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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1437.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 October 1953 591 consist of 500-lb, 1,000-lb or 2,000-lb bombs; or torpedos, depth-charges or mines. The next section visited dealt with instruments: here were mounted the complete panels, and the various pilots' controls, including the autopilot. The system of instrument-panel lighting was described by the staff as exceptionally good; exacdy how good we were to see for ourselves on the following day's flight. S/L. Ensor pointed out that, by accurate determination of the four main variables, horse-power (obtained from torquemeter and r.p.m. readings), air density, T.A.S. and fuel-flow, optimum engine conditions could be accurately set up for particular range- flying requirements. We went on to visit the training rig illustrating the fuel, oil, (Above) One of 217's Neptunes being towed out in readiness for a sortie in Exercise "Mainbrace" in September, 1952. "The calm, chill beauty of this lonely Arctic place": the Lofoten Is lands, seen from the author's Neptune. something of the ground-training facilities, and experience a short demonstration flight with S/L. Ensor. Ground-training on the Neptune turned out to be, rather surprisingly, in the hands of the U.S. Navy. Working with the squadron since October iast, and for a provisional period of eight months, was a self-contained contingent of ten U.S.N, technicians, who looked after and instructed on the comprehensive Lockheed- built ground trainer installation. In charge of the mobile training unit was Chief Machinist H. J. Molloy, who accompanied us around the various sections af the trainer. The first section was concerned with the Wright R-3350-30W Turbo-cyclone compounded engines (of 3,500 h.p. for take-off), and employed conventional methods of instruction, no special rigs being used. The engine combines a standard R-3350 two-row eighteen-cylinder engine with three "blow- down" turbines fed by short pipes from the cylinder exhaust ports. The turbines are geared by fluid drives to the engine crank shaft, and a resulting conversion is claimed of some 20 per cent of the available heat energy into useful power that would other wise be lost through the engine exhaust. The remainder of the equipment consisted of complete mock-up rigs of the particular systems to be studied and, although built as a trainer for the P2V-4 model, was equally applicable in most cases to the P2V-5s in service with the squadron. The first rig displayed the weapons system, and had as its main presentation the pilot's controls, below which in diagrammatic positions were mock-ups of the rocket release attachments and the bomb (or torpedo) bay. Also included were specimens of the aircraft's gun-turrets, and the gun- and bomb-sighting equipment. The published armament of the Neptune comprises two pairs of 20-mm cannon in nose and tail turrets, two 0.5in guns in the dorsal turret, eight 5in rocket projectiles under each wing and a bomb-load of 8,000 lb carried internally. This internal load may carburetter and airscrew systems. Self-sealing fuel tanks of 700 U.S. gallons capacity in the centre section and outer wing give a basic capacity of 2,800 gallons, to which is added that of the two 250-gallon wing-tip tanks and provision for two 700-gallon tanks in the bomb-bay—a total of 4,700 gallons. A separate fuel system is provided for each engine, the two systems being interconnected by a cross-feed line. For increased clarity, the Neptune's auxiliary fuel-control panel (located on the floor between the pilots' seats) shows the selector switches in their appropriate places on a diagrammatic layout of the system. The ground-trainer unit consisted of complete working models of the fuel and oil systems, with transparent tanks and pipes showing the exact flow; and a sectional model of the reversing Hamilton Hydromatic model 242o0-101 airscrew and hub mechanism. As would be expected, the Neptune's electrical system is com plicated—especially when seen in its entirety away from the Fowler flaps and the "beaver tail" protrusions behind the massive turbo- compound engines are well seen in this Neptune line-up.
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