How To Build A 4,300hp Aviation 'Wasp Major' In The 1930s?

Known as one of the largest living piston engines ever in aviation, this 28-cylinder marvel was one of a kind in real working aircraft out there. Pratt & Whitney managed to get things right and achieved noteworthy success with it. Although it came too late to be used in the war, it proved useful even after. However, during development things would not go as easy and engineers had to think outside the box to finish this challenging assignment.
- Time stamps -
00:00 Intro
00:39 Purpose
01:31 The early development
02:23 Firing, angles and numbering
03:53 General design and materials
04:39 Challenges during development
05:03 Crankcase design
06:05 Head and valvetrain
06:38 Cooling
07:30 Large engine issues
08:01 Horsepower rating
08:25 Foreign potential rivals
09:07 Largest piston aircraft engine from the USA
09:26 Hughes aircraft
09:46 Final words
- Vlog -
/ @visioracervlogs2741
- Support -
/ visioracer
- Disclaimer -
This video is fair use under U.S. copyright law because it is transformative in nature, uses no more of the original than necessary and has no adverse effect on the market for the original work.
- Credits -
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[@aaronburratwood.6957]

That’s a really good looking engine. What a great piece of machinery.

[@BastardX13]

It's as if each generation of Pratt and Whitney radial becomes more visually magnificent then the one before. A delight to behold. Great vid.

[@Nafeels]

Somewhere in an alternate universe a P&W engineer had a batshit idea and develop a 2-stroke version of the Wasp Major, which would’ve been a huge rival to Rolls Royce’s Crecy. Lighter, more horsepower, and WAYYYYYYYYYY louder. Great video! Used to confuse this with the similarly notorious Wright R-3350 Cyclone engine.

[@albero319]

Imagine the guys who worked day after day to maximize airflow to barely get it to not overheat, and then their boss says he now wants a 2 stroke variant.

[@exothermal.sprocket]

Yep, gonna have to make that liquid cooled. haha

[@fidelcatsro6948]

yum yum my yamaha couldve used that..all that weight saved couldve been used for more fin cooled area..

[@Nafeels]

@@albero319 Not just that, but a better way to implement sleeve/reed valves for exhaust scavenging on top of the already complicated cooling system. Maybe throw in a reverse-engineered BMW-801’s active cooling and direct fuel injection for good measure. Just to squeeze out every ounce of performance.

[@exothermal.sprocket]

@@Nafeels And for extra performance, incorporate VANOS.

[@Grimm-Gaming]

Now i wanna hear what a 28/1 exhaust sounds like

[@BinneReitsma]

Haha same 28-1 akrapovic system

[@aditya-br3kg]

@@BinneReitsma more like straight pipe

[@SavageBunny1]

Equal length headders?

[@nickthompson9697]

I think it was configured that way.

[@solomon165pro]

It sounds like it comes out of a giant turbo. Because it does…

[@Pamudder]

The SuperGuppy pictured in your video, although based on the K97, had turboprops instead of the R4360's. The shape of the engine nacelles is quite different.

[@KutWrite]

Props too... and the SOUND in that one clip.

[@carlthor91]

@@KutWrite Yep, square tip blades with cuffs.

[@bobhamilton298]

Was going to mention the same thing.

[@captainsledge7554]

Beat me to it

[@joelhodge7914]

My grandmother built these engines, all Pratt and Whitney engines, including jets, from 1942 until 1982. I am so proud of her

[@CT5555_]

I'll never forget being a kid at the Evergreen museum, and just staring at the huge cutaway engine model for the spruce goose.

[@mrkiplingreallywasanexceed8311]

Not only a massive engine, but also a massive job for you to unpick and explain it all! Quite an achievement!!

[@oler777]

I can’t remember the documentary I saw this on but for this engine to test the reliability of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine to make sure it would be great in World War II fighters they tested it by running it at max power for 24 hours and it didn’t break and the test bed made 3400 hp but was reduced to 2800 to help keep the engines lifespan so 24 hours at 3400 RPM that’s one hell of a dino pull

[@Turboy65]

This is more mechanically impressive to me than even a jet engine. What a fantastic piece of engineering!!

[@DavidSmith-ze2wi]

As an aviation enthusiast I knew of this engine and have been incredulous at it's complexity. What an engineering masterpiece and of production engineering. America could certainly produce some fantastic kit. Over here in the UK we had an engine manufacturer who wouldn't make anything unless it was fiendishly complicated. Napier was their name and the Nomad was probably the pinnacle of their love of such engines.

[@spaceace1006]

This P&W WASP Monster and the RR Merlin are the 2 greatest aero piston engines!

[@adorable_rookie_69]

Napier sabre too that thing sounds rowdy

[@spaceace1006]

The Bristol Hercules was awesome with its Sleeve Valve system..

[@mikebell9166]

I love watching and listening to these big radials; they seem so absurdly complex they can't possibly work, but they did, and well!! Thank you for featuring these separately!

[@borisblafhaas380]

This engine is just a great piece of engineering art. The sound when it starts is magnificent.

[@dougdanzeisen9608]

Wonderful video, thank you for sharing it. BTW, the "Super Guppy" does not the R-4360, but turboprop engines. If you listen carefully towards the end of your video you can hear the turboprop on the "Guppy" at the 9:00 mark in the video. That's clearly the Allison 501-D22C.

[@Robwantsacurry]

Have to piont out that whils the Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy used Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines, the aircaft featured in your video is the Super Guppy which uses Allison 501-D22C turboprops.

[@VisioRacer]

I am sorry about that! I did not notice that

[@1shoe]

I immediately noticed that, wondered if anyone else did.

[@xAEROPLANEx]

@@1shoe Yes. :)

[@bret9741]

It’s amazing to see human design at the point where a technology has neared its potential and a new revolutionary technology displaces it. These radials were truly cutting edge

[@michaelwillette5738]

Good to see... My ex-father-in-law (now deceased) was a young engineer on a last hurrah effort to produce a radial engine competitor to the new jet engines. P-W made 56 cylinder prototype engines by joining 2 R4360 units. 3 units were built. All suffered from excessive timing variation between the first and last rows of cylinders. As much as 7 degrees of slop in timing from #1 to #56. The last prototype ran on the test dyno for 3 hours before self destruction. The program was terminated at that point.

[@David-yy7lb]

The complexity and engineering of that 28 cylinder radial engine is just awesome 👍🏿and with all those cylinders that's a smooth running engine for sure

[@allenbowick4716]

Awesome video visio, always loved the sound of the Pratt & Whitney's when they first fire up. That chop or lope sounds sooo good & powerful.

[@Damien.D]

The cylinder arrangement and intake and exhaust pipes design give this engine a biological look. It's a roaring beast that looks more bred than built.

[@ricepony33]

Horse power ;)

[@yodasbff3395]

An incredibly complex engine, must have been a nightmare to work on, good video. 👍

[@VisioRacer]

We can only imagine how difficult it could have been. Thank you

[@nicholasmarino1733]

Hi Yoda's BFF, the answer is YES!! But very rewarding. I speak from experience.

[@leonb2637]

This was designed by slide rules and mechanical calculators, not computers. That is amazing. My father worked on the C-W Turbo Compound engines 1953-1963 and those were crazy complicated.

[@fuse8052]

Another amazing video! Never heard of this engine before. You make such interesting and informative videos

[@nigelrg1]

WOW! Can you imagine the mechanic's job working on one of these? I am VERY impressed that something like this could be made to work reliably.

[@bunky060171]

The Guppy pictured uses the Allison 501D turboprop (T56), when it started life as the KC-97/B-50 derivative, it used the Wasp.

[@scowell]

The Super Guppy you're showing had turbine engines I believe. I've seen the HFB-1 at both Long Beach and McMinnville... that's where you get to see the engine cut-away (with the red paint). The huge Lycoming engine is at Udvar-Hazy... it is magnificent.

[@KanJonathan]

4 × Allison 501-D22C turboprop engines, 4,680 shp (3,490 kW) each.

[@hermandegroot1946]

Nice video, you spoke about problems in the beginnning......well the Boeing Stratocruiser with four P&W Wasp Majors was nicknamed the best 3-engined airliner. But think of the fact that all calculations were made with a slide ruler. Thanks. PS, you probably know them all but and covered them..... for a future video you could have a look at: the Aspin engine, the Junckers Jumo 205 and 223, did you cover the Napier Deltic?, the Bristol 5 cilinder swash plate engine, the Massive Yet Tiny engine, free piston engine, Saturn rocket F1 engine,

[@nickthompson9697]

Doesn't matter how you do the math as long as it adds up.

[@philiptownsend4026]

I remember my schooldays with log books and slide rules. I think I must have been in the last generation to use them. Hated the log books but loved my slide rule though I always had the niggle that absolute accuracy was sacrificed for speed. I treasured my slide rule loving and protecting it for many years but never used it again. After school I never saw either in use again and as I started work early electronic calculators become available, my first one cost £52.00 - more than a month's pay. It didn't even have a % key or a memory, just the basic plus minus multiply and divide. I remember my 15 floor office buildings heating engineers asked me to calculate the water volume of the heating system for them to correctly dose the corrosion inhibitor. That was a major task but made practicable and enjoyable by my first calculator. How times change and how quickly too. Sorry to ramble on, I have insomnia and my brain is racing.

[@upsidedowndog1256]

These were incredible engines. As an aircraft mechanic if my boss took one in for me to work on I would fire him immediately!

[@TheReadBaron91]

Imagine if continental made it, it’d be even more of a PITA to work on

[@upsidedowndog1256]

@@TheReadBaron91 Maybe so. I work on a LOT of Continentals so they aren't too bad....but they always need SOMETHING!

[@TheReadBaron91]

@@upsidedowndog1256 work on a lot of those too, mostly in the Cirrus

[@upsidedowndog1256]

@@TheReadBaron91 I installed an engine on a SR20 and an SR22. The tuned induction engines are a huge leap forward compared to the older ones. LOP operation is possible without GAMI's. I didn't enjoy flying them as much as I had hoped I would. They feel heavy and sluggish on the stick.

[@finehit]

They were smart Engineers back in them days dang that's a big ass engine. Great video

[@shafferjoe1962]

For anyone who is in the midwest/ plains states. Go visit Pinoneer Village in Minden Nebraska. They have one on display, and yes it is huge. Funny thing was, as I would walk through the exhibits, I would teach out and touch them. For some reason, I wanted to touch history. They have others as well. Viso, another great video brother, please keep up the great work and weird finds that you find. God bless brother.

[@michaelbritt7609]

I can't imagine changing all of the spark plugs on a B36, the 6 radials alone have something like 336 spark plugs, plus the ignition plugs in the 4 J-74 engines and the APU

[@megathumper777]

I could have watched that for another hour more. Great video

[@Kneedragon1962]

Thank you, I was waiting for this one.

[@VisioRacer]

Hope you like it!

[@coreyandnathanielchartier3749]

Very good video and the animations are great!

[@Hydrogenblonde]

Excellent video, very informative. More aircraft engine videos please!

[@VisioRacer]

Thank you!

[@brianmuhlingBUM]

What great technology during desperate times. Well researched. 😊

[@ClockworksOfGL]

An old-timer Pratt engineer I spoke with - his job was to test every engine that left their factory - was thrilled with the switch to jet engines. Apparently the piston engines were absolutely FILTHY to work with. Not to mention what happens to your day if you accidentally foul the spark plugs & need to change them all.

[@VisioRacer]

I really cannot imagine that. As amazed I am seeing it working, switching to jet engines was the best move the aviation industry could do, indeed.

[@user-cs1ne8gx9u]

Aviation engines are always interesting. Great work.

[@VisioRacer]

Thanks!

[@bitrage.]

This thing a masterpiece

[@donallen7990]

I worked on the R-4360-59B while I was in the Air Force back in '62-'66.

[@perrosdemaiz]

Thanks for the video. Fascinating. I’d like to see more aviation engines videos. Have you done a video on the 1980’s F1 turbos?

[@gen3v8]

Sick vid

[@aaronburratwood.6957]

I got to go to the air museum in Oregon that currently houses the spruce goose. This was in ‘01 so it wasn’t there yet but the place is in a blimp hanger and was at one time the largest freestanding wooden structure in the country.

[@unggrabb]

Wonderful design and technology

[@amaccama3267]

Love your work mate 👍

[@VisioRacer]

Thanks!

[@IFear_Naught]

what a beautiful beast.

[@lescrooge]

Great content. thanks

[@jasonmajere2165]

Seems like we were all crazier with ideas back in the day. Delta engine for UK trains was crazy too.

[@yknott9873]

So you know, the Guppy has Allison T56 turboprop engines, not Wasp Majors ;)

[@jadesmith6823]

Thank you mate for your production of internal combustion 🙏❤️🇦🇺

[@Tom-wl9sx]

Fantastic engine! 😉

[@steeltube195]

Loved it, more aircraft engine videos please !

[@VisioRacer]

Thanks!

[@fidelcatsro6948]

my cat loves u too! 🐱♥️♥️♥️

[@HansOvervoorde]

Amazing engineering!

[@MattBlue]

Your video contains a significant error. The NASA Super Guppy that you have included in your video is not a Wasp driven aircraft, instead it uses four Allison Allison 501 D22C turboprops. The short sequence where the aircraft is shown taxiing clearly displays turoprop engine noise. The NASA Super Guppy (Reg. N941NA) was originally built for Airbus to transport parts for Airbus aircraft and did so from 1983 until 1997 with the registration F-GEAI. It is the last remaining airworthy Super Guppy.

[@VisioRacer]

Definitely not intentional, sorry!

[@michaelcliffe562]

When was this designed? What? 80 YEARS AGO?! The word "computer" probably didn't even exist back then! The engineering prowess of those times is just mind blowing...

[@davidrockey7190]

Awesome engineering 💯🤫

[@alejandrosienra2179]

Excellent Engine of the time masterpiece ✈️💪🌠💫

[@VisioRacer]

An exceptional engine!

[@DaveBegotka]

Another great vid

[@VisioRacer]

Thanks, Dave!

[@lr937]

Amazing engineering

[@ThePaulv12]

The later variants had a hybrid turbocharger designed by GE. IIRC, an exhaust turbine powered a shaft that went to a gearbox that then put the power directly back onto the crankshaft.

[@chrisyarbrough785]

It's amazing just how complex these engines are.and building them so fast during the war.try that these days

[@GeneralGayJay]

I love your dialect!

[@IanStClair-dy1eu]

Been wanting to see somebody respect this engine since I heard a running b29 as a kid. As somebody with a big block drag car, nothing can beat the sound of these.

[@dukecraig2402]

The B29 didn't have this engine, it used the Wright R3350. The B50, which was kind of a B29, had these engine's, developed too late to be used in WW2 the B50 did see use in the Korean War.

[@IanStClair-dy1eu]

When building a plane or a car, you learn very quickly which engines are performers and which ones aren’t. Why you you choose an inferior engine is beyond me, but too each there own. Wright was notorious for having severe casting defects in their cases. Casting defects that could lead to potential grenading. I’m guessing that’s why they dumped the Wright motor. That would be akin to choosing a vw1600 over a rotax engine to power a small aircraft.

[@mpetersen6]

Some of the clips of the Guppy feature turboprops.

[@oxcart4172]

Do a video on the XR-7755 please! It made the wasp Major look like a lawnmower engine!

[@Mark_317]

My favorite name for a plane all time is the XR-12 Rainbow. It was powered by 4 of these engines.

[@fastinradfordable]

112 pi$tons

[@dragod7233]

holyy s*it this is complicated ....

[@KutWrite]

Loved the presentation. Sorry, your shots of the Super Guppy near the end were all of the turboprop model, including the clip with sound.

[@stevenborham1584]

Hughes aircraft designs always seemed to be underpowered graceful catwalk model types inspiring everyone, in stark contrast to what actually went into the war zones like the Grumman-Vought-Republic-Curtiss-etc designs. A T56 powered (see your footage of the Boeing Super-Guppy as exampled engines) Hughes H4 would easily have flown, they just weren't available yet for this revolutionary design. I've seen that 3D model of the R-4360 before and wondered why the modeler put the way under sized prop on the front, it's truly the best impression of this engines power to see a museum piece with its actual prop hanging up front. The H4's engine nacelles look like mere nubs for the huge props Howard hung on the front of those units, yet all that HP still wasn't enough.

[@martentrudeau6948]

The Wasp Major, what a marvel.

[@griffn14]

Good shit. 👍👍👍

[@davidelliott5843]

Rolls-Royce realised that piston engines were getting too complicated. Their supercharger (from Merlin and Griffon) had become supremely efficient so they went to turbo jets and turbo props and avoided the step yo huge multi-row radials.

[@dukecraig2402]

Everyone did, engine's like this were only made because aircraft designers called for powerplants for massive new aircraft designs before jet engine's were capable of doing the job. What was everyone supposed to do, sit on their hands for 10 years without designing new aircraft waiting on jet engine's to be ready?

[@londonalicante]

Radials were never Rolls Royce's thing. The World War 2 European theatre was mainly fought over land (with the exception of the English channel) with both sides employing watercooled V engines, with advanced features such as 4 valves per cylinder and sodium cooled valves. Aircooled radials were used more in the Pacific theatre, by both Americans and Japanese. The lack of a liquid cooling system made them more robust (especially under fire) which was vital when fighting over open water. There was one British manufacturer known for its radial engines: Bristol, which produced the 18 cylinder centaurus as well as some 14 cylinder engines, and specialised in sleeve valves. Pratt & Whitney's 28 cylinder Wasp Major was a very successful engine (nowhere near as succesful as their 18 cylinder double wasp) and is as far as I know the only successful radial aero engine with more than 2 rows.

[@tbas8741]

To be clear the engines are also ALL Oil cooled as the function of oil is not only lubrication which in itself prevents heat, but also as a heat exchanger

[@brunotombeur7272]

I would like to understand how the lubrication worked for the bottom cylinders... Great video.

[@Beemer917]

Those Goodyear F2g Corsairs were bought up by a guy named Cook Cleland and used to win the last Thompson trophy races in in Cleveland Ohio. I think it was 1949 when a highly modified P-51 Mustang called the Beguine with a very inexperienced pilot crashed into a house and killed a mother and her two children. That was the last year A Thompson trophy race was held in Cleveland.

[@Orvz475]

It is also found on the Goodyear F2G Super Corsair.

[@buildindian8169]

Bugatti needs this engine

[@808bigisland]

Aloha and thx!

[@VisioRacer]

Hello and my pleasure!

[@mark4m557]

I couldn’t imagine the time that goes in to setting the valves on that engine.

[@Racks47]

you're having a good day at work until one of these comes in with the timing off

[@edilsonmartins6653]

Motor impressionante!

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

Makes me appreciate how simple and easy is a gas turbine lol 5 000 hp with a turboshat seems light years ahead in terms of ease of use ^^

[@Modernnannenginemarineengine]

Without CAD THESE engineers created this incredible Combustion Engine today with only Pocket slide rules. They would struggle to recreate from scratch this engine.

[@oscarcasallas4144]

hi man, i would enjoy a video about sleeve valve engines, it's an interesting solution and very extended in WWII planes

[@bloodcicle3350]

Greg just put one up kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXeqgqyMZcyMZ6M

[@robinwells8879]

Apex engineering!😮

[@davidca96]

Its remarkable how well they made this engine using no computers, etc. just human hand.

[@nimueh4298]

Imagine synchronizing all those moving parts.

[@BaileyEvans]

Video idea, engines with most aggressive valve angles

[@Bata.andrei]

@VisioRacer, hi , I am fellow engine nerd and I wold love for you to make a video about the Sulzer 12LDA28 engine. It was used in locomotives in the '60s and some are still in use in some Eastern European countries.

[@icenijohn2]

There are even a few remaining Class 47 locos trundling around Britain with their original 12LDA28C engines still working (more or less...). I've traveled many miles behind locos powered by LDA28s, including the 6- and 8-cylinder variants, and I have happy memories of the sound of hard-working Sulzers. Are there still Sulzer-powered locos in Slovakia?

[@Bata.andrei]

@@icenijohn2 I don't know about Slovakia, because I am originally from Romania. On the Romanian railways there are still some locos that still use the Sulzer or a Romanian license made engine. There are two types of Romanian produces locos powered by this engine: the LDE type: diesel-electric and the LDH type:: diesel-hydraulic. I also have always loved the sound of this engine, no matter if was idling or working hard.

[@jamesb.9155]

Would have been an amazing fly-over sound with the 8 - 28 cylinder engines R4360''s of the 'Spruce Goose' humming over head, much as we enjoy the sound of a Messerschmidt Bf-109 with Daimler-Benz DB-605 inverted v-12 or a Merlin V-12 Rolls-Royce engine fighter aircraft of world war two!

[@viktor4533]

Brutalita

[@hocek11]

Marvel of engineering prepared without computers. Wonder if they still are people who could design such engine nowadays.

[@dukecraig2402]

Why wouldn't there be? The engine's designed today are far more advanced than these, don't think that just because these engine's were so big they were anywhere near as advanced as a modern 4 cylinder car engine, you're confusing size with technology.

[@thomas4315]

So how hard is it to turn a propeller? Seem excessive, Aren't they rpm limited, 10 k? before it start flying blades and time to run.

[@rwgallup]

You have several shots of the Super Guppy which has Allison 501 turboprop engines not P&W 4360

[@by_1771]

Can you do a Video of the Mz1000 sf Motor

[@davelowets]

Some aircraft pylon racers still use this engine today in their racing planes.

[@mark6491]

epic

[@jamest.5001]

I was imagining a few days ago, what if one of these engines has enough cylinders to fire every degree of rotation, what would that sound like??

[@keithjurena9319]

Super Guppy had turbine engines. Pregnant Guppy had these 28 cylinder engines. Nacelles for turbines have intake on top, recip have intakes down low.

[@cathiestubes2820]

How much hp would this engine produce with 4 valves / cylinder and direct fuel injection? Direct FI would also alleviate the problem with engine fires caused by icing in the carbs.