Antonov AN-2 Colt

It is a Russian airplane and it looks like it was designed in 1929, but according to Wikipedia it was 1949. It is still being produced in China. I don't know how we got on the subject, but Marc was telling us about the starting procedure at lunch today. Here's a clip.



There is a tank of compressed air. When the pilot turns the handle on the dashboard it opens up a valve. The compressed air is released to start turning a flywheel. You can here the whine increasing in pitch as it comes up to speed. Notice that the propeller is not turning yet. When the flywheel is turning fast enough, the pilot engages a clutch that connects the flywheel to the crank and the engine starts turning, and hopefully starts running.

Sounds like a complicated way to get an engine to start, but evidently it is practical because it works in Russia where temperatures get downright cold.

As a bonus, notice the apparently curved propeller blades after the engine finally catches.