How do the huge cylindrical airplane engines work (ie. old bombers)?
599441
See the animation on the link.  Many of the engines were made by Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford, CT.  I believe they still provide replacement parts.  The engines were relatively light because they were air cooled by the propeller wash (no separate radiator needed).
550798
In the second world war aircraft carries were limited on air defense in comparison to toady's naval carriers. There would be two lines of defense on a carrier of world war two. The first line was the fighter cap usually posted close to the carrier and then vectored in by the ships radar. If a Japanese plane got through the fighter cap the ship was limited to its anti aircraft guns. These would be of various caliber mounted on several locations on the ship. Americans had some of the best anti aircraft ammunition of the war, as they were the first to invent the proximity fuse on larger caliber rounds. The way anti aircraft fire worked before the advent of proximity fuses was they had a timing fuse on the shell they had to pre-set the shell to explode at a specific altitude before firing it. The proximity fuse had a fuse that detonated the shell close to large metallic objects. The use of missiles for downing aircraft was pioneered in world war two by the Germans using rockets and radio controlled devices. To my knowledge they never shot down a plane with this technology mainly due to the fact like all of the German wonder weapons it was to little to late, thankfully.
590301
The Wartsila-Sulzer RTA96-C turbocharged two-stroke diesel engine is the most powerful and most efficient prime-mover in the world today.  The Aioi Works of Japan's Diesel United, Ltd built the first engines and is where some of these pictures were taken. \n     It is available in 6 through 14 cylinder versions, all are inline engines.  These engines were designed primarily for very large container ships.  Ship owners like a single engine/single propeller design and the new generation of larger container ships needed a bigger engine to propel them.\n\n     The cylinder bore is just under 38" and the stroke is just over 98".  Each cylinder displaces 111,143 cubic inches (1820 liters) and produces 7780 horsepower.  Total displacement comes out to 1,556,002 cubic inches (25,480 liters) for the fourteen cylinder version.\n\n     Some facts on the 14 cylinder version: \n Total engine weight: 2300 tons  (The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.) \n Length: 89 feet \n Height: 44 feet \n Maximum power: 108,920 hp at 102 rpm  \n Maximum torque: 5,608,312 lb/ft at 102rpm  \n\n     Fuel consumption at maximum power is 0.278 lbs per hp per hour (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption).  Fuel consumption at maximum economy is 0.260 lbs/hp/hour.  At maximum economy the engine exceeds 50% thermal efficiency.  That is, more than 50% of the energy in the fuel in converted to motion.\n     For comparison, most automotive and small aircraft engines have BSFC figures in the 0.40-0.60 lbs/hp/hr range and 25-30% thermal efficiency range.\n\n     Even at it's most efficient power setting, the big 14 consumes 1,660 gallons of heavy fuel oil per hour.
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the shape of the fuselage tends not to reflect a large amount of radar waves.  i think the B-2 has the radar image the same size as that of a bird.\n\nalso, the fuselage is coated with a substance that absorbs radar waves.  so the shape of the fuselage and the texture of the skin of the fuselage work together to lower the amount of radar waves that are reflected off its surface and 'seen' by the enemy.
595956
I know they had some flying toys as kids - i.e. rubber band helicopter sort of things. Also it was sort of a craze at the time, google early aviation history or equivilent and you should be able to find some videos and other info.
843217
On the ground - there are power lines fed directly to the AEROPLANE, and also battery backup.\n\nWhen the AEROPLANE engines are running, they provide not only thrust for forward motion but also drive small alternators / generators.\n\nIn an absolute emergency a small wind turbine can be deployed from inside the fuselage for cabin power.\n\nAny AC power is NOT distributed directly, but converted to a stable DC system. It is then 'inverted' to a synthetic AC at the required voltage to feed any AC systems.
159903
I believe that the DC-3 had radial engines from Pratt & Whitney and they may still have spare parts (or leads to used spare parts?).  Or contact the museum on the link for help.  Good luck.
233387
Everything you want to know....\n\nhttp://www.howstuffworks.com/airplane.htm
665386
An air compressor delivers high pressure air to combustion chambers where fuel is injucted and burns increasing the energy of the airstream.  The energetic gas stream exits out the rear of the engine producing thrust because that is the path of least resistance.  The exiting gas also passes through a gas turbine that extracts some of the combustion energy to drive the compressor sustaining the cycle.
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A turbo charger forces more fuel/air into the cylinders, so there's more fuel to explode, so there's more power.\nIt works by spinning an impeller VERY fast (20,000 rpm), powered off the exhaust gases.\nA supercharger is similar, but it is powered directly from the engine.
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HAUNEBU\n(H-GERAT, HAUNEBURG DEVICE)\n(1939-1945)\n\nThe SS E-IV (Entwicklungsstelle 4), a development unit of the SS occult “Order of the Black Sun” was tasked with researching alternative energies to make the Third Reich independent of scarce fuel oil for war production. Their work included developing alternative energies and fuels. \n\nThis group developed by 1939 a revolutionary electro-magnetic-gravitic engine which improved Hans Coler’s free energy machine into an energy Konverter coupled to a Van De Graaf band generator and Marconi vortex dynamo (a spherical tank of mercury) to create powerful rotating electromagnetic fields that affected gravity and reduced mass. It was designated the Thule Triebwerk (Thrustwork, a.ka. Tachyonator-7 drive) and was to be installed into a Thule designed disc.\n\nSince 1935 the Thule Gesellschaft (Society) had been scouting for a remote, inconspicuous, underdeveloped testing ground for such a craft. Thule found a location in Northwest Germany that was known as (or possibly designated as) Hauneburg. At the establishment of this testing ground and facilities the SS E-IV unit simply referred to the new Thule disc as a war product- the “H-Gerat” (Hauneburg Device).\n\nFor wartime security reasons the name was shortened to Haunebu in 1939 and was briefly designated RFZ-5 along with Vril‘s machines once the Hauneburg site was abandoned in favor of the more suitable Vril Arado Brandenburg aircraft testing grounds.\n\nThe early Haunebu I craft of which two prototypes were constructed were 25 meters in diameter, had a crew of eight and could achieve the incredible initial velocity of 4,800 km/h, but at low altitude. Further enhancement enabled the machine to reach 17,000 km/h. Flight endurance was 18 hours. To resist the incredible temperatures of these velocities a special armor called Victalen was pioneered by SS metallurgists specifically for both the Haunebu and Vril series of disc craft. The Haunebu I had a double hull of Victalen. The early models also attempted to test out a rather large experimental gun installation- the twin 60 mm KSK (KraftStrahlKanone, Strong Ray Cannon) which operated off the Triebwerk for power. It has been suggested that the ray from this weapon made it a laser, but it was not.\n\nWhen a Vril 7 was downed by the Russians in 1945 a similar underbelly mounted KSK gun was destroyed with debris recovered from the battle site. Postwar the strange metal balls and tungsten spirals that made up the weapon could not be identified. But recently it has been speculated that the Triebwerk-connected balls formed cascade oscillators that were connected to a long barrel-shrouded transmission rod wrapped in a precision tungsten spiral, or coil to transmit a powerful energy burst suitable to pierce up to 4 in (100 mm) of enemy armor. The heavy gun installation, however, badly destabilized the disc and in subsequent Haunebu models lighter MG and MK cannon were supposedly installed.\n\nThe Haunebu I first flew in 1939 and both prototypes made 52 test flights.\n\nIn 1942, the enlarged Haunebu II of 26 meters diameter was ready for flight testing. This disc had a crew of nine and could also achieve supersonic flight of 6,000 to 21,000 km/h with a flight endurance of 55 hours. Both it and the further developed 32 meter diameter Haunebu II Do-Stra had heat shielding of two hulls of Victalen. The craft were constructed and tested between 1943-44. The craft made 106 test flights.\n\nBy 1944, the perfected war model, the Haunebu II Do-Stra (Dornier STRAtospharen Flugzeug/Stratospheric Aircraft) was tested. Two prototypes were built. These massive machines, several stories tall, were crewed by 20 men. They were also capable of hypersonic speed beyond 21,000 km/h. The SS had intended to produce the machines with tenders for both Junkers and Dornier but in late 1944/early 1945 Dornier was chosen. The close of the war, however, prevented Dornier from building any production models.\n\n
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Can't answer this one directly as memory fails me but try a book by A C Kermode called Principles of Aeronautics.  This is an oldish book but still in print and used in the Royal Air Force for all its engineers and technicians.
880506
that would depend on what kind of pilot they were.  A bomber pilot has a different mission than a fighter pilot,  then there are the transport guys, the refuelers.  It all depends.
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I don't remember very well I but I red somwhere about a F1 car beating a F16 fighter on a 2km distance.\n\nLet's take an example: \nRoughly a 747 weight about 400tons and has 4 engines of 25tones of thrust. This would lead to a maximum acceleration of 0.25Gs at take off. I'm sure a fast car can do better than that
1071063
The correct answer is that a US newspaper publisher at the time of the planes development had after assessing all the features about the B-17 with it being so large and powerful with so many machine gun emplacements and turrets on the plane and all other features making the plane so formidable for combat roles that this publisher ( being the first ) dubbed it a flying fortress.  Boeing took a liking for this name and adopted it for their B-17 model.  Trust me, this is the real answer.
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Okay... If ur serious then I'm game!!  The piston is attached to the piston rod.  When the rod is pulled down by the crackshaft, kinda like bicycle pedals.. the piston draws air into the cylinder.  Then the crankshaft pushes the rod and piston up causing compression.  Then the spark plug ignites and blasts the piston and rod back down creating power.  Then the crankshaft pushes the rod and piston back up expelling the waste.  The piston is the 'plunger' of the system, kina like the black rubber plunger in a hypodermic needle.
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Here an awesome site, you'll see everything you need to know\n\nhttp://travel.howstuffworks.com/airplane.htm