Originally Posted by
ericferret
I seem to remember an article in Aeroplane monthly about transatlantic flights after the war with Lancastrians. Apparently aircraft landing with two or three engines operating were not uncommon. This would suggest that reliability was not great.
Reciprocating engines, be they in line or radial, were prone to failure when in use for hours on end . The range of problems was legion and started to appear with frequency during the longer range bombing trips and transatlantic deliveries during WW2. Things had improved, barely, by the time the last big piston airliners rolled off the line in the late 1950s. On the Atlantic, Prestwick, Shannon, Goose and Gander saw regular three engined landings until well into the 1960s and there were some engine failure hull and life losses over water around the world where more than one engine failed or prop(s) had run away. The Lancastrian and York were by no means exceptional in this regard.