What's this WWII Radial Engine?

It's hard to tell looking at the supplied picture, but if that is two rows of cylinders, I'd guess a Pratt & Whitney R-2800.

It sure appears to be it. What plane was it in?

What plane was it in?

That indeed is precisely the next question I have in mind!

Having been found within the littoral waters of India and close enough to the coastline, I, (with my very limited knowledge) imagine it could have come out of only two types of aircraft viz. a DC3 (Dakota) or a DC4 (Skymaster) which have been in use by commercial operators and the Indian Air Force. Of course, the Americans have been known to have ferried large numbers of Dakotas and Skymasters (post war) from India back to the USA with the fuselages fitted with ordinary water storage tanks, carrying enough fuel to make non-stop flights.Heresay has it that these intrepid aviators even used to smoke cigars in the cockpit keeping the windows open!!

I hope the knowledgeable CR4 members can correct me.

Very interesting find! If it is a Pratt & Whitney engine there should be serial numbers engraved some where on the engine. It will be interesting to see if it can be fully identified.

As it is now in the possession of the Indian Navy, I'm sure it will get a makeover and during that process, they'll be able to get the serial number and much more detail as to how it got to be where it was found.

Incidentally, Beypore is a part of the State of Kerala on the south west of India.

Of course the most successful radial piston engine was the Bristol Centaurus. they powered a number of aircraft including the sea fury (carrier based aircraft).

It operated on the sleeve valve principle, had extremely good volumetric efficiency and the sea fury, I believe, was the fastest piston driven aircraft in the world.

In the late fifties, whilst doing my apprenticeship, I actually worked on one of these engines..........not that I can recall too much about it. The engines built ranged from 2 000 - 3 000 BHP.

Wrights also built a radial engine and I think that it had the honour of the engines bursting into flames on take-off.

The Bristol engine ran very well from its inception, but the same cannot be said concerning the wright and Pratt and Whitney radial engies..........they did have several problems with them.

This photograph shows a cylinder and the sleeve that contains the inlet and exhaust ports, the sleeve followed, what could be best described, as an eliptical movement or path and the piston moved up and down in the sleeve. Very clever.

As of now, the reply by Labyguy and the photograph he has sent seems to fit the Press clipping photo posted by me.

Thanks anyway, both of us seem to be of similar vintage!

The questions still remain- 1) on what airplane that particular engine had been fitted? 2) How did it land up where it was found-Beypore, Kerala, India? 3) Especially when India had nothing to do with the airwar during WW II?

I was under the impression that aircraft based in India flew missions over Burma and also some Lancasters flew right over the top to China.

Pardon my lapse of memory. You're right Emjay4119; a few USAF squadrons of P51s(?), (Mustangs?), were positioned in the North eastern provinces of India and did carryout anti-Japan missions into Burma (now Myanmar) and also strafed large columns of civilian refugees (ethnic Indians) fleeing into India being pursued by the very cruel Japanese army.

I am not sure of the Lancaster ops into China. I am personally aware of a large number of Spitfire fighter planes in Barrackpore IAF airstation outside Calcutta (now Kolkata) and even some Spitfires in unopened crates stacked there.

But these were not crewed by Indians, but maybe by the Americans and British, Canadians, Australians, Newzealanders.....all braving the mosquitoes and malaria!!

But this doesn't explain the presence of that radial engine in the sea off the south west coast of India!

There were a corps of German and Japanese generals on board. Highly classified even nowadays. A weapons dealer and his anterage got killed as well and all were replaced the very next day. By who? Highly classified, you don't want to know, Ky.

HI D.RAMAKRISHNA NAIDU, I have a hard time believing its a WWII radial engine as I think that most of the aluminum would be more corroded than it is. I don't think it's a Wasp engine, just because the push rod covers angle a little further out. The hole where the propeller hub is, doesn't look familiar to a Western design. (?) Looks more Russian than a North American model.

(This should get a whole pile of people on the band wagon)

Cheers

A few bush plane engines

We would need some better pics to play name that engine

THANK YOU GARTHH!!

It is a bewildering array of Radial engines that you have provided links to.

In conclusion, I guess, it would be difficult for any one to clearly and unambiguously pin point the unique identity of the engine without a physical examination up close.

In fact, I would like to thank all contributors to this thread for having helped in reaching the above conclusion.

D.Ramakrishna Naidu

Dear D.RAMAKRISHNA NAIDU

It does not happen very often that some one concludes and then thanks the forum for being part of the process of getting there. I congratulate you for this and will try to do the same when ever I can in the future. If only I knew more about it, you would be the first to know.

All the best, Ky.

Thank you Ky for your appreciation. It comes as a welcome change to the general tone of transactions.

All the best!

Your welcome, Ky.

Long lost aircraft seem to be found all the time submerged in salt water, still relatively intact. The corrosion issues don't really come into play until the aluminum is removed from the water.