Thursday, October 9, 2025

Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp onto a F4U Corsair

 


11 comments:

  1. An amazing engine.

    "During durability testing of the C series R-2800 by Republic, it was decided to find out at what manifold pressure and carburetor temperature caused detonation. The technicians at Republic ran the engine at extreme boost pressures that produced 3,600 hp! But wait, it gets even more amazing. They ran it at 3,600 hp for 250 hours, without any failure! This was with common 100 octane avgas. No special fuels were used. Granted, the engines were largely used up but survived without a single component failure. Try this with Rolls Royce Merlin or Allison V-1710 and see what happens."

    From here--
    https://www.cradleofaviation.org/history/history/aircraft/p-47_thunderbolt_aviation_darwinism.html

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    1. I think that's a sea story and you know the difference between a fairy tale and a sea story. According to "The Secret Horsepower Race"by Calum E Douglas the R-2800-73 used in the P47N achieved 2800hp using water injection and 150 octane fuel at 20lbs of boost in December of 1944. P47Cs used the -21 engine which only achieved 2,000hp on 130 octane fuel.
      Al_in_Ottawa

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  2. Had an uncle who during WW2 worked on Thunderbolts in England. He said that mainly he and seven other mechanics took two days to replace a P47 engine as the engines were kaput at about 25 hours of use. He told me that the second bank of cylinders were not cooled properly, that the engine burned oil prodigiously, and War Emergency Boost available to pilots destroyed engines. He was not a fan of the engine used in so many US military aircraft.
    Dan Kurt

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    1. My dad serviced these in the Pacific and liked them. They remain one of the greatest aircraft engines. He also liked the Alison 1710.

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  3. Saw a cut-a-way of one of these engines at a museum. Made so you could see the connecting rods which were two on each journal.. fascinating engineering. -TeX

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  4. strawberry blonde with saddle shoes, nice

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  5. Works of industrial art, never to be seen again.

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  6. like the gal's bee-bopps

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  7. Friend’s dad was an ace in the ETO. David Carl Schilling. One of Hub Zemke’s Wolfpack. Different kind of men and I’d love to hear some of their stories. Jr was a B52 pilot in Vietnam so the Apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Thanks Vets.

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