For the aviation fans

[Lotus]

Great news - there's a new Draco in the works. This is going to be interesting.

 

 

Time to Wake the Dragon. Rebuilding the Monster Bush Plane has begun | DRACO X #1 (youtube.com)

Edited December 14, 2020 by Lotus

[mazambaan]

Great news - there's a new Draco in the works. This is going to be interesting.

 

 

Time to Wake the Dragon. Rebuilding the Monster Bush Plane has begun | DRACO X #1 (youtube.com)

 

Mike Patey and what he does is just ridiculous 

[eddy]

Mike Patey and what he does is just ridiculous 

 

 

I want to see Scrappy's wing

[SwissVan]

For those that know the PW PT6 engine, quite a milestone achieved

 

 

 

AINalerts: December 3, 2020 (ainonline.com)

 

 

[Long Wheel Base]

For those that know the PW PT6 engine, quite a milestone achieved

 

pt6.JPG

 

 

AINalerts: December 3, 2020 (ainonline.com)

For something that AFAIK the design was taken from a water turbine it has come a long way. When I saw 50 000 I thought that it would have been way more. According to Wikipedia they hit 51 000 in 2015 (So someone needs to update one of the sites ) . Either way, had you asked me how many I thought had been made I probably would have guessed a figure double that. But thinking about it now, off the top of my head, a lot of the aircraft using a PT6 are single engine.

[Lotus]

For those that know the PW PT6 engine, quite a milestone achieved

 

 

Be interesting to hear from everyone what the best (in your view!) engines are in different categories - jet, rocket, piston, automotive, motorcycle (no, they're not aviation-related but a great engine deserves mention, whatever the category)

 

I'll start by nominating:

Rolls Royce Merlin

BMW N54 in the auto category. 

BMW N54 is a twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine that was produced from 2006 to 2016. It is BMW's first mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine and BMW's first turbocharged petrol engine since the limited-production BMW M106 was discontinued in 1986. The N54 debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in the 335i model of the E90/E91/E92/E93 3 Series range.

[Long Wheel Base]

Be interesting to hear from everyone what the best (in your view!) engines are in different categories - jet, rocket, piston, automotive, motorcycle (no, they're not aviation-related but a great engine deserves mention, whatever the category)

 

I'll start by nominating:

Rolls Royce Merlin

BMW N54 in the auto category. 

BMW N54 is a twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine that was produced from 2006 to 2016. It is BMW's first mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine and BMW's first turbocharged petrol engine since the limited-production BMW M106 was discontinued in 1986. The N54 debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in the 335i model of the E90/E91/E92/E93 3 Series range.

Ah man that N54/N55 was/is a beast. Rumor has it that in its stock form it had to be detuned because the E90 M3 with the V8(S65 I think) was not as far ahead on performance as they would have liked. So the guys modified the 335i and it would then embarrass the M3.

 

On the aviation side wrt jet engines, from my experience the CFM56 is a reliable engine. They just keep going. They are the chosen engine for many passenger aircraft both narrow and wide bodied aircraft.

The old Rolls Royce RB211 commonly used on the jumbo was a monster and made the best noise ever but compared to the General Electric CF6 it wasn't as reliable(not that it was unreliable but the GE was hardly ever opened up for issues).

[Lotus]

 

The old Rolls Royce RB211 commonly used on the jumbo was a monster and made the best noise ever but compared to the General Electric CF6 it wasn't as reliable(not that it was unreliable but the GE was hardly ever opened up for issues).

 

 

 

I guess this was the engine(s) that made the earth shake next to the runway at Heathrow. Best part of dropping off the rental car was doing it next to that departure runway, and seeing/hearing/feeling those 747s departing.

Edited December 15, 2020 by Lotus

[SwissVan]

Be interesting to hear from everyone what the best (in your view!) engines are in different categories - jet, rocket, piston, automotive, motorcycle (no, they're not aviation-related but a great engine deserves mention, whatever the category)

 

I'll start by nominating:

Rolls Royce Merlin

BMW N54 in the auto category.

BMW N54 is a twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine that was produced from 2006 to 2016. It is BMW's first mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine and BMW's first turbocharged petrol engine since the limited-production BMW M106 was discontinued in 1986. The N54 debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in the 335i model of the E90/E91/E92/E93 3 Series range.

Imo the PT6A from Pratt and Whitney from an aviation perspective.

Although there are a lot of different models in the PT6A range to choose from.

As far as I know it’s the only engine to have approval for single engine IFR carrying paying passengers. So it’s very reliable and also has excellent 24/7 customer support.

 

Cars etc... I have no idea ????

[Bonus]

My top 4:

 

Spitfire  - Rolls Royce Merlin. Awesome sound.

 

 

 

Concorde - Rolls Royce Olympus. Brutal.

 

 

 

Harrier  - Rolls Royce Pegasus. That whine on Start-up that steps up, and up, and up!

 

 

 

B747 - Rolls Royce RB211. My fav bypass jet. This guy has a working one in his back garden.

 

[SwissVan]

Nothing beats the sound of a Spifire engine... according to wiki there were almost 150'000 Rolls Royce merlin engines built between 1933 and 1950 when production stopped

 

My old man used to work on the one that was restored by Atlas aircraft (now Denel) and I can remember spending weekends at "Jan Smuts" at the hangar he worked at while him and his mate worked on the engine including engine runs. I had some photos somewhere of it... think the spit was called Evelynn or something like that.

 

 

My top 4:

 

Spitfire  - Rolls Royce Merlin. Awesome sound.

 

 

 

Concorde - Rolls Royce Olympus. Brutal.

 

 

 

Harrier  - Rolls Royce Pegasus. That whine on Start-up that steps up, and up, and up!

 

 

 

B747 - Rolls Royce RB211. My fav bypass jet. This guy has a working one in his back garden.

 

[patham]

Be interesting to hear from everyone what the best (in your view!) engines are in different categories - jet, rocket, piston, automotive, motorcycle (no, they're not aviation-related but a great engine deserves mention, whatever the category)

 

I'll start by nominating:

Rolls Royce Merlin

BMW N54 in the auto category. 

BMW N54 is a twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine that was produced from 2006 to 2016. It is BMW's first mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine and BMW's first turbocharged petrol engine since the limited-production BMW M106 was discontinued in 1986. The N54 debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in the 335i model of the E90/E91/E92/E93 3 Series range.

 

For the aero piston category, I was thinking that I should nominate something else - as everyone will pick the Merlin - it's almost a cliche. However, it became that way for a reason - it was just darn good and versatile. The P&W Twin Wasp radial was made in larger numbers, and maybe a lot more of them are in use today, but was more of a plodder in the transports and bombers. I quite like the DB601 in the Bf 109 with its fuel injection, but in the end I have to support the Merlin nomination.

 

For the car engines, even though I have never owned one I reckon the Honda VTEC should be ranked pretty highly as a technology step change that was brought to the market.

[patham]

Ah man that N54/N55 was/is a beast. Rumor has it that in its stock form it had to be detuned because the E90 M3 with the V8(S65 I think) was not as far ahead on performance as they would have liked. So the guys modified the 335i and it would then embarrass the M3.

 

On the aviation side wrt jet engines, from my experience the CFM56 is a reliable engine. They just keep going. They are the chosen engine for many passenger aircraft both narrow and wide bodied aircraft.

The old Rolls Royce RB211 commonly used on the jumbo was a monster and made the best noise ever but compared to the General Electric CF6 it wasn't as reliable(not that it was unreliable but the GE was hardly ever opened up for issues).

 

From those in the know - how does the JT-9D from the early jumbos compare to the later CF6's and RB's. I flew in a jumbo (the SP) first at age 9, and had a thing for the turbofans and pylon styling and drew and doodled that profile everywhere for years after.   

[Lotus]

Nothing beats the sound of a Spifire engine... 

 

Nothing does 

 

https://youtube.com/embed/Bz4ji-00QV8

 

https://youtu.be/Bz4ji-00QV8

Edited December 16, 2020 by Lotus

[Kranswurm]

A couple of nights ago something pretty big took off at midnight from ORT and woke me up as it went overhead.Not quite the earth shattering experience of those Russian bombers but pretty impressive

[patham]

Be interesting to hear from everyone what the best (in your view!) engines are in different categories - jet, rocket, piston, automotive, motorcycle (no, they're not aviation-related but a great engine deserves mention, whatever the category)

 

I'll start by nominating:

Rolls Royce Merlin

BMW N54 in the auto category. 

BMW N54 is a twin-turbocharged straight-six petrol engine that was produced from 2006 to 2016. It is BMW's first mass-produced turbocharged petrol engine and BMW's first turbocharged petrol engine since the limited-production BMW M106 was discontinued in 1986. The N54 debuted at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and was launched in the 335i model of the E90/E91/E92/E93 3 Series range.

 

And straying even further from topic - railway engines. In which case I shall give away my heritage by nominating the Garrett steam engines of the RR/NRZ. They smoke even more than the early turbojets !

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesia_Railways_20th_class

 

Photos are CC and sourced here:http://www.nigeltout.com.

Edited December 16, 2020 by patham