Saw a B-17 get its engines run up at the Palm Springs air museum and the prop tips about hypnotized me
Took the family to the Palm Springs Air Museum last Saturday and they happened to be doing a run-up on their B-17, nine cylinders per engine, all four of them singing. What got me was watching the prop tips, you can actually see the arc they trace when the RPM comes up, and it made me think about how much balance matters on those old radials. Talked to one of their volunteers for about 20 minutes and he said they check valve clearance way more often than most people would guess because those engines sit a lot between flights. Any of you work radials or old warbirds? Curious how often you're pulling plugs compared to what the manual says.