|
|
|
|
Announcing the This convention will enjoy three July days in convenient Indianapolis, Indiana. We will have a unique opportunity to explore the archives, storage, restoration, and display areas of the recently dedicated Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Allison Branch Museum. The James A. Allison exhibition hall contains several dozen engines including the piston Liberty and V-1710, turboprops like the T-40 and T-56, jet engines such as the 578-DX unducted fan, regenerated gas turbines, and the AE1107 that powers the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor. For those with the interest, a working program is being developed that will allow us to partner our diverse talent with the Museum during our visit, from assessing and restoring the Powerama collection of wooden models, archiving, or some hands-on engine experience. Our Friday junket will be to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, home to dozens of restored race cars, engines, and memorabilia, with hoods and bonnets agape for our members to admire and record. Our scheduled speakers are decidedly Allison-centric, with author and archivist John Leonard discussing some of the unique projects and capabilities of Allison through the years, Rolls- Royce's Dan Jensen tackling small gas turbines and the remarkable Allison Model 250, and Dan Whitney detailing the art and science of turbocharging the V-1710. Tom Fey will chronicle the short but diverse life of Aeroproducts contra-rotating propellers, Roush Aviation's Merlin rebuilder Paul Draper will discuss the challenges and approaches to keeping the V-1650s flying, and Museum Chairman Dave Newill will share his insight and experience on the joys and thorns of building an engine collection. Add a silent auction, the ongoing camaraderie of our attendees, and hours of commiseration, all for a great price and free daily breakfast, this is an opportunity not to be missed. SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
- Printable Registration Form -
Come early and stay on after the convention. - Things to Do in Indianapolis-
Convention Highlights 2008 Convention
Report from the 5th Annual AEHS Convention It was nice to be able drive my car to attend the 5th annual AEHS convention in the Sacramento area (around two hours from my homestead in Santa Clara). In a first, the convention started early this year on a Wednesday and finished a day early on Saturday. The pre-registered list of attendees (including spouses) numbered 75, but I noticed one ad-hoc late attendee from Sweden on museum day. A natural West Coast bias was noted in the registrations, as was the East Coast bias seen at the 3rd AEHS convention near Hartford, Connecticut (my birthplace) two years ago.
The convention headquarters (Lions Gate Hotel, on premises of former McClellan AFB) was a short distance from the California Aerospace Museum, to be toured on Friday. The attendees were greeted by the pronounced smell of local forest fires plus extreme heat, which reached over 100° during the first two days of the convention, but moderated nicely later. A notable absence this year was that of Mr. Graham White, who emceed all previous AEHS conventions. We understand that, although a continuing active AEHS member, his role in the society and in regard to Torque Meter has changed. After the Wednesday July 9 arrival, the group got acquainted outside the hotel with early evening drinks and a light buffet (cheeses, fruits, crackers, etc.) in the impressive backyard of the local General’s Quarters. The program got under way early the following morning with a few words by all attendees, and then such programs as:
Supplementing Bill’s talk, around noon, the group observed outside on a trailer, an Aerojet LR91 (100,000 lb thrust class) liquid rocket engine, as used for Titan II, III, and IV upper stages, with storable fuel/oxidizer. The compact fuel turbopump on the LR91 was in the 3,000 hp class. The group then enjoyed a buffet lunch hosted by AEHS, followed at 1 PM by Dave Birch’s talk on the Merlin: Rolls-Royce versus Packard. Among the many small differences were screw-threads, both UK and US single-stage engines having British threads. All Packard Merlins had US accessories, the single-stage engines having intermediary mounting pads to give a US to UK interface. In the UK this could be removed so that a British accessory could be installed in its place. The Packard had US accessories and the electricals were upgraded from 12 VDC to 24 VDC. The Merlin engineering drawings were completely redone by Packard before production could proceed. Thursday afternoon (after 2 PM) was devoted to a tour of the famous
California Railroad Museum, followed by optional visits to the Delta King
riverboat bar and Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner. As was the case at the National
Museum of the Air Force last year, I found that my digital camera needed to be
set in the special “night mode” (with lengthy shutter opening) inside the
relatively dark railroad museum to get adequate exposure light, even with flash.
As mostly reciprocating “motorheads”, the AEHS members had to be impressed with
those massive steam-driven piston locomotives at the museum. I have strong
boyhood memories of watching large coal-fired steam freight locomotives, the
last in revenue service operating in western Pennsylvania, circa 1955-1957.
In the afternoon, the group enjoyed a tour of first the restoration hangar (right on the McClellan flight line, accompanied by many Air Force Reserve live C-130 operations) and then the main museum, including many fine engine exhibits (see full list at http://www.aerospacemuseumofcalifornia.org/engines/), plus the much-anticipated outdoor live demo of Dan Whitney’s Allison V-1710 water-cooled V-12 aircraft engine on a custom-built trailer. That particular V-12 engine is configured for 1,500 hp, and runs on 100 LL avgas. What an impressive sight and sound, starting with the profound rocking/shaking on starting when the first few cylinders fired. Dan has an evaporative-cooling spray bar installed on the radiator for high-ambient temperature runs. A number of high-power bursts were experienced, spinning a club prop. A second demo was arranged a short period later. For that run, I was well away walking among the museum’s outdoor aircraft exhibits, and even at 100-200 yards the sound was exemplary. Friday’s program concluded with a festive sizable group (including spouses) banquet catered buffet at the museum. This was accompanied by a Dan Whitney slide show on Reno racer pictures. On Saturday the 21st (9 AM to lunch, conclusion of program) we started with three excellent events hosted by Dave Birch of Rolls-Royce (Dave did yeoman duty at this convention): The R-R film Contribution to Victory covering design/development/production of the Merlin from the late 1930s to 1945. The plants at Derby, Crewe, and Glasgow were featured. The abundant hand work and meticulous English craft-like processes were quaint. By contrast, in both WW I and in WW II, US aircraft engine plants relied on automotive-type mass production methods with standardized tolerances and less hand labor. R-R plants were full of US-branded machine tools, I noticed (as a former machinist’s apprentice). The R-R film of 1993 documenting Trent turbofan certification: although many tests were featured (such as temperature extremes and heavy rain ingestion), the more dramatic tests involved ingestion of a fat 8 lb fresh (not frozen) bird, plus a flock of 8 birds at 1.5 lb each. And then there was the fan-blade-out (FBO) containment test at full power (one wide-chord hollow sheet titanium superplastic-formed fan blade was explosively separated). The entire turbofan engine was trashed via flames, flying metal, and remarkable fury from entry to exhaust, with a resultant wobbling main rotor at the conclusion! What extreme engine violence and destruction to witness! R-R passed the test. A Dave Birch overview of R-R aero piston engines ranging from the Eagle V-12 with individual cylinders (first aero engine of own design, work started in 1914), through the racing R, the Merlin, the Griffon, and so many others, to the advanced (and very loud) Crecy 2-stroke stratified-charge engine with direct gasoline injection (in development 1941-1945) to the last throw: the Penine “X” sleeve-valve engine of 2,800 hp. Dave reported that 190,000 R-R aero piston engines were built over the years, including licensee production. The convention ended with:
AEHS’s convention venue in 2009 is not settled, but a number of candidates were surfaced and audience preferences were recorded. Also debated were alternative months, such as May to October, with September excluded (Reno conflict), possible return to July Oshkosh proximity. All together, it was another outstanding gathering this year, and so close to my home. 2008 Convention Presentations Rocket Propulsion Our Key To
Space - by William Hoffman (660K PDF) 2008 Convention Sights Aerospace Museum of California - by Larry Rinek
Earlier Conventions (2004 - 2007)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Send mail to
|
.jpg)
