Scudrunners

That’s a great old film.

I probably would have enjoyed the original but it’s even better, enhanced and adjusted to make it flow better.

I was surprised to see the guys going back and forth to the little engine rooms in flight. That was pretty interesting to watch and wonder if they were dropping off coffee or something.

I used to love the Donald Jack "Bartholomew Bandy" books, more than you will ever know.

Anyways, in one of his many books, he bought one of these surplus after WWI:

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



No one remembers these, but:

During the interwar period the Vimy set several records for long-distance flights, the most celebrated and significant of these being the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, performed by John Alcock and Arthur Brown in June 1919.

Other record-breaking flights were made from the United Kingdom to destinations such as South Africa and Australia. The Vimy continued to be operated until the 1930s in both military and civil capacities.

Going from the United Kingdom to South Africa back then in ether of those planes would be incredible enough.

Even with my overactive imagination it’s difficult to really even have a perspective about the 1919 trip across the Atlantic by Alcock and Brown. To say it was a huge achievement and beyond daring is likely a big understatement.

Flying to Australia at the time also must have been quite a logistical task.Taking a new modern piston twin with GPS on that route would be tough, yet the challenges would not even be comparable.

It’s sad to think there will probably never even be a static replica to see of that behemoth. Next best I guess would be to go see the replica Ilya Muromets in Russia, I guess.

David MacRay wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 4:16 pm That’s a great old film.

I probably would have enjoyed the original but it’s even better, enhanced and adjusted to make it flow better.

I was surprised to see the guys going back and forth to the little engine rooms in flight. That was pretty interesting to watch and wonder if they were dropping off coffee or something.

These guys are the mechanics, out of a crew of 10 four were four mechanics 4 pilots and 2 radio operators
One of the engines used in the bomber was the Maybach inline 6, designed for a max output of HP 240 at SL
In order to produce the rated power at 6000' the cylinders were enlarged and the CR increase to a very high for
the times 6:1 making over HP 300 at SL but because no other modifications were made to beef up the rest of the engine
to account for the increased power, full throttle was not allowed bellow 2000'
Later in the war a fifth engine was installed in the fuselage just to drive a blower to supercharge all 4 Mercedes engines

Ok, that’s interesting but the fifth engine to drive a boost system for the other four engines is extra fun.

Don’t worry about weight boy. We need more power!

These guys are my heroes: