"Bruce R" wrote in message
ng.com...
Round Engines...

DEDICATED TO ALL THOSE WHO WORKED ON OR FLEW BEHIND ROUND ENGINES, or like
the sound of a REAL engine!

We gotta get rid of those turbines, they're ruining aviation and our
hearing.

A turbine is too simple minded, it has no mystery. The air travels through
it in a straight line and doesn't pick up any of the pungent fragrance of
engine oil or pilot sweat.

Anybody can start a turbine. You just need to move a switch from "OFF" to
"START" and then remember to move it back to "ON" after a while. My PC is
harder to start.

Cranking a round engine requires skill, finesse and style. You have to
seduce it into starting. It's like waking up a horny mistress. On some
planes, the pilots aren't even allowed to do it.


You say that starting round engines, takes skill, finesse and style.
I contend that the same holds true to start a RR Merlin or a Packard V12 or
one of those monstrous Napier Sabres too, you have to know how many times
you have to prime the beasty then remember to switch on the mags, set the
mixtures, set the throttle precisely and once you've done all that you hope
like hell that the damned thing doesn't backfire whilst starting because as
it is full of fuel and priming fluid, it will almost certainly catch fire if
it does backfire. (Hawker Typhoons and Tempest were particularly nasty for
that).
To my mind, starting any 20 litre plus capacity aero engine is a work of
art, no matter if it's Round, V shaped, Square or even W or X shaped.
And they ALL sound bloody fantastic.


Jet engines SUCK! :-)

(Pun intended)
--

Jeff Cochrane - VK4BOF
Innisfail
QLD
Australia




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