Not Well Rockwell

The old safe pilot definition -"same number of take-offs as landings" has been visited on this blog before. I'm not quite sure how POT, or prang on take-off qualifies - maybe the duration of actual flight (in this case about 4 seconds) is a consideration. Compared to the awful Beach Musketeer featured last time, the Rockwell Commander 112A is a fine slippery cruiser, 200ish horse flat 6 Lycoming, VP prop and retractable undercarriage make long commutes a pleasure. The resulting mess of this failed take-off looked very unsightly and might have distracted other pilots coping with our 600 hundred metres of ex WW2 perimeter track which serves as a runway. Quickest solution to tidy things up was to track the PC180 a few yards off the strip into the sugar beet and put a sling through the doors for a short lift to the graveyard behind Hangar 1. I mentioned earlier the satisfying sound of a metal prop ploughing its own furrow - on this occasion the change from full rev floundering in a half-stalled take off to "engine stop" was startlingly sudden as the poor thing found a pile of broken concrete stacked up awaiting clearance. "Damaged Beyond Economical Repair" in assessor's lingo. MORE FLIGHT !

Roll out the Barrel

Christmas treat for everyone. Who could fail to get excited by this ? Here's a barrel and sleeve from a Bristol Centaurus IV. The main reason this has to be here is that an eighteen cylinder sleeve valve radial engine that develops 2500 horse power at 2500 revs can't be ignored. A few years ago I had a Hawker Tempest project, that's the Tempest that superseded the Typhoon towards the end of the war. The mark II actually failed to see service in the war because of engine development issues and was beaten to the spot by the mark V which was powered by the 12 cylinder Napier Sabre. However the II was an extremely slippery machine and, personally, I think much prettier for not having the gaping rad under the engine. Archive's in a bit of a state but I'll post some pics when I find them. In the meanwhile feast your eyes on these puppies. MORE POWER.