MOST EXTREME Radial Engine Ever BUILT

he Bristol Hercules is a 14-cylinder two-row radial aircraft engine designed by Sir Roy Fedden and produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1939.

[johnpchang]

This isn’t an engine, it’s a three dimensional madness rune

[Godislife]

Looks like a timing these engines were being built in the late 30s, no computer, no 3-D printer, just pen and paper and brain amazing....

[SolarCookingGermany]

As an engineer I'm always impressed what people were able to do without computers

[CharlesHuse]

That moment when you just finished the overhaul and did the test run only to learn you’re a tooth off on timing somewhere and you gotta call the watchmaker in.

[icegiant]

Can you imagine being the enemy, and the general drops wreckage of this thing off at your garage, and tells you to reverse engineer this thing... you'd be like WTF.

[davidsymalla]

What a magnificent piece of engineering!!

[evanchapmanfanman]

The Bristol Centaurus is even more impressive. It’s an 18 cylinder big brother of this engine.

[bazza]

1968, I did two flights in the Bristol Freighter which was powered by two of these beauties. They didn't miss a beat while hauling my ass over 600 miles of the South Pacific.

[jayclark]

That start up.is iconic sounding. You can hear all the gear train working at the end. Nice.

[Slaktrax]

These engines proved to be ultra reliable and liked by the mechanics. The later versions were rated at 1980hp.

[drewski]

Probably pound for pound the most mechanically complex devices we have ever created as a species.

[robertwest]

I imagine many of the engineers that designed the radial engine had a high rate of mental breakdowns. And they are accomplishing this with no computers or CNC machining. 👍🏻

[Mr_Smartlew]

A perfect example of how good things were when Britain actually built things 🇬🇧

[soyuz]

When the talent and energy of a generation is pushed in the right direction.

[Loulovesspeed]

This is the same engine manufacturer that provided the 6 cylinder automobile engine to AC Cars. When Bristol stopped making the engines, Carroll Shelby convinced AC Cars to let him put a Ford V8 into it, which became the famous AC Cobra (or Shelby Cobra in the U.S.)

[james.]

All done with slide rules, no computers.

[EbenBransome]

The Centaurus was bigger, and when it comes to sleeve valves the Napier Sabre was more extreme.

[christophergagliano]

Only the British would come up with something so complicated.

[rokuth]

The horsepower rating went up to about 1, 700hp on some variants. IIRC, the displacement was around 2600cu in, so comparable to the R2600, The other famous Bristol sleeve valve radial engine was the Centaurus, which had a displacement closer to the R3350. Then there is the sleeve valve Napier Sabre H24 engine that powered versions of the Hawker Typhoon, and Hawker Tempest.

[djbis]

All that gearing making it look like a fine swiss watch.