Stans Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 4 1/2 minutes and four men to start a FW-190 versus 12 seconds and one man to start a P-51D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 FW190 was a evil plane in the sky but looks like a real biatch to start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 And that was in decent weather. Try starting it with 4 feet of snow on the ground and -30. Yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizkid Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 God, I'm exhausted! I gave up after the first time cranking that bastard, and let Frank try it. He and Johnny were the ones that finally got it started, though. I see that a letter stated that the Jumo engine was a real SOB to start and talked about 109s going to electric starters. The German ground crews must have had shoulders like weight lifters! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stans Posted October 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 Pretty much, just take a look at Hans and Frans, who are ready to pump you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stag Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 They must be missing a trick; you could never effectively scramble an aircraft which was so hard to start. As for the P51 comment; The Hurricane cleared the road, The Spitfire helped, and the P51 upgraded it to a motorway later on. The Rolls-Royce Merlin won the war! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stans Posted October 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink Panther Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 Don't know what the problem is with their FW-190 but mine starts first time, every time, in IL-2. Probably needs new spark plugs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie seagoon Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 Wonder what the weight tradeoff is for the electric vs the flywheel starter. Curious that Kurt Tank didn't include an electric starter because there was alot of electric powered kit on that plane, including the landing gear mechanism. Maybe it was a BMW thing. BMW do sort of have their own way of doing things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stans Posted October 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 I think it might have been more of a logistics thing than anything else. Cartridge starters were pretty reliable, the cartridges are small (almost identical to a 12 gauge shotgun shell), you just need to have them on hand to make the system work. Electric starters require electricity and the batteries of that era were no where near as durable nor did they have the amperage of today's batteries, so an external electrical source may have been a requirement for starting if the engine did not fire up after a few attempts. The hand cranked starter required a crank and one or two men, pretty simple and one crank might fit every aircraft in the inventory. As for weight savings, electric motors do not weigh a whole lot and many still rely upon a flywheel to get the engine rotating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizkid Posted October 19, 2008 Report Share Posted October 19, 2008 I think it might have been more of a logistics thing than anything else. Cartridge starters were pretty reliable, the cartridges are small (almost identical to a 12 gauge shotgun shell), you just need to have them on hand to make the system work. Electric starters require electricity and the batteries of that era were no where near as durable nor did they have the amperage of today's batteries, so an external electrical source may have been a requirement for starting if the engine did not fire up after a few attempts. The hand cranked starter required a crank and one or two men, pretty simple and one crank might fit every aircraft in the inventory. As for weight savings, electric motors do not weigh a whole lot and many still rely upon a flywheel to get the engine rotating. Electric starters on the Russian front? I don't think so! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neddie seagoon Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Well, the Russian P-40's had them ... I also think that you'll find aero engines do not have integral flywheels. No need with that big twirly thingy hanging off the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stans Posted October 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Yep, the only flywheel would be a part of the starter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Weiss Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Such girly Men! Never had a shortage of schtrongk boyz, und i mean schtrongk men to schtart mein Focke-wulf! took und 1 man und schtrongk boy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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