Codders,
There are a number of DC3's still in service here, as freightliners. I love to hear them departing St. Croix as they pass over my house at about a thousand feet. It's like the difference between listening to a Harley Davidson 1200 cc and a 2 Stroke Dirt Bike between them and the turboprops.
4 Star, one of the freight haulers that has them also has a couple of Convair 240's with the original radial piston engines. I was going down airport road one morning and became shrouded in a cloud of white smoke coming from an aircraft near 4 Star's warehouse. I swear I couldn't see the road passing through the cloud for a few seconds. My buddy Rocky who does avionics locally and works on them told me that when first cranked, the clearances are so loose they burn gallons of oil until they come up to temp and things tighten up.
Ever hear the term, "A wing and a prayer".
When I embark on the 30+ mile crossing to St. Thomas/St. John with my 50 Johnson on the 4.7 SR I take comfort knowing airplane drivers fly these 1945 - 1950 airframe/enginge combos all over the place. The most extreme of these flight ops are guys who fly through passes in the Andes in South America with vintage aircraft. Forget the peaks, the passes approach max altitude
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Tomas
