Hand cranking a WWII Tiger tank...

[62champ]

Would have to feel sorry for the poor guy on the battlefield who had to get out and do this when they could not get it started internally...

[jclary]

When I was in the Air Force in the mid sixties, I was in a forward tactical Air Control unit. We had some skid mounted field generators that were powered by six cylinder horizontally opposed Lycoming Air cooled engines. The starters were a air over hydraulic system that required you to hand pump the pressure up and then hit the starter valve to kick the engine over. Our pumps used a lever that you had to push and pull back and forth. Quite a workout. It also provided all the motivation to keep those engines in tip top shape. You never wanted them to fail to start, because then you'd have to pump up the pressure once again.

Some aircraft used a type of rotary system that required you to crank similar to what you see in this video. If I understand it correctly, he is not turning the engine, but a hand crank compressor that will power the starter. Once the appropriate pressure is obtained, the starter button is actually a valve that releases the pressure and energizes the starter.

Thanks for posting this. It makes me wonder if those tanks ever carried what we consider a conventional electric starter and associated batteries, or was this the main system for starting them?

[DEEPNHOCK]

Inertia starters were used on a lot of early aircraft engines the same way.
You cranked up a freewheeling flywheel and then engaged the flywheel clutch to the engine.
There's no way you could ever direct crank engines like that.
Jeff

Here's a "Peashooter" video that's cool...showing the same type starting routine...

[62champ]

Looks they had a conventional starting system as well. The inertia start might have only been used when the batteries were low...