichiunlimiteddrawings.com/

The profile drawing shows what appears to be an air intake in the top of the cowling, and looking more closely at the few photos I have the cowling is not completely round. In the other thread there is a photo of a BMB poster which shows the inlet. There are also air inlets on the leading edges of the wings, but I can only assume that these are for oil coolers within the wing sections.

Blind Man's Bluff, when built in '86-87 utilized a modified cowling off of an A-26 Invader (similar to what the Planes of Fame "Super Corsair" built in 1982 used). They also had 'enlarged' and modified wing-root scoops for the oil cooling. In 1997, that cowling literally 'failed', and started to banana-peel off during the final race. When they rebuilt it with the new cowling, I believe they took the carburator air in through a wing-root intake.

The two R-4360 Sea Furies have the scoops on top of the engine, as well as Stu Dawson's "Spirit of Texas" with the R-3350. It just offers a more 'direct' route to the engine, with one 90 degree turn instead of snaking it's way up around corners and such.

_________________
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives, and I decline......

A significant horsepower gain was achieved on Dawson's Fury with several additional inches MP at high speed.