Shotgun Starts

Was talking with some WW2 guys who remembered the use of 10 gauge shotgun
shells to start an aircraft engine. I've seen several movies showing
something but my question is how did it work? shell in seperate cylinder
from pistons and how push crank over, etc??

From what I have read, the output of the firing mechanism, which was really
only a large column of moving air, was fed directly into one of the existing
cylinders.

If you can get your hands on a copy of the original version of "The Flight
of the Phoenix", there's a scene where Jimmy Stewart (who had been a B-24
bomber pilot in WWII), is trying to start a cobbled-together aircraft with a
shotgun starter. He only has a limited number of shells; naturally, it
starts on the last one.

BTW: Did you know that ejection seats were once powered by cannon shells?



"Dick" wrote in message
t...
Was talking with some WW2 guys who remembered the use of 10 gauge shotgun
shells to start an aircraft engine. I've seen several movies showing
something but my question is how did it work? shell in seperate cylinder
from pistons and how push crank over, etc??

Dick wrote:
Was talking with some WW2 guys who remembered the use of 10 gauge shotgun
shells to start an aircraft engine. I've seen several movies showing
something but my question is how did it work? shell in seperate cylinder
from pistons and how push crank over, etc??


Its called a Kauffmann (sp?) starter. The blast turns a turbine thats
geared in to the crankshaft somehow. See the movie Flight of the
Phoenix... the original w/ Jimmy Stuart, not the gawd-aweful remake.

Harry

Is it an inertia type starter? I've never seen one but I always assumed
that it was like the air start on the M14P.



"wright1902glider" wrote in message
oups.com...

Dick wrote:
Was talking with some WW2 guys who remembered the use of 10 gauge
shotgun
shells to start an aircraft engine. I've seen several movies showing
something but my question is how did it work? shell in seperate cylinder
from pistons and how push crank over, etc??


Its called a Kauffmann (sp?) starter. The blast turns a turbine thats
geared in to the crankshaft somehow. See the movie Flight of the
Phoenix... the original w/ Jimmy Stuart, not the gawd-aweful remake.

Harry

Try this link for info:
http://www.sjvls.org/bens/bf010cs.htm

J. Severyn
KLVK

"Dick" wrote in message
t...
Was talking with some WW2 guys who remembered the use of 10 gauge shotgun
shells to start an aircraft engine. I've seen several movies showing
something but my question is how did it work? shell in seperate cylinder
from pistons and how push crank over, etc??

It's a Coffman, or Eclipse starter. Gun gases spun a wheel, which
could also be spun by hand or foot treadle, an electric motor, or other
means in some versions.

They were not totally unique to aircraft, a few were used in military
vehicles and other oddball applications.

They were generally junked and replaced by direct drive electric
starters when they became available.

Cartridge start was also used on jets. Various bombers and fighters
have had cartridge start, as did some civilian aircraft. Boeing 727s
sometimes had cartridge start on the center engine (don't ask me how I
know...) so the aircraft could start if it diverted to a field with no
start cart. You had one shot, then you called out the recovery team. I
think United had a Lear for things like that, otherwise, another
revenue aircraft had to be internal-chartered, if no other airline had
a maintenance presence on field.

Cool, I knew/heard about these cartridge starters, now I know about the
third engine on the 727.

Thanks for the additional info.

Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone

Cartridge start was also used on jets.

The British Camberra used them. It's a high altitude spy plane that we
licensed the design for, so that we could turn it into the U-2. One of
the changes we made was to get rid of the cartridge start, because the
huge mass of black smoke was considered "not high tech."

In article .com,
"jmk" wrote:

Cartridge start was also used on jets.

The British Camberra used them. It's a high altitude spy plane that we
licensed the design for, so that we could turn it into the U-2. One of
the changes we made was to get rid of the cartridge start, because the
huge mass of black smoke was considered "not high tech."

Canberra and U-2 were totally separate aircraft! U-2 was a
single-engine, indigenous Lockheed design, based on high-performance
sailplanes of the day.

Canberra was a twin-engined British design for a high-altitude bomber.
The Martin Co. modified the Canberra into the B-57; the special
reconnaisance aircraft was the "RB-57D/E," which looked somewhat like
the B-57, but with much longer wings and different engines.

I understand that the U2 was based on the F104 Starfighter.

Seemed unlikely to me too but then I compared the Fuselages.