Death Cruiser Flight Crew
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Vaucluse, France.
Posts: 613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think the reliability of the Merlin was perhaps no worse than many of the powerful piston engines of the time. The Stratocruiser was forever limping back in on three, and the Wright Turbo-Compounds on the DC-7C had a depressing propensity for catching fire.
Takeoff on an Argonaut was a somewhat fraught experience, especially out of somewhere hot and high. On the West African routes the passengers were told that the flights were scheduled to cross the Sahara at night, due to it being very turbulent during the day. I'm more inclined to believe now that it was due to performance at Tripoli and Kano!
Mind you, a heavily-laden DC-6 or C118 setting off across the Atlantic was a 'Curvature of the Earth' job too.