Installation and Cranking of Airplane Engines
prepared by the U. S. Air Service. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919.
Call number: not yet cataloged.

"As the pull is started shift the weight over to the left foot and move the right about 12 inches to the right, gradually shift the weight to the right foot, turn on the ball of the right foot to the right, advance and place the left foot in front of the right and step away, withdrawing the hands at the same time." (p. 5)

What sounds like tango lessons are actually instructions for starting an airplane engine by turning the airplane's propeller. Slightly surreal photographs featuring a seemingly free-floating propeller illustrate the text of this cranking manual.

View the complete booklet (PDF file).

Dyke's Aircraft Engine Instructor
by A. L. Dyke. Chicago: Goodheart-Willcox Co., 1928.
Call Number: TL 701 .D85 1928b (Special Collections)

Dyke's 372-page manual contains many photographs and diagrams that support the text, including colored fold-outs of the lubricating systems of some of the prominent aircraft engines of the day. Dyke produced a valuable resource that continues to serve restorers of historic aircraft today.

View selected pages (PDF file).

Instructions for 80-Horsepower Le Rhone Engine
compiled by the U. S. Bureau of Aircraft Production. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1919.
Call Number: TL 703 .L4 U6 1919 (Special Collections)

Le Rhone Firsts:
On August 23, 1913, L�on Letort performed the first non-stop flight between Paris and Berlin when he flew his Morane-Saulnier monoplane fitted with an 80-hp Le Rh�ne engine the 560 miles between the two capitals in 8 hours.
  � from Aviation History Facts, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission

In August 1917, the Sopwith Pup, fitted with an 80-hp Le Rhone engine, was the first aircraft to land aboard a moving ship, the Royal Navy's H.M.S. Furious.
  � from An Illustrated History of World War One

View selected pages including a complete parts list and schematic drawings of the LeRhone engine (PDF file).

Wright Aircraft Engines
by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation. 1921.
Call Number: TL 703 .W7 A3 1921 (Special Collections)

In 1909, the Wright Company was incorporated in the state of New York with Wilbur Wright as president. When Wilbur died in 1912, Orville took over as president of the company. In 1915, Orville bought back the shares of the company from its stockholders and sold the entire company to a new group of investors. In 1929, shortly before Glenn Curtiss died, the Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Company merged with the Wright Aeronautical Corporation to form the Curtiss-Wright Corporation.
  � from Wright Aeronautical Company by Judy Rumerman, U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.

View selected pages including the chapter Overhaul of Wright Engines: Instructions for Disassembly of Detail Parts, Their Inspection, Repair and Reassembly (PDF file).