Most distinctive and charismatic engine sound?

[mnttech]

JT3D on the 707.... That might because of the years that I was around them... Jump forward to 4:00

B707

[ATNotts]

mntech

Those are the ones!! JT3D not 3B as I wrote. Are there any 707s / DC8s left still operating that have the original engines, albeit hush kitted? That looks as though, from the look of the ground below, to be one of the Iranian 707-320Bs that were still operating until comparatively recently.

[dixi188]

Originally Posted by pulse1

dixi188 I stand corrected on the methanol injection on the Spey. I am talking about EFAT during crew training at Hurn. I worked about 6 miles from Hurn and, when a 1-11 with one engine came overhead, it was still quite low and very loud. On at least one occasion, the largely female workers in an enclosed clean area panicked and started to rush out of the door.

Much later on, I was chatting to someone outside the BA Engineering Building at Heathrow and heard a similar noise from something taking off. Thinking it might be Concorde I rushed to a gap in the buildings where I had a glimpse of the runway. It was a 1-11 and,even with noise reduction kit, it had that ear splitting noise I used to hear so regularly at Hurn.

I remember the training at Hurn. I was apprentice there from 1969 to 1973. I had a jump seat ride on one of these flights with Argentine pilots and an interpreter from the embassy who new nothing about flying. The training captain, Alan Smith, was having great difficulty.
Were you at Penny and Giles?

[Timmy Tomkins]

Originally Posted by captainsmiffy

Merlin....’nuff said....

Agreed, sends a shiver down the spine every time

[old,not bold]

For me it's that distinctive howl of a VC10 taxying that's the most evocative. but I can still hear the drone of the bomber stream over the Norfolk coast where we lived; it went on all night, every night, and I cannot think of that period of my childhood without that drone in the background.

Mind you, the sound of a squadron of Hunters taxying out for a formation take-off comes close to bliss.

[Akrotiri bad boy]

For an iconic noise I'm going with pulse1 on this and offering the RR Pegasus. Being anywhere near a Harrier in the hover was a deafening experience but the sound made as the throttle was chopped after a hover landing takes me straight back to all those German camping holidays I enjoyed during the 1980's.

[glofish]

1. Merlin, but as twins on the Mosquito
2. The Lycomings on the Beech 50 or 90 (O435s, O540s)
3. The R-3350s 18 pots on the DC-7S or Constellations

[Lancman]

This has to be one of the most evocative recordings of the Second World War. A nightingale singing in a wood in Surrey as 500+ Merlins and/or Hercules pass over a Surrey wood outbound.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-35874257

[Double Hydco]

Four RR Tyne's. You could be in the crew hotel near AMS and hear the old girl taxiing around the airport in the early morning.

Also the sweat sound as they wound down after a ten hour sector.....

[Tashengurt]

Originally Posted by Quemerford

F-104. It's a musical instrument! Or should I say, the J-79 in an F-104. The combination made a unique, never-to-be-forgotten sound. Or range of sounds.

Seconded! Loved that howl.

[treadigraph]

I was re-reading Ken FitzRoy's "No Time on the Ground" a few days ago in which he described getting airborne from March AFB in a KC-97 whist on exchange there circa 1960 - I experienced an overwhelming desire to live in an era when the piston was King and multi-row radials ruled the roost. Ah me...

When we are not locked down I do frequently hear Biggin's Spitfires which never ceases to be a treat...

Fatlass passed overhead me an hour ago, distinctive sound but not attractive.

[Haraka]

One of the most distinctive sounds is the erratic warble of the radial engines in the Yak 18 to Nanchang CJ 6 family .

[BSD]

Just play the first few moments of "Catch-22" which I'm sure you can find on YouTube, The black night disolving into morning light as the sun rises, then all of a sudden a click, a whirr and the radial engine on one of the B-25s coughs, splutters and wheezes into life.

Electrifying.

Great book, brilliant film too but great engine sound.

[Arthur Bellcrank]

Avon in reheat on a Lightning, particularly if carrying out leak checks around the back end.
Another vote for the Dart, twenty years working on and ground running Dart powered aircraft has taken its toll on my hearing.

[brakedwell]

The Blue Note generated by a Meteor F8 when flying at high speed at low level takes a lot of beating. Unfortunately it was hard to hear the sound from inside the cockpit.

[LOMCEVAK]

Originally Posted by PEI_3721

RR Avon / Hunter 'blue note' at high speed. I claim that intake / bleed duct noise should be considered as part of the engine.

Gets my vote! The Meteor makes a similar noise also.

[Alloy]

At this point any aircraft noise overhead is getting my attention.

[clareprop]

As a kid living in South Norwood, London SE19, between 1959 and 1969, waking up to whatever was droning over around 7am, late downwind for 27.

[denachtenmai]

16 Griffons on final, jump to 4.30.

You Tube

[H Peacock]

Just has to be the Merlin, but not just the one wasted in a ‘woosy’ fighter - but 4 in the Lanc! Can’t beat that sound of the surge in power as you go from 1900 up to 2400rpm as you run in!

Oh, and as for impressive sounding starting - a pair of Avpin-started Avons!