Were the Vanguards Tynes fitted with electric starter motors or did it have air turbine starters
Vanguard eng start (from memory):
The HP RPM gauges were located to the right of the F/O`s seat. Above his head was the start panel - with a master start switch & four individual start switches. In front of the throttles were 4 start levers. In the START position they allowed a limited fuel flow to the engines. In the NORM position they increased the flow to normal. The transition took several seconds - the indicators would change from START to crosshatch to NORM during the transition. The engine starter was electric and engaged with the HP spool for starting. Starter cutout was automatic when the HP spool reached approx 4000 RPM. The start sequence was eng 4-3-2-1 (can`t remember why).
For BEA operation the sequence and call outs were:
P1: Start 4.
P2: Master start on, starting 4.
P2: HP turning . . . LP turning . . . 3000 (HP RPM).
P1: (Selects Fuel Cock OPEN)
P1: Fuel flow normal . . . Light up.
P2: 4000 . . . Starter cutout . . . Starter light out.
P1: 4 stable . . . Start 3 (&c)
The engine stabilised at low ground idle. Then P1 would move the start lever to RUN.
P2: 4 running (indicator cross hatch).
P1 would monitor turbine gas temp, which would rise during RPM increase and then drop back as the engine stabilised at ground idle. When all engines were running at ground idle the master start switch was selected off by P2.
I can’t remember the prop RPMs at low ground idle (when you could see the individual blades) and ground idle (when they turned into a blur). Cruise prop RPM was in the region of 900 IIRC, with LP RPM 12,500.
More Vanguard trivia in ‘The Damocles Plot’.
Last edited by Discorde; 12th Mar 2022 at 14:39.
Reason: start lever annotation corrected