The only radial I ever worked on was the R985 Wasp Jr.

by JimT, Texas, Saturday, September 23, 2023, 17:53 (426 days ago) @ A K Church

by Pratt & Whitney. They were in the De Havilland Beavers. Had some interesting times with them. The Beaver has a crank on the left side by the cockpit door, that if the battery is dead, you get the crank, wind up this heavy flywheel and once it is going the Pilot pulls a handle and that engages the flywheel and turns the engine over. We were getting ready to go someplace in Korea and the battery was dead. I told the Pilot I would get out and crank it and he said not to bother. He had me stand on the brakes, make sure the magnetos were off, and he pulled the engine through 3 or 4 times. Then he told me to turn the magnetos on and stand on the brakes and he hand propped that big old Hamilton Standard prop like it was a J3 Cub! And he was a little guy .. no more than 5' 8" and not heavy.

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Ele era velho.
Ele era corajoso.
Ele era feio.