Ever wondered how to start a B-17?

I occasionally find myself watching these types of videos on YouTube when I'm bored. I've seen that one at least once. Thanks for posting.
 
Imagine how complicated this must have been to many who had never seen anything more complicated than a Model T Ford?

T
 
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cockpitbob said:
It's always hard to remember that these were kids around 18 - 24 years old!
Click to expand...

correct..... Crazy is it not. We had a science teacher who was 17 when he learned to fly and 18 being shipped over to England... He taught us about dog fights and the whole 9 yards.
 
Quite a lot of gadgets. Quickly browsing the 'net, a B-17 cost $238,329 in 1943/44; or $3,315,211.49 adjusted for inflation. A B-29 cost $639,188 each, or $8,739,697.42 today.

T
 
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Cool. That McCarthy's got an excellent 1930s radio voice.

I know these guys had printed checklists, but I wonder how many flights it took before they could do it from memory.
 
The first time I saw that I thought 'no way is he turning over the engine' so I had to figure it out. The flywheel disengages from the crankshaft. The crank, through a series of sprockets, chain and gear box serves to 'spin up' the flywheel. The flywheel is then engaged to the crankshaft causing the engine to turn over.
 
Good on the 1st guess. 700HP for the second guess. It was a temperamental SOB IIRC. You'd think an aircraft engine of 1200-1500HP (Bf109F/G) would be better?

T
 
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I love that the DC to AC inverters were mechanical. Today they still make single phase to three phase mechanical inverters but I have not seen a DC to AC mechanical inverter anywhere outside of an antique shop. They're all solid state now. We really take transistors for granted these days.

What a great video imagine putting a modern airliner pilot in the seat of one of those bad boys wouldn't know what he was even looking at. I think the first question they would ask is where is the autopilot?
 

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