Quote:
Originally Posted by Trumper
 Do these help
7 mins in
3 mins in for night time CREDIT TO THE AUTHORS OF THE VIDEOS |
Great videos Trumper. I've put together a few stills from the Just Jane night runup you posted.
When running fast the flames were short and a dull red in colour.
When reduced to an idle the flames were longer and blue in colour.
The red flames flickered but were visible at all times from all exhausts.
The blue flames were intermittent - just ejected every now and then.
None of the flames were bright enough to illuminate the cowlings of the aircraft. This is my experience from a couple of merlin night runs I've witnessed. The only time the aircraft is lit up is when the engine has been overprimed and the full fuel flames are seen pouring out for a few seconds on initial start.
This makes sense since an aircraft lit up to the extent we see in the SoW video would have made a perfect target at night. I know the brightness of the exhausts was a problem at night for pilot vision - in First Light I remember reading that Geoff Wellum couldn't see the runway lights below him at night because strips of metal were attached to the fuselage of his Spit to hide the exhaust outlets from the pilot, partially obscuring his downward vision - he hadn't realised that and thought the runway lights were being switched off every time he flew approach!