not your average garden tractor....

[wayne petty]

i ran across this on a yahoo random search...

it was just too good to not post it...

http://www.fullpullmotorsports.com/id28.htm

i think i would like the one with 5...........

[GPster]

You know you can pick up a little information no matter where you look . I was watching a Discovery like show one night about WW II airplanes and they got onto the subject of the P-51 "Mustang" fighter plane. It to me is one of the most recognizable airplanes because of the large air intake on it's belly underneath the wings. They mentioned that they were originally fitted with those Allison engines. Then they went on to mention that when they got to England they were retro-fitted with Rolls Royce Merlin engines. I always wondered why there seems to be these Allison engines laying around. Years ago there was a Farm Machinery teacher in the local Vocation School. He also ran an Allison in a "Pulling Tractor" He was going to Texas and get a spare engine. I wonder if they used them to power irrigation pumps before Chrysler put Hemis in their industrial engine line up. I tried looking close to see what thhey were using on that pulling tractor for a transmission. Back then that teacher used to use a welded-up from plate case that a local repair shop would line bore for bearings and he would use a combination of gears from junk semi tractor-truck transmissions. Interesting site, thank for sharing. GPster

[Mikej]

The Rolls had more HP.

[C9]

The Lockheed P-38, (the Fork Tailed Devil as the Germans called it), the Bell P-39 mid engine fighter and the Curtis P-40 all ran Allisons.

Lots of them made.


At one time Lockheed considered/wanted to put the Rolls Royce Merlin into the P-38, but Bunkie Knudson  (GM President and builder of the Allisons) had the ear of a congressman and pulled a few strings.)

The idea was that it was good to have a company manufacturing Allisons for the war effort and not such a good idea to scale back production or stop it altogether.


England even fooled with a mid-engine P51 Mustang running an RR Merlin.
Idea was to increase performance in the pitch region.

Dunno if it was covered, but England called the P-51 the Apache when they first got it - (B Models).

There was a dive bomber version of the P-51.
A B model was converted for dive bomber work and other than the bomb racks, sight etc., it had a non-retractable tail wheel.
It was the A-36 and called the invader.

There were a lot of C model P-51's built.
Basic difference between the B and the C was that the B was built in California and the C was built in Texas.

The British designed a 'canopy' setup they called the Malcom Hood and it was an improvement over the standard B & C 'canopies.'

When the bubble top D's came in they were without the dorsal fin seen in subsequent models.
The bubble top lacked the side pressure area required and the dorsal fin took care of that.

You-Tube has some good short films shot in WW2 showing lots of cockpit views, how to set up for specific flight regimes etc.
The P-38 film is especially interestng.

[GPster]

This of course is the difference between getting your information from someone interested in the subject or getting it from someone doing his (or her) job. As good a reading as Wayne's explanations. I learned what little bit I know from my days of flying control line models. I always liked the  P-38 but I never had two engines of the same size, let alone the coordination to get them both running at the same time. To add to the bits of mis-information, there has long been the difference of thought about the name Jeep coming from "General Purpose" designation that the army applied to those vehicles or the imaginary cartoon character "Geep" from the "Popeye" comic strip. Read a new fact in an issue of "Car and Driver". It seems the term GP (or what ever spelling you want) can be traced back to Army motor pool slang in the mid '30s for any General Purpose motor vehicle. "GP" ster

[WZ JUNK]

Jim Lytle has stayed with us in our pit at Bonneville in the past but he has not been there the last couple of years.  Jim built several drag cars with Allison aircraft engines.  I have a signed poster showing several of his drag cars.  His Big Al car is in the Garlits museum.  The last time I talked to him he was building a clone of Big Al.

A neighbor of mine is building a clone of a hydroplane boat that won a lot of races from 1955 through 1957.  It will use an Allison engine.  He has three of the engines hoping he can make one from the three.  One that is certified for aircraft brings big bucks today.  Jim told me that when he was drag racing he could buy them complete for less than $500 from government surplus but he told me that today they bring over $100,000.

John

[wayne petty]

this talk of P-38s reminds me of working out in sun valley ca.. for an old time mechanic.. he was a pby flight mechanic..  one of the regulars past his shop was another old flyer..  this other grand old man was a P-38 flight commander..   who commanded a flight of P-38s flying cover for the attack on the romanian oil fields during WWII..  he told of how great a plane the P-38 was and how much he hated it..   as it had killed many of his friends .. when they bailed out they were cut in half by the tail..  he was really upset with the design..   he also brought us to tears as he told of the oil field cover mission..   when the enemy fighters came in he said he had to give the order to drop tanks and attack..   he said that everyone of his pilots dropped their tanks without any hesitation...   but they all knew.. they were beyond the ability to make it back to base without them..   out of, i think he said.. 21 or 24 planes.. only 7 made it back..  i have never researched his story.. perhaps someone else has heard of it.. i cannot remember his name..

i know who i could ask if i could catch up with him.. my cousin is married to willis hawkins son..  i got to meet him one time at a wedding.. but i did not have a clue who he was..   till i ran into another lockheed employee..  when i dropped the name..  he told me who he was..  i just knew he worked somewhere at lockheed..

[Carnut]

Couple more above average garden tractors.