Racing Merlins
I read with interest “The Magnificent Merlin,” by Nicholas O’Dell, in the September issue. He concludes, “…the engine’s throaty growl can still be heard at airshows around the world.” If you want to see Merlins really working, go to Reno for the National Championship Air Races, where race-prepared Merlins are turning out some 4,000 hp. I’ve attached a photo I took (above) of a Merlin-powered P-51 Mus­tang at the 2008 races, Dago Red, flown by Dan Martin, which finished second in the Championship Gold race, with a speed of 474.305 mph. In 45 years of air racing at Reno, Merlins have won 21 championships.

Charlene Aro
Reno, Nev.

Questionable Connie Engines
As a U.S. Air Force pilot, I flew Constellations at Otis Air Force Base from 1955 to 1961. The EC-121D pictured on P. 30 of the July issue is probably one that I piloted.

The Wright 3350 that powered the Connie had some design flaws. The biggest one that comes readily to mind is that the feathering pump line was routed alongside the master cylinder. When the master cylinder blew, it ruptured the feathering pump line, and attempting to feather the engine often meant pumping close to 55 gallons of oil onto the fire that usually ensued. I witnessed two incidents involving uncontrollable engine fires.

About the maximum we could get out of the Wright 3350 was 1,500 hours, even though the engines were run mostly at long-range cruise. Engines were changed so that no aircraft had four high-time engines.

I take some exception to the flight engineer’s statement that pilots never handled the throttles. The engineer set max power for take­off, then damn well kept his hands clear in case there was an abort. Pilots also handled the throttles in the traffic pattern and on approach.

Martin Wirth
Punta Gorda, Fla.

Hammondsport Helicopter
I greatly enjoyed Kirk House’s “Into the Air” in the July issue, on the Aerial Experiment As­so­ciation. It may interest your readers to know that the same crew that launched Silver Dart contributed to the first manned ascent by a rotary-wing craft in America.

John Newton Williams had gained modest success with his “visible” typewriter design before turning his attention to helicopters. In 1908 he brought his coaxial machine to Ham­mondsport, hoping Glenn Curtiss would provide him with an engine. Williams’ ma­chine was little more than a wood platform, engine mount and transmission, topped by coaxial rotors constructed of tilted panels. The pilot sat on a chair that slid, allowing for some sort of weight-shifting control. With a Curtiss engine installed, Williams’ helicopter rose “several inches, several times.”

In 1909 Williams partnered with Emile Ber­liner, collaborating on a design based on Ber­liner’s Adams-Farwell rotary engine, which supposedly also lifted a man into the air.

Bruce Charnov
Hempstead, N.Y.

Wrong Zero
I thoroughly enjoyed Bob Bergin’s “Aviators” article on “Herman the German” in the September issue. But I’d like to point out that the Mitsubishi Zero pictured on P. 15 is not actually the aircraft described in the article. According to Koga’s Zero, Jim Reardon’s history of the Zero found on Akutan Island, the Zero pictured was sent to North Island Naval Air Station, arriving on August 12, 1942. It re­turned to the air on September 20, 1942. The photo purportedly of the Zero recovered in China appears to be a cropped version of the North Island photo, including a U.S. Navy sailor on one wing.

Colonel Marion S. Reynolds Jr.
Chaplain, U.S. Air Force (ret.)

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