To complete ones education on the advantages of the rotary engine
one must study the history of the aircraft piston engine.
This is a very concise history of the the aircraft engine
you can download.
www.enginehistory.org/OX5to3350.pdf
I found it interesting that later models of the R3350 turbo compound
engine gave up to 3000 hours of service in airline use.
Early non-turbo compound versions used in the B29 were lucky to get 100

hours.

Paul Lamar

They did flog them for many hours but more significant was the MTBF (mean
time before failure) figure.  FWIW, I talked to a man who was a mechanic
working on the Connie engines who told me that the airplane averaged only 10
hours between engine shutdown events (due to engine problems).  That's about
40 hours MTBF per engine.  There was little left of the original engine when
it reached 3000 hours.
Tracy

That 10 hours is a very unlikely number as the 24 hour non-stop
Connie flights from San Francisco to London would not be possible.
Probably several thousand B29 sorties to Japan would also not be
possible. There appears to be a big difference of opinion
on the reliability of the R3350TC.
Paul Lamar

"Michael D. Lilja" wrote:

I work with a guy who used to fly both Constellations and DC-7's.  He said he averaged about 100
hours between unexpected engine shut downs.  Also the premier issue of Torque Meter from the AEHS
has a very extensive article on the R-3350.  It did have major problems to begin with and many
B-29 aircraft were lost to engine problems.  There is a quote in the article by someone who used
to fly or work on them.  More B-29's were lost to Wright than to the Japanese.  By the end of
production they did have quite a reliable engine.

Mike Lilja

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