Oh boy! Running engines over and over to take off power is not good. Don't remember turbo prop engines. Those probably deriviative of Allison 501-D13 engines depending on their date of manufacture. Alot depends on how long TO power applied. Can count as a cycle towards cycle limit but will bet was not counted ?
Number counts toward hot section inspection or maybe even a replacement of a compressor or turbine disk.
The President and the Penguin 'The Rear Gunner'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdLbEQ6Dv8
Rail mounted targets in training.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Don't mess with The Penguin!
He's got twin fifties and he knows how to use 'em!
Don't mess with The Joker either!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PzPE69_mqo
Great stuff! If you've never seen it, watch "Detour" with Tom Neal and Ann Savage- it's the worst and best film noir ever made. Watch it and you'll see why.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037638/
A French Nieuport 27 protest flight through the Arc de Triomphe (and a man jumps from a train to an airplane)
That Nieuport under the Arc protest was nothing compared to what this guy did!
Although fifty years apart, gotta love 'em both!
One with a Nieuport in Paris, one with a Hawker Hunter jet in London!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gavx54dKYvI
Flintlock76That Nieuport under the Arc protest was nothing compared to what this guy did! Although fifty years apart, gotta love 'em both! One with a Nieuport in Paris, one with a Hawker Hunter jet in London! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gavx54dKYvI
50 years later the protest would not have been able to be covered up.
Well, maybe the 1919 fly-through might have been the target of an attempted cover-up as well, but those crazy French fighter jocks had two movie cameras set up to catch it! They wanted it recorded for posterity!
The Parisians and the French people in general probably got a kick out of it too!
Too bad there weren't cell phone cameras around in 1968 London, any video of that RAF pilot's wackyness would have been priceless!
To respond to some earlier posts in this thread, IIRC the P-39 was designed as a ground-attack plane, so it should have been pretty good at the job. My memory may be playing tricks on me, but I believe some "redneck engineering" by the 5th Air Force (with McArthur in the Southwest Pacific campaign) mounted four 20-mm cannons in the nose of a B-25 for the purpose of sinking ships. These were not successful, because the recoil from the cannons shook the planes to pieces. Can't imagine how the fire from 4 cannons would have torn thru an un-armored merchant ship.
SALfan IIRC the P-39 was designed as a ground-attack plane, so it should have been pretty good at the job.
It rather shares that characteristic with the A10 "Wart Hog," essentially an airplane built around a weapon (the Gatling gun, in that case). An A10 would be hopelessly outclassed by just about every fighter in the air today, but it's the cat's meow for ground support.
The A10, with it's depleted uranium projectiles, certainly would have wreaked havoc on German trains in WWII.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
SALfanThese were not successful, because the recoil from the cannons shook the planes to pieces.
I believe you'll find it wasn't the vibration that was the problem, as I recall it was the 'retro-rocket' effect of the recoil. The four cannon together slowed the plane abruptly to below safe flying speed with even a reasonably sustained burst, with the plane having to be essentially in a steep dive to get the cannon to bear on the target. Subsequent recovery, unassisted by any practical means of recovering airspeed combined with much heavier wing loading, would be difficult and dangerous at best; more troublesome if you were expected to execute evasive maneuvers at the same time...
You can reduce some of the effect of 'felt' recoil using recoilless-rifle techniques like active hydraulic mounts or muzzle brakes. Note that one of the points of the 20mm shell is that the projectiles rely on explosives, not momentum, for most of their damage, so the actual mass being ejected during a nominal period of firing can be relatively low.
The bad news is that the sequential cannon shells can be fuzed to detonate at different delays, as the armorer prepares the chain. So instead of just shredding the surface as AP machine-gun bullets do, you can get penetration to what may be several depths, through the presumed structure of the ship (and its crew and cargo, particularly including that of troop transports). Even a comparatively short firing can produce more severe damage than the same 'throw weight' in one large explosive projectile hit like the shell from a larger-bore ship's gun.
We might gainfully compare the net recoil effect of the 37mm cannon in the Airacobra with the 4 20mm on the proposed design.
4 20mm cannon wouldn't bother a B25. The much smaller P38 Lightning had 1-20mm and 4-.50cal MG in the nose and did fine. It was the 75mm cannon that did the damage.
I have seen pictures of a B-25 with one cannon mounted in the nose, offset to one side. Was that a 75MM? I imagine it would damage the aircraft if used.
54light15 I have seen pictures of a B-25 with one cannon mounted in the nose, offset to one side. Was that a 75MM? I imagine it would damage the aircraft if used.
Yes it was. The problem with the 75mm was it shook the airplane tremendously and filled the cockpit with smoke, at least according to an "Air Classics" magazine article I read years ago.
"Redneck engineering" indeed! Show what happens when you turn a lot of American kids loose with some high-powered machinery, "back-yard mechanic" skills and a "go for it" attitude!
Which led to the A-10 and the GAU-8 ;)
The thread is diverging from rail again. Please keep on track.
Steve SweeneyDigital Editor, Hobby
A sad picture of a B-26 just moments before spiraling out of control, after taking flak damage while on a bombing run on a railroad bridge in Marzabotto Italy (I'm not fudging the target in disregard/defiance of the above post; It's really what the photo caption states.).
"Lest we forget..."
I was going to make a funny comment with a post a few minutes ago, but I can't after seeing that B-26. I'll have to wait for a while.
Railyard at Marburg Germany being bombed by the 9th Air Force on February 22nd, 1945.
Captured rail shipment of Me-109 fighters.
Steve Sweeney Curious. I don't see mention of the B-26 Marauders. (Did I miss it?) I thought they were involved in fighter-bomber operations including strafing runs and close air support?
Curious. I don't see mention of the B-26 Marauders. (Did I miss it?) I thought they were involved in fighter-bomber operations including strafing runs and close air support?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
If the Bf 109g, a pretty small fighter, could handle 20mm cannon mounted underwing successfully , I think it indicates that cannons are not problematic.
Military engineers of any country, especially the Germany of the time, were pretty good at figuring out what the important infrastructure targets were likely to be and where the appropriate repair materials should be staged, which is the best way to expedite repairs.
But the thing is, after the invasion both the American and British air forces were too good at destroying rail infrastructure. After the Normandy breakout the pusuit of the Germans was hampered by all the destroyed rail lines and bridges, which obviously the Germans didn't need at that point. Much needed supplies, especially fuels, just couldn't be moved fast enough.
Oh well, hindsight's "20-20." No-one expected the Germans in France to collapse as fast as they did.
Any way, Mr. Steve asked about armored trains earlier. Here's a good 12 minute history of armored trains in WW1. VERY interesting!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5Jl5KdG-Tc
charlie hebdo If the Bf 109g, a pretty small fighter, could handle 20mm cannon mounted underwing successfully , I think it indicates that cannons are not problematic.
Those Bf109's were small all right, in more ways than one. I saw a History Channel show a few years back where a present-day RAF pilot was "Trying one on for size" and had to squeeze himself into the cockpit of the restored Messerschmitt.
"My God!" he said, "Were they all bloody midgets?" He was 5'10'', and could barely get in the thing!
Steve Sweeney The thread is diverging from rail again. Please keep on track.
Steve SweeneyThe thread is diverging from rail again. Please keep on track.
Just like railroad Control Points - threads also change routes. If you don't want to go there, get off the train.
BaltACDJust like railroad Control Points - threads also change routes.
All he's saying is that, just like at railroad Control Points, any route you change to will still be 'on the trains'.
There's no description of note, but this steam engine appears to have been the victim of a strafing run in the Korean War.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, on the other side of the world the Japanese were building the Burma Railway while the Allies were unbuilding it for them from the air. I can find where the Americans used B-24 liberators but I haven't found what the British used. Would that have maybe been old Wellingtons and such shipped to the quieter corners of the war after becoming obsolete back in Europe?
I believe the RAF also used Liberators for those missions against railways in Burma. There was some sort of shared command between us and Great Britain with our heavy bombers over there, with a name like the USAF's Strategic Air Command during the Cold War years.
The RAF wasn't too thrilled with the B-24 and avoided sending them up against German fighters over continental Europe on strategic bombing missions. They instead handled maritime patrol duties over the Atlantic and Mediterranean and served as bombers in less vulnerable theaters like Burma.
Here is another video that is a compilation of gun camera footage from WW2. A lot of the movies are fuzzy and slightly out of focus, but you can make out many trains as targets. Some strafe the train until they find the gas or ammo car. On the steam locomotives, you can see a marked change in the plume out of the stack when they get hit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3et1SunPU
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