Odd place to find a "roundy"...

[AirDOGGe]

I was visiting some friends who live near the town of Boulder Creek in the montains above Santa Cruz, California when my bud told me he had something to show me that I might be interested in. "And grab your camera" he added.

I was intrigued.

We jumped into his truck and he drove us to the next door mountain-town of Ben Lomond and pulled up to a hardware/feed/supply store. "Check out what's on the side of the store" he said.

This is what I saw:






...It's an old Continental R-670, roughly similar to what you might find on a stock Boeing Stearman biplane....






....So strange to see it here, in a historic old town in a steep mountain valley, nowhere near any airports or flying fields, or ANY open flat land for that matter...








.....I held my hand out in this picture to give an idea of scale...Those cylinder heads are huge for such a (relatively speaking) small radial....






....History is unknown, but data IS available fortunately....

(............NOTE that "W-670" is the factory's code for the engine instead of "R"..........)





They also had a few antique Harley Davidson motorcycles there, but posting their photos would be way off-topic.

At least these are aviation-related. I hope you found them interesting...

[Skyracer]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

With the prop blades and exhaust turned around suggest it suggests it may have seen use in a pusher configuration such as an airboat or sled.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

I was thinking maybe a pole-mounted blower to protect crops from frost...They do have a number of vineyards in those hills...

Who knows?

[Skyracer]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

I was thinking maybe a pole-mounted blower to protect crops from frost...They do have a number of vineyards in those hills...

Who knows?

Thought about that too, but the ones I have seen "blowing frost" were all operated in the conventional "puller" configuration.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Wanna hear something that deepens the mystery?

Everywhere I search says the "-9a" is a tank engine designation. I also reviewed the Stearman and none used that model of R670 as far as I can tell, including the Navy's versions:

The US Army Air Forces Kaydet had three different designations based on its power plant:

PT-13, with a Lycoming R-680 engine. 2,141 total all models.[2]

PT-13Initial production. R-680-B4B engine. 26 built.
PT-13A R-680-7 engine. 92 delivered 1937-38. Model A-75.
PT-13B R-680-11 engine. 255 delivered 1939-40.
PT-13C Six PT-13Bs modified for instrument flying.
PT-13D PT-13As equipped with the R-680-17 engine. 353 delivered.

PT-17 With a Continental R-670-5 engine. 3,519 delivered

PT-17A 18 PT-17s were equipped with blind-flying instrumention.
PT-17B Three PT-17s were equipped with agricultural spraying equipment for pest-control.

PT-18
PT-13 with a Jacobs R-755 engine, 150 built.

PT-18A Six PT-18s fitted with blind-flying instrumention.

PT-27
Canadian PT-17. This designation was given to 300 aircraft supplied under Lend-Lease to the RCAF.

The US Navy had several versions including:

NS
Up to 61 delivered. powered by surplus 220 hp (164 kW) Wright J-5 Whirlwind.[3]
N2S Known colloquially as the "Yellow Peril" from its overall-yellow paint scheme.

N2S-1 R-670-14 engine. 250 delivered to the US Navy.
N2S-2 R-680-8 engine. 125 delivered to the US Navy.
N2S-3 R-670-4 engine. 1,875 delivered to the US Navy.
N2S-4 99 US Army aircraft diverted to the US Navy, plus 577 new-build aircraft.
N2S-5 R-680-17 engine. 1,450 delivered to the US Navy.

They DID use them in the M3A1 Stuart Light Tank and the LVT.

Either someone threw a propeller on a tank engine (and possibly was too aviation-illiterate to mount it correctly), or variations of the -9a were used on SOME kind of aircraft, though I can't find any.

[Leo]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Hmmm.
I have a lamp made of one of those type cylinders.

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

While working for Lockheed at the Santa Cruz Mts. Test Base I lived in Ben Lomond & there was an airport up the hill in Bonny Doon & maybe thats where it came from. I never thought to ask about it.

[Airracer75]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Think it is a crop blower because I had a friend in San Jose had some of those radial tank engines and props and got them out the valley. He offered to give me one but I did'nt have any place to put it.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

While working for Lockheed at the Santa Cruz Mts. Test Base...

Now THERE'S news. I had no idea Lockheed had a facility up there....Live and learn.

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Air Dogee Lockheed is still up there at the end of Empire Grade. That is where we did testing for all the sub missiles (Polaris,Poseidon & Trident). I was up there in 1971-1982 until I went out in the field as a Quality Engineer.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Fascinating. I was aware of United Technology's test site south of San Jose and the Lockheed Missiles & Space division base at Moffett, but never knew of this place in the Santa Cruz mountains . Many thanks for informing me/us.


Well, I'll be...There's the runway, right on the ridge-top above Ben Lomond. Amazing.






So, can I assume that this is the Lockheed site you worked at, roughly northwest of said runway? It's the only site I see up there that looks like such a facility. I see a heli pad there too:





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[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Yes AirDoGGe thats LMSC Test Facility. The airport at Bonny Doon is the one from long ago & I don't think it is used anymore.Lots of stories about that test base. Hope to see you in Reno this year.

[AirDOGGe]

Re: Odd place to find a "roundy"...

Many thanks again to everyone for their info.

Yep, looks like that airport hasn't been used in awhile (video):


[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xskokwLvhs&feature=player_embedded[/YT]