Everybody loves to watch a good radial start-up. From a Stearman to a DC-3 and everyone's favourite Super Connie, the amount of smoke expressed through the exhausts is what people still wonder over after all these years. But when it comes to smoky starts, all the others are relegated to amateur status compared to the mighty Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter. A development of the B-29 and B-50 bombers, the C-97 was powered by four 3500-hp Pratt & Whitney 28-cylinder radial engines, which is enough to produce a cloud of smoke the size of a barrage balloon. This example is operated by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation and was captured leaving Hagerstown in the USA in June last year.
