[Larry]

In the spring of 1944 my father was posted to 575 Sqn at RAF Broadwell, as an engine fitter and he told me that in the build up for D-Day, the base received a vast supply of brand new crated Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engines which he and other fitters then prepared for immediate use.

According to my late father, the RAF decided it was easier to remove a defective engine and take it to the workshops, that spend time on stripping it on the aircraft out at dispersal. This he said was rather a new way of doing things for the RAF and I wonder if this was just for Dakota Sqns because of the nature of the engine / airframe or whether it was adopted throughout other Commands?

Obviously an engine swap was done only for major problems or if hit by flak, rather than for basic maintenance. Hoever a novel feature of the C-47 was that it was delivered with a tool kit containing tools the likes of which the RAF fitters had never seen before, so an engine change didn't take forever.

BTW - Does anyone know how many hours a Pratt & Whitney R-1830 would run before it needed a major service in RAF service in WW2?