Bristol Hercules flying?

One of the photos on that link shows the final movement of WL668, which believe it or not, never flew again following its instant conversion to a swing-wing Varsity at El Paso in 1983.

A number of errors are listed, but the landing was, in summary, a complete c@ck-up.

This link
http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?Type=494
lists 32 Varsity accidents. I have heard that it’s engine out performance was a bit “marginal”. The fact that the pilot was trying to do a forced landing at a grass strip says that he was in deep trouble. At the time I thought that they had put the wrong type of fuel in it too. Very sad

Rgds Cking

The crash effectively ended the operation of civil Varsities in the U.K
There was no question of incorrect fuel being put in her – she was correctly filled . The crash was well investigated and the conclusions as per the previous post – a persished diaphram.

Did the report give any details as to why control was lost? Is the Varsity tricky on one engine, or did the pilot allow the speed to drop off.

I think there was still an RAE Varsity flying in the mid-to-late eighties. That may have been the last flyer (not civil, obviously)

“Only two Hydras were ever built and one of these was test flown in the Hawker Harrier, which Bristol used for a variety of test engines. It apparently suffered from severe vibration at critical speeds”
Extract from http://www.enginehistory.org/bristol_hydra.htm

Yes, I would agree with you that an 8 cylinder radial would run as if it had a misfire, but I assume that is why the Hydra had 16. However, I would have thought it even more important in this case to have a centre main bearing, which the Hydra did not. This surely contributed to some of the harmonic vibrations it suffered from.
You can apply the same theory to the Rolls-Royce Vulture, either as banks of 4 cylinder radials, or 4 banks of 6 cylinders which are each perfectly balanced, in which case 90 degrees between the banks should be ok. Most V12s are 60 degrees, but they work just as well at any included angle, because they have 6 cylinder banks.
Please feel free to correct me on any of this, it is only my opinion!

Peter

I need to clarify a few points. The Varsity was on a flight to take part in the Liverpool air display at Speke. The camera ship was there to photograph her for a FlyPast article which Mike Twite was preparing. He was sadly lost when she crashed but it must be pointed out that there were a number of other deaths in the crash .
The crash effectively ended the operation of civil Varsities in the U.K
There was no question of incorrect fuel being put in her – she was correctly filled . The crash was well investigated and the conclusions as per the previous post – a persished diaphram.

I don’t think that the “Flypast” Varsity crash was down to the wrong fuel. From what I remember it was, as Propstrike said a,perished rubber diaphram deep in the “innards” of one of the engines Hobbson injector. There was an ex RAF Devon crash around the same time due to the same thing. The C.A.A. issued a airworthiness notice concerning the shelf life of “Rubber” componants as a result of these two crashes.

Rgds Cking

The terrible Varsity crash was at Marchington in August 84 when the aeroplane was on a photo-shoot. One of the engines failed, and in the attempted landing at the Staffordshire gliding site, it impacted nearly inverted.

I remember reading the crash report, but the only detail I recall was a problem ‘with the diaphram’ ( in the fuel supply system I think).

I think it was refuelled at Leicester Airport with Avtur instead of Avgas, but not sure. I know the photographer that was shooting it went it went down!

“Only two Hydras were ever built and one of these was test flown in the Hawker Harrier, which Bristol used for a variety of test engines. It apparently suffered from severe vibration at critical speeds”
Extract from http://www.enginehistory.org/bristol_hydra.htm

A friend of mine was following a scrap lorry which contained a Bristol Hercules a few years ago (late 90’s, early 00’s). Naturally, he stopped it, diverted it and has since then been the proud owner of said radial.

I’m sure it’s covered elsewhere, but it always bugs me as to the engineering reason that radials must have an odd number of cylinders per row. Anybody know?

I would not say “must have”, check out the Bristol Hydra, proving that anything is possible. (two rows of 8 cylinders) 😮
Aircraft is Harrier J8325

The terrible Varsity crash was at Marchington in August 84 when the aeroplane was on a photo-shoot. One of the engines failed, and in the attempted landing at the Staffordshire gliding site, it impacted nearly inverted.

I remember reading the crash report, but the only detail I recall was a problem ‘with the diaphram’ ( in the fuel supply system I think).

A radial with an even number of cylinders does not deliver power evenly, whilst with an odd number of cylinders the firing sequence can be arranged so that steady power is obtained. Reference “The Development of Piston Aero Engines” by our old friend Bill Gunston, pages 115 and 116 (which has an explanatory diagram).

A friend of mine was following a scrap lorry which contained a Bristol Hercules a few years ago (late 90’s, early 00’s). Naturally, he stopped it, diverted it and has since then been the proud owner of said radial.

I’m sure it’s covered elsewhere, but it always bugs me as to the engineering reason that radials must have an odd number of cylinders per row. Anybody know?

Pete – I was a young lad then awaiting her arrival at Liverpool air display. That was in 1984 from memory. There were no problems with airframe fatigue-the engine side caused her sad end.

When and where was the Varsity crash that claimed the lives of some of the Flypast staff, including the editor. Was this down to failure of the Hercules engines, or airframe fatigue, I remember seeing it fly at Duxford and this was probably the last time I saw Hercules engines in action.
Varsities were very common at airshows in the 60’s along with the Hastings that were also fitted with Hercules engines, pity the 2 surviving examples at Duxford haven’t been given much TLC recently, back to happier days, Cottesmore, 1961.

I am not sure of the actual retirement date from RAE service but the last flight of WL679 was 27th July 1992 from Farnborough to Cosford.

Have a look at this! http://www.woodlynpark.co.nz/planemotel.html for a novel idea.

I actually flew in this aircraft in 1967 or 68 from Singaporeto Hong Kong via Saigon and the war was much in evidence.

There is a Noratlas flying in France, also using Hercules engines. The Halifax at Elvington is fitted with four ex-Noratlas engines built under license by SNECMA IIRC.
Although these are of a much later version than used in the Beau or Halifax.

Cheers

Cees

Or perhaps Sleaufighter… (ie slow)

Nice if it happens, because we can then close our eyes and think Beaufighter!!

Probably the closest we’ll ever get to that now its being sold….