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Most distinctive and charismatic engine sound?

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Most distinctive and charismatic engine sound?

Old 2nd Feb 2021, 18:10
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Most distinctive and charismatic engine sound?

The title says it all - which aircraft engine has a sound like no other, is instantly recognisable and has an interesting and varied repertoire of sounds like no other? I have one in mind and and I'll be impressed if I can be proven wrong.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 18:25
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RR Dart from memory.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 18:27
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Standing in front of an open intake Turmo IIIC4.

I can still hear it forty years later.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 18:43
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That drone of those four P&W radials on a B-17 going overhead is music to my ears (although I'd probably feel differently if I'd been at the receiving end of a mission).
The two P&W radials on the DC-3 also sound wonderful to me - there is a vintage DC-3 based at the Historic Flight museum at Paine field just a few miles from my house. It flies overhead occasionally during the nice weather months. Whenever I hear 'that sound' I rush outside to take a look at listen .
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 18:50
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RR Tay620/650. You could always tell when the Fokkers arrived.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 19:04
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I think this thread deserves soundtracks:

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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 19:08
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And this one

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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 19:54
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Dart starting,

At the Brooklands Museum there's a bit of a Dart you can pretend to start, and it makes the memorable sound perfectly to my ears. Could play with it for ages.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 20:00
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I concur with the majority- there's no sound like the shriek of a Dart. At LBA in the 70s and early 80s, we didn't hear much else!

The sound of a Spey painfully groaning its way through the start process is almost as memorable.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 20:11
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Argus pulsejet in a V1 Doodlebug. Never heard one live (of course) but surely they were unique, including the enigmatic sound of silence during terminal phase ? UAV/UAS but nevertheless an aircraft.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 20:39
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I guess this is cheating but the first time I heard a Huey the sound of those rotors really sent a shiver down my spine.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 20:49
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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.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 20:55
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RR Conway. BA 707's and the VC10'S?

The crackle of 4 of those engines getting airborne on a cold dry day, was something to behold.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 21:07
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Pratt & Whitney F135, the new kid on the block.

(Surprised no one has yet mentioned the RR Merlin)
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 21:56
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B707 with JT4As does it for me.
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 22:06
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Thanks, SLB. You've made an old man's old ears very happy. (6,000 hours sitting between two. Darts F27)
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 22:08
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Merlin....’nuff said....
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 22:22
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Merlin! Yep - that's the one for me .....
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 22:23
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Surprised noone mentioned the Kuznetsov NK-12 ...
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Old 2nd Feb 2021, 22:53
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Avro Shackleton
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