Ive got to say, last time I was at Duxford airshow (couple of years ago), I thought the F8F Bearcat's P&W R-2800-34W Double Wasp stood out as sounding fantastic, but then so do Sea Fury's Centaurus XV's. Totally different to the various V12's which sound fantastic too. As you say, congo, a great conundrum!

Dont you just love those sleeve valve powerplants? Some shots you might find interesting!
Cheers Congo
First three photos are disassembly of J1N1, notice that it is sitting in basket dollies also of interest is the uncomplicated firewall not many things to disconnect before you unmount, at this stage custom fixtures were built for the fuselage and both wings. They all were able to be built so they attached seperately from the main assembly points. One is a rear shot of powerplant while it was suspended in the horizontal. Both main and drag spar attachments are finger joints and the spars are boxed I-beam on the main and simple I-beam on the drag spar. Wing bolts run parallel to the fuselage and are loaded in shear. When looking at the rear of the powerplant the carb is on top then two mags underneath, motor inertia starter in center, generator is driven off side pad at 9:00, Ductwork you see is for oil cooler. Smaller tube is for oil fill to aux resevoir behind firewall.



This one is a cleanup on a DB-603 for a Heinkel 219. Rocker covers have been removed, injector in center of Vee along with prop drive motor. If you notice this is a Cam in head powerplant rather than a true overhead cam. Water pump is at bottom of photo, you can also see the roller rockers on the right hand side.

The next three are in reversed order first is diassembly, R-2800 in Shop and reassembly after treatment. Interesting point in the last shot is the wing attach points for the outboard panels, Flight loads in shear and landing loads in tension.
You can also see the massive ductwork and housing for the turbocharger unit in all the 2800 photos.



These are self expanetory.


Last three are big ass Chrysler Hemi V-16 for XP-47, R-2600 and R-4360


