jay hammond
Airman
- 26
- Sep 11, 2021
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You have many variables in there. How big of a fire? What altitude?Looking for what happens to a Halifax bomber when it's port outer engine is set on fire and to make matters worse the undercarriage is down. Is it hard to fly, impossible to fly and, if so, why? What aircraft services/functions were powered by the port outer engine? Was it physically demanding for the pilot and if so why? If the engine was on fire would that fire spread along the wing? Was it just a matter of time until the port inner caught fire? How long would it take using the port engine fire extinguisher to put the engine fire out? How long to feather it?
Thanks in advance for all the help. Jay Hammond
Looking for what happens to a Halifax bomber when it's port outer engine is set on fire and to make matters worse the undercarriage is down. Is it hard to fly, impossible to fly and, if so, why? What aircraft services/functions were powered by the port outer engine? Was it physically demanding for the pilot and if so why? If the engine was on fire would that fire spread along the wing? Was it just a matter of time until the port inner caught fire? How long would it take using the port engine fire extinguisher to put the engine fire out? How long to feather it?
Thanks in advance for all the help. Jay Hammond
Can you help me understand the aerodynamics involved? Does the burning engine/wing cause drag? How does this actually cause the plane to go into a dive and crash?You have many variables in there. How big of a fire? What altitude?
Without going into systems, if an engine catches fire, immediately shut down and the propeller is feathered. Along the way there should be a fire extinguishing system within the engine nacelle. The emergency procedure should happen pretty quickly depending on how well the pilot is trained. Once the engine is shut down and fire addressed, the aircraft is trimmed to fly on 3 engines, with the landing gear extended it shouldn't be too difficult to fly. What doesn't help matters is most if not all RAF bombers operated with a single pilot and with a single set of controls. Some may argue the the flight engineer can help in emergency situations, but a second pilot with a second set of full controls is definitely a better risk mitigator.
In other words once the wing is ablaze you're hooped. And the only thing a pilot can do is try to hold the a/c steady so crew can abandon the plane. Right?As far as I understand it, if a fire spreads from an engine to the wing especially the fuel tanks, you have no real worries about it spreading further to the other engine, the wing ceases to be a wing in a very short time and you should get out if you can.
We're the ailerons on Halifax Mk III bombers really fabric in May 1944?yep and once the fabric on the aileron catches burns off you loose a lot of control on that wing even if the fire goes out.
Most aircraft of the period used nitrate dopes on fabric and that burns FAST.
The engines had a bulkhead behind to try to stop fire spreading backwards, sometimes called a fire wall.. A fuel fire on a plane gets over 1000C very quickly, that will cause aluminium alloys to quickly distort, lose strength and melt or burn. BTW the Halifax was changed, later versions had much bigger rear vertical control surfaces which gave more stability. The two types are shown in here Handley Page Halifax - WikipediaIn other words once the wing is ablaze you're hooped. And the only thing a pilot can do is try to hold the a/c steady so crew can abandon the plane. Right?
Again, how big of a fire will determine this. IMO for the most part it will cause some drag. If the fire goes to control surfaces (as previously mentioned) or burns control cables, the aircraft can being to roll to one side - now if the other 3 engines are ok and there is control along the lateral axis, it should remain in the air unless the fire causes the wing structure to fail.Can you help me understand the aerodynamics involved? Does the burning engine/wing cause drag? How does this actually cause the plane to go into a dive and crash?
Can you help me understand the aerodynamics involved? Does the burning engine/wing cause drag? How does this actually cause the plane to go into a dive and crash?