Worked on 1340, 1830 and 2800
We were never short on work and plenty of O/T
Why is it only US radials get lots of mention ? I guess because anyone who worked on them has lots of stories to tell.
The BEST radial engine in civvi use was the Bristol Centaurus with the Hercules in close place.
The UK ARB ( CAA ) TBO on the 1830 was 1200 hours and many did not make it.
In all fairness the problem we had in UK and SA ( both Fields O/H shops) was lack of spares.Many pistons and cylinders were run 4 and 5 lives and reused.
The Centaurus was 2200 TBO and we trialed to 2400.
In over 5 years with 6 engines operating some 80,000+ hours we had 1 ( ONE) failure and ONE cylinder change ( due to sheared plug on maintence.)
Maintenance on the Centaurus was oil and plug changes not like 1830 with cylinder changes, mag changes and jolly old routine valve clearance checks
3 guys half a day and knuckles bleeding
On the 1830's cylinder changes were routine and generally easy except the bottom ones. The mags were a pain until we cut the access panels in the firewall.
Leaking push rods were also a pain ( Not fitted on Centaurus
) especially as in UK we had to wirelock the gland nuts