Merlin Engine Photos

[MIflyer]

Back in 1999 I was writing an article and needed some photos of the back of some engines, where the supercharger is located. I found those are very hard to find. So I flew over to Kissimmee to the O'Reilly restoration facility and museum they had there and took some photos of the Merlin that was out in the open. Tragically, that facility was all but destroyed by Hurricane Charley in 2004 and they moved to Douglas, GA.

The last time I went to Kissimmee was to the Stallion 51 facility for an AOPA seminar. I did not bring a camera, which was really too bad because they have a Merlin there with cut-aways showing the internals. Maybe I'll get back there sometime.

Anyway, some of y'all might find these photos to be interesting.

 

[Crimea_River]

Back of a Merlin 29 I helped refurbish. Sorry for the poor quality.

 

[Simon Thomas]

Merlin XX in National Air Force Museum at Trenton, ON.

 

[SaparotRob]

Very nice pictures of a great engine. I wonder how many aircraft restorers cry a little when they see an irreplaceable engine cut open for display?

 

[SaparotRob]

On a similar note but a little off topic; are radial engines such as the R-1820 still being manufactured?

 

[Crimea_River]

Very nice pictures of a great engine. I wonder how many aircraft restorers cry a little when they see an irreplaceable engine cut open for display?

More like when they think of how many of them were/are blown up in speed boat races.

 

[MIflyer]

For the most part radials are no longer being manufcctured. In fact, back in the late 70's a company dealt with the problem of running out of rebuildable cylinders for R-1340 engines by taking the much more plentiful R-2800 cylinders and cutting them down to fit an R-1340. Aside from availability, the R-2800 cylinders used more advanced technology that extended their service life when they were "de-rated" by using them in an R-1340. Aside from T-6's, the engines were popular for crop dusters.

Looking a a list of engines in current production in 1946, I found the Continental R-670 conspicuous by its absence. I assume that aside from the end of Stearman biplane production there were so many 670's left over from the war that the company saw no need to build any more. The W-670 version was used in Stuart tanks and other vehicles, and the parts from those, the cylinders at least, were used for decades for rebuilds. You could not use the pistons from the W-670 in aircraft, so a gentleman I knew ended up scrapping many of them; I wish I had bought them from him to sell as genuine WWII tank mementos. Mount them on a block of wood with a little plaque and I think they'd be big sellers.

The R-1820's that came out of the B-17's served to supply needs for many uses after the war. The modified T-28A's the French turned into the Fennec light attack aircraft used engines from scrapped B-17G's.

The Soviets and Chinese kept building small radials after their war for their trainer aircraft but I doubt they still are. There is an outfit in Australia that is taking Rotax cylinders and using them to build small radials in the 100 -150 HP range with 7 or 9 cylinders.

 

[SaparotRob]

Thanks MIflyer. I was thinking the supply must be drying up. Times change. So do crop dusters too, I guess.

 

[ThomasP]

The Romanians/Russians are still building the Vedeneyev M14P series (300-400 HP 9-cylinder air-cooled radial).
The Chinese are still building the HS-7 and -8 series, which are license built variants of the Russian ASh-82T/V (1700-1900 HP 14-cylinder air-cooled radial).

"Vedeneyev M14P - Wikipedia"
"Shvetsov ASh-82 - Wikipedia"

Also, there is Rotec Aerosport Pty Ltd. They manufacture their own line of modern design air-cooled radial engines (ie 110 HP 7-cylinder R2800 and 150 HP 9-cylinder R3600). Note that the 2800 and 3600 denote cc not ci.

"Rotec Aircraft Engines R2800 & R3600 Modern Radial Designs"

 

[MIflyer]

Yes, I already mentioned the Rotax Radials. Not many of those around, though.

 

[MIflyer]

Here's some shots of a restored V-1710.

 

[Tony Kambic]

I acquired this Packard V1650-9 in 1973 for $50.

Tony

 

[N4521U]

A few from my files
Gold one from John Crocker's "Sumthin Else"
Red one from Stu Eberhardt;s "Merlins Magic"

 

[MIflyer]

Yeah! Y'all recall the Funny Cars from the early 1970's that had V-1710? I think Revell had a model of one.

One guy told me that if you found a Merlin or V-1710 that had the cooling system modified, to avoid it because it likely had been used for boat racing. And with boat racing the props tended to come out of the water, resulting in overspeed.