Packettes of Power

U.S. Air Force ground crewmen have their work cut out for them. At bases that stretch from Alaska to Africa, their equipment must be able to operate in all kinds of weather. Last week Continental Motors Corp. announced that it had licked at least part of the difficult ground-power problem. It was starting to produce a group of air-cooled engines (15 to 250 h.p.) that run efficiently at temperatures as low as -- 65DEGF.

The new "Packettes" have a preheat system for quick and easy starting on the coldest arctic runways. Fresh air is warmed to 400DEG by a gasoline-burning, automobile-type heater. Then a hand-started blower drives the heated air over the engine proper, forces it through the crankcase and around the walls of the cylinders. In no more than ten minutes the engine is warm enough to start.

The new Packettes are already earmarked for their first big job--driving a new, high-pressure fueling system for B-36's. Until now, the big, sleek "Ramp-Roosters" have had to stay on the ground for hours while tank trucks, working at low pressure, gassed their huge tanks. With Packettes to help them, 8,000-gallon trucks, with big pumps working at 90 pounds pressure, will do the job in 20 minutes.

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