DC-3 (or derivative) prop question
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 17,724
Likes: 2,093
From: Reading, UK
Not wanting to get too far away from the original image you posted (great hotel to have that on the wall btw!) I thought that some may appreciate this photo, given the interest in the wing bolts. I have been intimate with every one of these, and have to say that I don't recollect there being 382 of them .. funny how the mind plays tricks but it seems I had (miss) remembered the number as 365, one for each day of the year but, having just checked out here, it appears to be 328. While unverified I do have the service bulletins etc stacked away somewhere and could check, but that seems like rather too much work - although not as much as inserting and tightening every one of these, even after all these years I still well remember the arm ache from working overhead on that particular job!
It's not often you get to see (most of!) an aerofoil section shown so clearly.
Joined: Oct 2002
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 8,208
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From: London UK
... it seems I had (miss) remembered the number as 365, one for each day of the year but, having just checked out here, it appears to be 328. While unverified I do have the service bulletins etc stacked away somewhere and could check, but that seems like rather too much work - although not as much as inserting and tightening every one of these, even after all these years I still well remember the arm ache from working overhead on that particular job!
I recall a BOAC station engineer from the 1950s writing that the Stratocruiser required all the sparking plugs to be changed on the engines every 100 hours. The R-4360 had 28 cylinders, there were four engines, and each cylinder had two sparking plugs. 224 overall to be changed. Heathrow dispatched it with insufficient hours to get back, so they had to be changed downroute, all done on paid overtime, just one station engineer. And it happened again and again. Set spark gap precisely, torque to right value, etc, etc, on to the next one. He wrote it allowed him to put down a significant deposit on a house when he returned to the UK. But meanwhile, what a muscle-tearing task to perform.
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2002
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 3,396
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From: near an aeroplane
There were actually three canvas prints showing bits of aircraft on the wall, but the other two were of boring 737s. I found it interesting that this third one showed a bit of a Li-2 and I suspect that whoever picked it out never realised that it was a photo of a Soviet aircraft! And it was a hotel on the edge of Heathrow by the way.
Transparency International
Joined: Jul 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 757
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From: Denmark
OK, wing attachment does seem to be identical. However, closer examination of the probs make me think not-a-HS 23-E50. The blade fillet and hub appear non-compliant to my 1970-73 memories.
