"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/06/2016 at 10:35 • Filed to: planelopnik
7
21|
"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn)
07/06/2016 at 10:35 • Filed to: planelopnik | 7
| 21 |
Although it looks like it, this is not the engine room on a ship. But it
is
the engine room on a boat. A flying boat. A very, very big flying boat.
This is the Dornier D0 X, the largest, heaviest, and most powerful flying boat in the world at the time. It was powered by twelve
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V-12 engines generating 610 hp each, and had six pusher and six puller propellers. Like a ship, though, the engineer was in a separate room from the pilots, where he operated the engine throttles and monitored engine performance. And like a ship, the captain would send commands to the flying boat’s engine room for throttle settings via
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
. All that horsepower got the Do X going to a top speed of 131 mph, and its maximum takeoff weight was a staggering 123,460 pounds. The Do X could accommodate up to 100 passengers, and set a world record in 1929 when it carried 169 passengers and crew, a record that stood for 20 years.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 10:43 |
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I’m assuming that that panel is probably one of two, unless the engine throttles/etc. were ganged in pairs. He only has six sets of controls, and there are 12 engines...
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RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 10:45 |
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Also, it’s worth noting that pics 2 and 3 have some type of engine cowlings in place which are not present in 1 and 4. Given that 2 and 3 also a have a number on the plane or other markings, I’m guessing that was later in service/after it moved out of the prototype phase.
HammerheadFistpunch
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 10:46 |
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MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 10:47 |
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He says that it is powered by 6 engines. Maybe the push and pull prop are each attached to a single engine.
Clemsie McKenzie
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 10:52 |
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That’s astonishing.
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ttyymmnn
> Clemsie McKenzie
07/06/2016 at 10:52 |
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It really is a boat with wings.
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ttyymmnn
> HammerheadFistpunch
07/06/2016 at 10:53 |
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I saw photos of that when I was searching for pics for this post. That’s just remarkable.
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ttyymmnn
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 10:56 |
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The Curtiss Conquerors (awesome name, BTW) were not the original engines. It was originally powered by 12 Bristol Jupiter radials.
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ttyymmnn
> MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
07/06/2016 at 10:58 |
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I was wrong. It had 12 engines. I don’t know if the throttles were coupled or not. I’m guessing not, since you’d want control over each engine.
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ttyymmnn
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
07/06/2016 at 10:58 |
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I’m not sure. I would think that you’d want independent control of all the engines. (I originally wrote that there were six engines. There were, in fact, 12.)
SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 11:19 |
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Is it really an engine room or a control room for the engines? The Spruce Goose on the other hand....
DynamicWeight
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 11:30 |
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I have retroactively dubbed this “The Winged Whale” (pronounced wing ed)
Gotta love dudes in the past. Engineers could do crazy shit like this before marketing and demographics were invented.
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ttyymmnn
> DynamicWeight
07/06/2016 at 12:07 |
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And before computers and CAD.
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ttyymmnn
> SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
07/06/2016 at 12:08 |
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Well, it’s a bit of a quibble. But I suppose “control room for engines” would be more accurate.
thebigbossyboss
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 12:44 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsjQZ2…
Chasaboo
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 12:56 |
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If you notice, on the right hand side of the frame, there is a second bank of controls.
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ttyymmnn
> Chasaboo
07/06/2016 at 12:58 |
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You’re right. I hadn’t noticed that. Good catch.
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DynamicWeight
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 14:07 |
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Good point. Crazy that some guy drawing stuff on a piece of paper and doing calculations by hand was like “Yeah. That’ll fly. Go ahead and build it.”
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ttyymmnn
> DynamicWeight
07/06/2016 at 14:20 |
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That's why the late-40s and 50s is my favorite era of aviation. Draft it out, use a slide rule, then find some brave test pilot to see if it will fly.
Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
> ttyymmnn
07/06/2016 at 14:24 |
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And it took so long (9 months) on it’s inaugural flight due to extended stops and an accident in Lisbon that by the time it finished it was viewed as a flying joke. Stopped it (figuratively) dead in the water. Too bad, it was an amazing plane.
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ttyymmnn
> Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer
07/06/2016 at 14:28 |
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And people today complain about being two hours late to Chicago.