Video: Giant Wright R-3350 Radial—Hear it Roar!

Posted on by

The Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cylone is one of the most remarkable piston engines ever produced. Here’s a rare opportunity to see its inner workings and hear it run. 

 

Unlike many of the unusual piston aircraft engines we’ve featured here at Mac’s Motor City Garage, the Wright R-3350 proved itself in the air. The big radial logged countless thousands of hours in World War II and after in both military and civilian aircraft, including the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and the Douglas DC-7, before it was displaced by gas turbines in the 1950s.

With two rows of nine massive cylinders each, the air-cooled monster displaced 3,347 cubic inches and was rated at up to 3,700 horsepower. The mightiest R-3350s were the TC turbo-compound versions, which used three power recovery turbines (PRTs) with fluid couplings to harvest exhaust gas energy and drive the crankshaft—in contast to a conventional turbocharger, which uses an exhaust turbine to drive a supercharger. The PRTs added more than 500 hp to the engine’s total output.

The beautifully restored R-3550 featured here, originally one of four that powered a Lockheed Super Constellation airliner, is a labor of love by aviation expert Patrick Smart. We can barely imagine the time, effort, and passion that were required. In this clip we get to see many of the Duplex-Cyclone’s components, including the cylinder jugs with their delicately cast cooling fins and the mammoth double-row crankcase. And best of all, we get to see and hear the engine run. Enjoy the video.

 

7 thoughts on “Video: Giant Wright R-3350 Radial—Hear it Roar!”

  1. When the big Connies were in regular service, the PRTs would light up the wing with a hot blue flame. Passengers would see it and summon the flight attendants exclaiming the wing was on fire, to which they would reply, “No sir, that’s normal – call me if you see it go out!”

    • I believe that the flight crew, on long flights, used the colour and length of the flames to judge the mixture in order to maximise fuel economy. Once I tried running my Ford 1600cc engine without the exhaust manifold. Lo and behold, I got 4 lovely short blue flames.

  2. I loved these engines, but I have a reason . I was in the U S Air FORCE for 4 years, and my duty was ” air craft engine mac. ” I worked on all of them, but to me the 4360 was the best. They fueled the C 97 AND OUR KC-97 . The KC-97 HAD TO BE FAST ENOUGH TO REFUEL THE JET JOCKIES !!! The 4360 had 4 roles of 7 cylinders with turbo chargers .

    • My pops was a B-29, B-50, C-97, A-1H engine mech. Happy to see someone keeping that engine alive.

  3. It was also the first large aircraft engine to develop more than 1 horsepower per cubic inch and more than 1 horsepower per pound of engine weight

  4. I’m always amazed at what creations we made for war. These consumed a LOT of fuel, 200 gallons/hour on takeoff, 60 gallons/hour cruising. I guess it’s why we won the war. With a prop,which I think is kind of a governor. A “dry wind” would probably blow it up. I’m surprised it was able to be tethered down.

  5. 3350 was great until they added the compound changes to it.It became so unrelievable after that.The failure rate was so great the A/L I worked for we robed the other three engines for spares when grounded with engine failure.

Comments are closed.