Largest Radial engined piston

Friend of mine that looks after the RR Spits also is involved with the Deltic that still runs on the mainline.

Most frightening near misses I know of was a puma that fell over on the lazy runway at Odious, as the ground crew outside was running away a rotor blade section separated hit the ground bounced up and hit him flat on the back and pushed him over, he got away with it, as did the guys in the caravan playing cards as another blade past through the sides between them.
Another when doing a rotor turning refuel was hit by a snapped off static wick that stuck out of his forehead like a Dalek penetrated his skull and just stopped short of his brain, he didn’t feel any pain! And it was removed in hospital… Used to snap off all the time and after that they were rapidly replaced with a shorter item!

Hi Tony. Tell me about steam engines, I served my time as a fitter with B.R. at New England depot. I have worked on Mallard, Flying Scotman, Sir Nigel Gresley to name just a few, Also spent time at Doncaster main plant and on diesels, including the Deltic,which was a monster engine. The cylinders on most of the engines were huge,and getting the con rod away from the slide bar was a nightmare in itself.
I well remember, one day, in the sheds, an engine was all fired up and a head full of steam, when the fireman, opened the regulator to move the engine out of the shed, but forgot to drain the cylinders of water by failing to open the drain cocks. The result was that the solid cast iron cylinder cover blew, it flew down the alley between the engines to where two fitters were talking, and the cover passed between them, the suction created by the passing cover, between them, pulled them together and they just got away with banging their heads together and being knocked out. The actual power of steam has to be seen to be believed, it’s efficiant, powerfull, and very underestimated.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

We have a pilot here used to be a marine engineer on the old steam vessels, he was telling me they could decouple a cylinder from the rest of the engine, then enter the cylinder from an access door to work on the piston and barrel from inside!!!! now that IS big…

Lincoln, I refer to size as one limiting factor is inertia, you are stopping a piston in travel and reversing it at TDC and BDC, the loadings on the rest of the engine will increase the heavier the piston and accordingly the heavier the piston the greater the weight of the rest of the engine is in beefing it up to cope with the stresses imposed on it…… therefore a smaller, lighter piston is ideal, another reason you don’t see a 5 litre single, well, bar the fact it wouldn’t be the smoothest running engine in the world LOL

From here:
http://craftsmanshipmuseum.com/tomlinson.htm

It is always a challenge sourcing materials for engine components without spending a fortune. For the Deltic pistons Clen wanted the correct high Silicon/low expansion alloy and went looking for some scrap pistons from big diesel engines that he could cut up and make the model pistons from the crowns. His searches took him to a marine breakers in Portsmouth where he had been told they had dismantled some Deltic engines. No luck, but he did find racks of dozens of brand new pistons for large Paxman Marine Engines. These are approx 11″ in diameter and 13″ long. The skirts are 7/8″ thick. Stamped into the inside are the material specs and all QA data. Perfect for what he needed. They cost £25, but what a bargain! A Paxman piston can be seen in some of the photos below. It is shown for size scale because all 36 model pistons will fit around the skirt of one of these large pistons.

Marine pistons… :diablo:

Now if you’re talking about the biggest piston I’ve got! 😉

Ahhhhhh well Pete, thanks for the info, bang goes one for my collection, I just trawled Flea Bay, but nothing on there. On the bright side,(Apart from all the charges, H.M. Customs being the worst) I have just received two brand new WW1 Rotary engined spark plugs from a guy in the States, he has a museum, where he has a 200 strong collection of mainly model radial engines all hand built and all run. He also has the odd real radial donated to the museum. The items he has had donated to the museum are astounding.
Guess it’s the same old story, it’s not WHAT you know, etc, etc.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

Pete, Are you saying that this piston, being used in cars today is still the same identical one as used in the WW11 aircraft, if so, I wouldn’t mind getting one for my collection.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

No Jim, it`s an old car fitted with a 40 something litre (BMW V1) aero-engine!

Pete

Pete, Are you saying that this piston, being used in cars today is still the same identical one as used in the WW11 aircraft, if so, I wouldn’t mind getting one for my collection.
Jim.
Lincoln .7

What aircraft would this apparently monster piston go into…

Quite a few aircraft from between the wars; the only one I really know anything about is the Heinkel He59 twin-engined float-plane that was used for air-sea rescue during the Battle-of-Britain.

Nice one Pete, how did you come to that?.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

V12
German
Bigger bore than an R-3350
In service in WW2 (Which I didn`t know)

I knows my engines! It`s an unusual one, but it crops up a lot on the internet because there is a car fitted with one. I thought the piston looked modern, I hadn`t seen one before.

I also know that a Bramo Fafnir 323 has a bore of 154mm against the BMW 132 and 801 which are 154mm, so I`m not sure where that bit of confusion came from?
I should probably get out more, but I do have a life away from this job where engines don`t feature!

Pete

BMW V1?

Pete

Nice one Pete, how did you come to that?.

Jim.

Lincoln .7

TonyT, I couldn’t agree more:D

What aircraft would this apparently monster piston go into C.D.?.
I take it that this one from your collection, very nice.
Jim.

Lincoln .7

Don’t forget bigger is not better….

BMW V1?

Bingo! 😀

BMW V1?

Pete

C’Mon Warren, Spill the beans, I give up.:rolleyes:

Jim.

Lincoln .7

I don`t know of any other WW2 engines with a larger bore size than a BMW 801, or was it pre-war but still around?

Inspired guess that last part…..you’re so close now! 🙂

Not from a radial (hence it fails to qualify for this thread); DB 603 is in the right area on two counts.

To be honest I didn`t think it was a DB 603 because I don`t think they look like that, but in the absence of any better ideas . . . !
I don`t know of any other WW2 engines with a larger bore size than a BMW 801, or was it pre-war but still around?
Go on, give us another clue!

Pete

Compared to what? 😀

.. Marine pistons…:diablo:

C.D. Ok, we are in the right area on two counts, the first has to be the shape:p gissa clue to the second, And wipe that grin off your face;)

Jim.

Lincoln .7