Washing Machine Charlie

[Marshall_Stack]

I have read about a nightly intruder over Guadalcanal that was a two engine bomber that dropped a few bombs to harass the allied troops and break up their sleep.

They mention that the engine were unsynchronized which made more of a racket which is why they called him Washing Machine Charlie.

How do you run engines out of sync? I'd the RPM setting or something else?

 

[Dinger]

I have read about a nightly intruder over Guadalcanal that was a two engine bomber that dropped a few bombs to harass the allied troops and break up their sleep.

They mention that the engine were unsynchronized which made more of a racket which is why they called him Washing Machine Charlie.

How do you run engines out of sync? I'd the RPM setting or something else?

Thats exactly it - See this article Propeller synchronization - Wikipedia

German aircraft bombing Britain also used to unsynch their engines - It was though to make it harder for sound-locators to zero in on them. -Acoustic location - Wikipedia

The British had a slightly different approach to keeping the Italians in the Western desert awake at night - With no night fighters to worry about, a long endurance Bristol Bombay bomber could stay orbiting a target for almost all of the night - every 5 minutes they would fling out a tiny 2 pounder bomb.

 

[J_Riley]

I always thought washing machine Charlie was a single engine float plane...

Various aircraft were used, including ship or shore-based single-engine seaplanes, and, on occasion a two-engine airplane, probably a Betty bomber whose pilot had made sure his engines were out of synchronization. The vibration was bad enough to wake most people, and then the waiting for the bombs (most of which missed) kept the men awake for the rest of the night.

 

[bdefen]

Related, at least a bit, to this. My dad had a dear friend who happened to be stationed at Okinawa after the big battle in 1945, war still on. He was in the Navy, a seaman of some sort. While serving duty guarding a garbage dump (as the story goes) he witnessed an incredible air assault and battle. While bravely protecting the garbage dump with his rifle, one little (maybe a biplane) Japanese aircraft entered the Okinawa Bay airspace, rocketing through the air at at least 80 mph. The shriek of its engine was described as "putt putt putt putt putt" (you get the picture). The US Navy was prepared, and an immense anti-aircraft barrage ensued. (Think "Night Time in Baghdad", right). The little plane kept putt-putting right on through the wall of steel/lead sent up by the United States Navy antiaircraft batteries, from ship and shore. Mr. Putt Putt delivered its bomb load, or scathing written message, or whatever, turned around, and headed for home. Never a hit. Lord only knows how much ordinance was expended defending the mighty US Navy and Okinawa that day. My dad's friend (later an esteemed attorney) always recounted that Mr. Putt Putt was the luckiest SOB that had ever lived. That's sounds like a Washing Machine Charlie to me.

 

[ktank]

The British had a slightly different approach to keeping the Italians in the Western desert awake at night - With no night fighters to worry about, a long endurance Bristol Bombay bomber could stay orbiting a target for almost all of the night - every 5 minutes they would fling out a tiny 2 pounder bomb.

The RAAF did similar early in the Pacific war with Catalinas stooging around Japanese air bases in PNG. In addition to small bombs they'd also empty the contents of the onboard toilet!

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting!

 

[Milosh]

Female Soviet pilots flew the Po-2 on such missions. Iirc they were called the Night Witches.