Radial Aircraft Engine In WW2 why did the Americans favour radial engines for aircraft and British in line engines.?
Oh and dont forget planes like,B17,B24,and the other twins like Mitchels,B29.even the mighty B36 all had radials.
US navy aircraft used radial engines for a few reasons;
1: they are tough. many times radial engined aircraft had a few cylinders shot away and the engines would still run.
2: radial engines made a lot of power, were air cooled, and didnt have all the attendant plumbing that inline engines have which makes for better reliability.
3: you can store a lot more radial engines on an aircraft carrier than you can inline engines, and you can replace them more easily, and thus more quickly, than an inline engine.
US army air corps aircraft used a mix of engine types depending on what the manufacturers original intent was for the aircrafts primary mission. for instance the P51 was developed as an air superiority fighter, and thus needed the streamlining that an inline engine affords, where as the P47 was not only designed for air superiority, but for ground attack also, thus eliminating the liquid cooling system was a plus. you can take down a P51 by taking out the radiator. the various bombers that the army air corps used had radial engines because they made a lot of power, and were lighter than an equivalent inline engine, and thus that weight difference would allow for larger bomb loads.
the british used inline engines because they tended to design aircraft not only as fighting machines, but as works of art as well. they also preferred the lower drag that the inline engines allowed.
Do radial aircraft engines leak/consume a lot of oil?
Yes, they have very high oil consumption compared to other engines, even when freshly overhauled. I flew Beavers in Alaska and 1 quarts or so per hour was normal. Properly assembled and maintained, radials do not leak per se but, due to gravity, oil does collect in the bottom cylinders when they are not running, which then runs out the valves into the exhaust collector and drips out of the exhaust stacks, sometimes in quite large quantities. This is why you often see drip pans on the ground underneath parked aircraft. The cloud of smoke usually produced during start-up is also a result of oil in the bottom cylinders and exhaust collector. One has to be careful to clear this oil prior to engine start to prevent a "hydraulic lock" that can damage the engine. A typical method is to turn the prop by hand, or by starter with the ignition off, for several blades.
