Talk:Aircraft engine starting

Hand starting with canvas sock?
I'm dubious about this claim that "canvas socks" were used to allow multi-person hand-starting. How does one remove the sock once the engine starts, short of allowing centrifugal force to fling it off god knows where? I think very few aircraft required more than two people to hand start, due to the danger involved. After 1925 or so, larger engines had starters equipped. When you see a photo of three or four men on a prop blade, I think that's most often the ground crew turning the engine over to release pooled oil from the lower cylinders, not starting the engine. How often do you see a WWII era photo of crew (supposedly) "hand-starting" an inline engine? You see plenty of photos of men on the blades of B-17's, B-24's, B-29's, etc, because they were all radials, and needed to be turned over. Starting was done electrically, or by other means, but not by hand. I think this "canvas sock" is just a device to help make turning the prop easier, because turning a B-29 prop by hand is difficult. But no-one ever started a B-29 by hand, to my knowledge..45Colt 01:28, 23 August 2015 (UTC)


 * The fact is cited with a reliable source. The sock slides off as the blade lines up with the team of propeller swingers. A photograph might help you believe it but to easily upload one would be against copyright. A non-free photo might be possible but will take some work which I'm not enthused to do at the moment. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by)    23:07, 23 August 2015 (UTC)


 * The Bristol F.2 Fighter's Rolls-Royce Falcon required three men with linked hands to start it. It was due to hand swinging becoming impracticable that the Hucks starter was devised. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.150.11.216 (talk) 12:38, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

What is this "FAA 1976" in the references?
Is there no link whatsoever to these documents? I think some of the claims citing this resource (like air-starters are 75% lighter than an equivalent electrical starter, ref. 15) should be verifiable by the public. A Google search does not help either. Willcmc (talk) 17:53, 6 February 2022 (UTC)


 * It is the second book (hard copy) listed in the bibliography, I have added the ISBN which, if you click on it, will link to suppliers. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by)  19:40, 6 February 2022 (UTC)


 * I can confirm the citation, the text in the book is the typical air turbine starter weighs from one-fourth to one-half as much as an electric starter capable of starting the same engine. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by)  19:55, 6 February 2022 (UTC)