On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 23:12:36 -0400, wrote:

On Sun, 21 Jun 2015 21:29:44 -0500, "David R. Birch"
wrote:

On 6/21/2015 8:09 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:

This afternoon I was listening to the crew of a machine of similar
complexity, the B-29 bomber "Fifi". They had removed the turbos and
replaced the direct mechanical injection with carbs to cut down the
enormous maintenance, since they don't need the original high
performance.
http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/r3350.htm

-jsw

When the Soviets built the Tu-4, based on interned B-29 they studied,
they're tech was not up to replicating the Wright R-3350, so they
installed a carbureted radial which meant the Tu-4 had much less range.

When my Dad flew B-29 missions out of Tinian, they never flew with all
new or rebuilt engines, at least 2 were engines that had already proved
they were reliable.

David
Nothing like experience to instill confidence. An "experienced" engine
statistically has a lower chance of failure than a freshly rebuilt
one.

Indeed. Could you imagine the conditions their old wrenches
experienced on a Pacific island back then? Heat, humidity, blowing
dust, etc. I doubt we newer wrenches would have liked them at all,
and I applaud the job they did.

--
Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the
exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.
--Frederick Douglass