WATERDOG300
Recruit
- 1
- Dec 3, 2017
Hello, I'm a new guy, an aviation buff of sorts and a WW2 history buff. I have deep family ties to both WW2 and aviation engines as my grandfather worked for Lycoming in Williamsport PA during the war in their experimental division. He was not an engineer but was a mechanical genius and machinist. He taught me most of what I know about mechanics, engines, fabrication and building things. He instilled confidence in me that I could tackle jobs I didn't think I could. He used to tell me that 'if a MAN designed it, and a MAN built it, a MAN could certainly fix it'. He was in charge of the static test cell at 'the motors' as it was know locally. All the new designs would come thru this area during development and he and his crew would put them through their paces and find failures and fixes, together with the engineers. This brings me to why I signed up. I was going through some of my grandfathers things the other day as it's coming up on 20 years since his passing at the age of 103 and I ran across some pictures of him from his days at 'the motors' and I started remembering stories he would tell me about the highly technical job of aircraft engine development and about how secret it had been at the time.
One of his proudest memories from those days was his work on the XR-7755 36 cyl liquid cooled radial engine. When I was young he would tell me many long detailed stories of how difficult that project was and how much effort was put into working the bugs out of the design as it was so complicated. One of the most problematic items was those variable cams. Getting and keeping them synchronized and getting them to smoothly actuate was a huge issue. He and the younger engineers didn't always see eye to eye and there was friction between them early on. He didn't have the education of an engineer but was gifted with an engineers mind. So when he would tell an engineer his feelings on an area of a design he felt was weak or failure prone, he was often dismissed. Later when that part or system would fail on the stand, he couldn't resist being an 'I told you so', not the best way to make friends. However, as time went on, they began to trust his insights.
Pop Pop as I called him, was almost deaf as long as I can remember and he told me that the 7755 was what had cost him most of his hearing. This was the days before OSHA and safety wasn't a huge priority in the workplace then. Imagine if you will, the XR-7755 running at rated power on a test stand inside a concrete room and being present without ear plugs! WOW.
He was very disappointed when the contract for the engines was cancelled and felt like a part of him was in those two prototypes. The main engine that they tested was not scrapped for what ever reason as both were supposed to have been junked when it was cancelled. The other unit was put out for scrap. Being the capable man he was, he took a bunch of the scrapped items home and put them in his work shop. Pop Pop was like McGuyver, he could take a pile of junk and make something useful from it. He built his riding tractor out of a Model A steering wheel, a GM truck gearbox, a Wisconsin single cylinder 8 hp engine and angle iron from the junk yards around town. He mowed 5 acres with that contraption for 20 years. He also built a farm tractor out of a Ford truck engine, steel channel and a Pachard transmission. I add this so you know he could find a use for anything.
As a small child I loved to play in his shop, which was an old mill on his property out in the country. A flood had damaged his stream and mill race and in his mid 70's he rebuilt the water wheel that had powered a Delco plant on the property during the Depression. Since the stream was wrecked, he wanted the water wheel to operate so he used a pump to force water into the wheel. To pump the water, he had hooked up a small gasoline engine to this funny looking gizmo. I asked what it was and he said, 'oh that's the water pump from a 36 cylinder radial engine I got off the scrap heap'. So one of the spare waterpumps from the XR-7755 served out its years attached to an old gas engine pumping water to make a 15 foot diameter water wheel turn. He had magnetos, piping, and I think even a valve cover or two hanging in the shop. He also had a bunch of technical papers and specs for it at one time but I don't know what happened to those items, maybe my cousin got some when PopPop passed. I have a bunch of his tools, micrometers, calipers, and a number of hard bound manuals for other Lycoming engines, including a mint bound copy of the R-680 Instruction manual complete with lithographs, photos and drawings as well as several pages of hand written notes PopPop made tucked neatly into the jacket.
I wish he would have lived long enough to see 'his engine' as he referred to the sole remaining unit, go on display at the Smithsonian. He would have been so proud. I plan to take my family to see it this winter.
Well, sorry for the long winded and rambling intro but I though you folks would appreciate a little non technical personal background on an obscure engine that most of the world never heard of.
One of his proudest memories from those days was his work on the XR-7755 36 cyl liquid cooled radial engine. When I was young he would tell me many long detailed stories of how difficult that project was and how much effort was put into working the bugs out of the design as it was so complicated. One of the most problematic items was those variable cams. Getting and keeping them synchronized and getting them to smoothly actuate was a huge issue. He and the younger engineers didn't always see eye to eye and there was friction between them early on. He didn't have the education of an engineer but was gifted with an engineers mind. So when he would tell an engineer his feelings on an area of a design he felt was weak or failure prone, he was often dismissed. Later when that part or system would fail on the stand, he couldn't resist being an 'I told you so', not the best way to make friends. However, as time went on, they began to trust his insights.
Pop Pop as I called him, was almost deaf as long as I can remember and he told me that the 7755 was what had cost him most of his hearing. This was the days before OSHA and safety wasn't a huge priority in the workplace then. Imagine if you will, the XR-7755 running at rated power on a test stand inside a concrete room and being present without ear plugs! WOW.
He was very disappointed when the contract for the engines was cancelled and felt like a part of him was in those two prototypes. The main engine that they tested was not scrapped for what ever reason as both were supposed to have been junked when it was cancelled. The other unit was put out for scrap. Being the capable man he was, he took a bunch of the scrapped items home and put them in his work shop. Pop Pop was like McGuyver, he could take a pile of junk and make something useful from it. He built his riding tractor out of a Model A steering wheel, a GM truck gearbox, a Wisconsin single cylinder 8 hp engine and angle iron from the junk yards around town. He mowed 5 acres with that contraption for 20 years. He also built a farm tractor out of a Ford truck engine, steel channel and a Pachard transmission. I add this so you know he could find a use for anything.
As a small child I loved to play in his shop, which was an old mill on his property out in the country. A flood had damaged his stream and mill race and in his mid 70's he rebuilt the water wheel that had powered a Delco plant on the property during the Depression. Since the stream was wrecked, he wanted the water wheel to operate so he used a pump to force water into the wheel. To pump the water, he had hooked up a small gasoline engine to this funny looking gizmo. I asked what it was and he said, 'oh that's the water pump from a 36 cylinder radial engine I got off the scrap heap'. So one of the spare waterpumps from the XR-7755 served out its years attached to an old gas engine pumping water to make a 15 foot diameter water wheel turn. He had magnetos, piping, and I think even a valve cover or two hanging in the shop. He also had a bunch of technical papers and specs for it at one time but I don't know what happened to those items, maybe my cousin got some when PopPop passed. I have a bunch of his tools, micrometers, calipers, and a number of hard bound manuals for other Lycoming engines, including a mint bound copy of the R-680 Instruction manual complete with lithographs, photos and drawings as well as several pages of hand written notes PopPop made tucked neatly into the jacket.
I wish he would have lived long enough to see 'his engine' as he referred to the sole remaining unit, go on display at the Smithsonian. He would have been so proud. I plan to take my family to see it this winter.
Well, sorry for the long winded and rambling intro but I though you folks would appreciate a little non technical personal background on an obscure engine that most of the world never heard of.
