Liberty aircraft engines

[ONEALM]

Shooter -

The boys at Old Rhinebeck have a running Liberty V-12 that is now a regular part of their weekend airshows. Apparently Cole Palen had bought a handful of them in NJ back in the lates 60's or eary 70's and they were never restored. A volunteer took one home and spent a year unpickling it. He built a beautiful test stand, found an appropriate propeller for it and it now gives about a 10 minute demo as wha mey be the only Liberty in the aviatio configuration running in the US . Quite a job and a beautiful restoration. I was suprised how quiet it was even at fairly high revs. I expected it to be loud and clanky, but it was pretty smooth - not a Mercedes mind you, but smooth nonetheless. Now all they need is a DH-4 to put it in.

-Mike

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Mike:
If they have two, how about a Handley-Page O/400!
Blue skies,
Dan-San

[mike_baram]

Dan-San,
I'm furious. You're older than I, yet you got $.35/wk allowance? My folks only gave me a lousy $.25. No adjustment for inflation.....I always felt I was being cheated in my youth, and this proves it.
Buying a basic Revell kit meant taking an advance on next week's budget.... >
I demand to speak with a lawyer....
I hate injustice.
Mike

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Mike;
My Mother, a beautiful auburn haired irish colleen would not give me an advance. She informed me, "If it costs more than 35 cents, you'll have to wait and save until you have enough." Some time it was tough, there would be a good WW1 movie, like "Suzy or "Cock of the Walk" and I had to choose, It was tough! :-[ See taught me the value of money. Mike are you going to the Seminar in San Diego?

Blue skies,
Dan-San

[Shooter]

Dudes, I gotta admit, despite its weight, the Liberty engine sounds like it was some kinda mill!

Think about it...some of them are still out there powering boats and who-knows-what-else!

Musta been the Offenhauser of its age.

Semper Fi,

Shooter sends

[G._Jacobs]

Hi All,

Ira you mentioned the wooden boat earlier with the Liberty engine. So far as I know only one such craft exists.

I am sure that was the one found a few years ago buried in mud in a lake in Ohio as I recall. The engine was in remarkable condition considering the circumstances.

As it turned out, the engine was manufactured by GM's Buick Division at the Flint,Michigan engine plant. Buick restored the engine to its original specs and may have assisted in reconstructing the boat too.

I believe there were three suppliers of Liberty engines with Buick producing the largest numbers.

I wonder how many "non-existant" aircraft engines are out there waiting to be discovered?

Sorry I missed this one earlier. The Liberty engine could make this kind of power because it displaced something in the area of 1750 cu. inches!!
Also, 3 Le Pe're 2 seater fighters made it to France but were still in testing at the war's end.

SteveD

[Dan_San_Abbott]

SteveD:
Allison Engineering received a contract to modify some 1750 cu.in. Libertys in the 1920s for use in the U.S.Army's Loening Flying Shoe horns, They were inverted. This contract lead to the developement of the 1750 cu.in. Allison V-12 that was used in the P-38, P39, P-40 and the P-51 and also some other WW2
types , so there was a direct connection between the Liberty and the Allison V-12 engine.
GOD bless America and our LIBERTY!
Dan-San

[Lufbery]

All,

According to this link: (http://www.canadiandriver.com/articles/bv/liberty.htm)

There were 15,572 Liberty aircraft engines produced by 1918. You'd think that there would be a whole bunch of them left. Are there any examples flying right now?

-Drew

Dan San:
I believe there is an aircraft in the W/P Museum that has an inverted Liberty engine. But my memory ain't what it used to be!!

Regards,
SteveD