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About Those Wheels

Bizerte, Tunisia
New engines ready for installation.



[picture source: www.navsource.org]

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Another set, consisting of three identical engines, ready to power a PT Boat. Click to enlarge.


[picture source: www.savetheptboatinc.com]

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I know this is an old link but I figured I would add what I found as I read Automotive and Aviation Industries from 1943.
Wes

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Wesley, thanks for this rich source.

Many great articles in the Automotive Industries, saw one on removing broken drill bits and taps, also about the octane rating of gas and many of the things we just accept.
I saw an article about Ford saying he would build the Rolls Royce engines, but not for England, only for American planes.
Wes

I've tried to use the search function but without result. Now I skim through every single volume.

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iirc, the prototype PT boats the USN tested used a variety of engines, including the Packard 2500 and the Hall-Scott Defender (around 2,000cuin V12) The Navy settled on the Packard engine, while the Defender was used in other high speed launches, including the Brit Fairmile series, so the Packard must have had compelling virtues.

Took this pic of the 2500 at the PPG. I noticed the engine is made very much like a Liberty, with separate cylinder barrels bolted to a common crankcase, while the valve gear, which was exposed on the Liberty, is enclosed on the 2500.

The thought crosses my mind that the Packard engines could have been converted to air cooling. The air cooled Continental V12s used in US tanks of the 50s and 60s are built the same way, separate cylinder barrels on a common crankcase, with the cylinder barrels carrying cooling fins, instead of the welded on water jackets.

The Brits used Liberty engines in their Cruiser class tanks, and had a lot of trouble with the Liberty powered Crusaders in North Africa. Can't help but wonder if an adaptation of the 2A-1500, particularly an air cooled version, would have given the Crusader more power and better reliability than the overstressed, overheating Liberty.

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Packard 2500 start up and run on a test stand at Mystic Seaport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW3rFfF565c