18 cylinder Two Row Radial Aircraft Engine, by Harold Beckett, CO, 1995
Harold Beckett is a retired United Airlines pilot who handcrafted this engine from drawings provided by Sam and Lee Hodgeson. The model operates on regular gasoline with dual-spark ignition and it has a pressurized lubrication system.
The radial engine was much more powerful and reliable than the old rotary design. It was used to power large aircraft such as airliners and bombers. Two-row radials were used extensively in World War II aircraft. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 (14-cylinder two-row radial) was produced in greater numbers than any piston aircraft engine. It was used in the Consolidated B-24 and PBY-2, and in the Douglas C-47/DC-3.
In 1939, the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 was installed in the Grumman F4F-3 and was the world’s first engine to use a two-stage supercharger — two years ahead of the first two-stage Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engines.
Courtesy of Harold Beckett
Paul and Paula Knapp
Miniature Engineering Museum
18 cylinder Two Row Radial Aircraft Engine, by Harold Beckett, CO, 1995
Harold Beckett is a retired United Airlines pilot who handcrafted this engine from drawings provided by Sam and Lee Hodgeson. The model operates on regular gasoline with dual-spark ignition and it has a pressurized lubrication system.
The radial engine was much more powerful and reliable than the old rotary design. It was used to power large aircraft such as airliners and bombers. Two-row radials were used extensively in World War II aircraft. The Pratt & Whitney R-1830 (14-cylinder two-row radial) was produced in greater numbers than any piston aircraft engine. It was used in the Consolidated B-24 and PBY-2, and in the Douglas C-47/DC-3.
In 1939, the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 was installed in the Grumman F4F-3 and was the world’s first engine to use a two-stage supercharger — two years ahead of the first two-stage Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engines.
Courtesy of Harold Beckett
Paul and Paula Knapp
Miniature Engineering Museum