engine number

[lawman56]

Hello all, just curious about some of Jamo's fantastic pics. I've noticed a stenciled number painted onto the forwardmost cylinder of the DIIIa Albatros engine. Was that the engine number, or the aircraft number it belonged to?

[uncletony]

Engine number I believe, but I think that practice may have started with the D.IIIaü(?) On some D.IIIa engines you see the numbers stenciled on the crankcase.

[kornbeef]

Theres a pic of an early AlbatrosDII with its engine being stripped down which clearly shows the stencilled engine no on the crankcase and you CAN just see the last letter of the engine no on the front cylinder P26 of the Albatros DI/II datafile 100.

Keith

[lawman56]

Thanks. I thought it was probably an engine/serial number, considering the engines could be swapped out if need be. Depending on how crazy I get, I may try to replicate that. 

[uncletony]

Theres a pic of an early AlbatrosDII with its engine being stripped down which clearly shows the stencilled engine no on the crankcase and you CAN just see the last letter of the engine no on the front cylinder P26 of the Albatros DI/II datafile 100.

Keith

Oh man, good eyes -- I had to whip out the magnifier to see it.

[ALBATROS1234]

i may be wrong but i always figured it was so when they pulled an engine to service it they could easily see by the number which plane it belonged in. you would think that maybe multiple engine could be out at a time and that way it was easy to see for the workmen as well as an assurance to the pilot that his engine was in the right airframe. as i said pure speculation on my part but i have not really researched it.

[kornbeef]

i may be wrong but i always figured it was so when they pulled an engine to service it they could easily see by the number which plane it belonged in. you would think that maybe multiple engine could be out at a time and that way it was easy to see for the workmen as well as an assurance to the pilot that his engine was in the right airframe. as i said pure speculation on my part but i have not really researched it.

Well on the above mentioned picture theres a number stencilled behind the front mounting web and inside the rear mounting web of the carb side of the crankcase so it's not beyond belief they may have stencilled both the engine and airframe or werks no on the case. (Pic quality isnt good enough to make them out fully though.
On a side note though it's interesting to note the front former appears painted finish and not varnished wood as so often depicted. Looking at it I'd hazzard it was an OAW factory applied triclour scheme too
((Damn its amazing how the AMS goes into overdrive when you start to REALLY look at pics like that))

Tony I only just spotted that 6 myself, I had already almost finished writing my post whenI had to return to examine the picture more closely, At first I thought it was something hanging from the mechanic's clothing. 

Keith

[uncletony]

I don't think the number is an airframe number, though I doubt I can prove it either. But to the chief mechanic, the engine has a life in the log books just like the airframe, in some cases the motor may outlive the airframe and vice versa. Consider too that later DB 600 series motors in WWII had engine (definitely not airframe) numbers stenciled on them in large white numerals in a very similar manner...

Still it seems to me this was a sporadic practice, rarely if ever seen on DB engines fitted to D.Vs. At least I couldn't find an example. Lots of pics floating around of uncowled D.V noses, in every one I could find the numbers just aren't there... or maybe they just don't show up, or they washed off or were painted over or censored.... Who knows!

Cheers

[kornbeef]

true.... but more seriously Who's Tony? my addled brain..lol