Very interesting and thorough article Scott. Thanks for posting it. I flew B-17 tankers from 1975 through 1983 and had very little trouble with turbos. All of the B-17s that I flew were G models with the electronic controls. We used #8 for 46” of manifold pressure for take off and dialed back to #6 to set 38” for climb and then dialed back to whatever number would maintain our cruise setting of 32” loaded and 30” empty. That was usually between #2 and off. Of course, we seldom flew any higher than necessary. Generally well below 10,000 feet, so the turbos weren’t working very hard.
Occasionally, we would blow a fuse in the amplifier box for a turbo and TBM Inc.had those amplifiers in a rack inside the crawl way just aft of the front entrance door. We had a spare amplifier box and would have to crawl down into the walkway to switch out the boxes. Fortunately, it just took a half turn with a common screwdriver and then pull the box out and slide the replacement back into the slot. It always made me a little nervous kneeling in the walkway in flight a foot or two from the front entrance door/ escape hatch. All it took was a sharp rap to open that hatch.
Tanker 68 at Alamogordo in 1980
1980 Fire Season 002 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
Tanker 65 in Fresno in 1980
1980 Fire Season 300 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
Tanker 22 from Tanker 68 in Silver City in 1980
1980 Fire Season 021 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
Sam Lizardo and Norman Stubbs working on Tanker 68 in McCall, Idaho in 1980. The #2 turbo is near the center of the picture.
1980 Fire Season 257 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
Looking out of the front hatch near the turbo amplifiers on Tanker 68 in Alamogordo in 1980
1980 Fire Season 278 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
#2 turbo on Tanker 68 in West Yellowstone in 1980
1980 Fire Season 042 by
tanker622001, on Flickr
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