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  "path": "/2026/04/thank-you-joe-heres-cool-story-he-just.html",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-04T19:31:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://justacarguy.blogspot.com",
  "tags": [
    "https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-media/NASM-A19710893000-NASM2015-01753-000001"
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  "textContent": "_\n\n\n\n_\n\n_Joe wrote:_\n\nI have a friend who salvaged an air-cooled rotary 9 cylinder diesel engine that was being used as power for a rural Wisconsin sawmill.\n\n\n\n\nHe told me the engine had been started life in a WW2 Sherman M4 tank. After rebuilding the engine and the diesel injection system he looked at the handful of old \"shotgun shells' for the starter but instead welded pipe fittings in place of the shell receiver and starts the engine with a surge of nitrogen gas from a high pressure bottle.\n\n\n\n\nThe giant paperweight is mounted to a wheeled stand and he occasionally rolls it out and fires it up to rattle the neighborhood.\n\n\n\n\n_Thank you Joe! I wish there were photos!_\n\n_\n_\n\nThis photo borrowed from https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-media/NASM-A19710893000-NASM2015-01753-000001\n\n\n\n\nI don't think I've ever heard of the Sherman tank having a radial engine though... the diesel radial was aircraft focused\n\n\n\n\nthe engine in the photo above was publicly shown for the first time during the Detroit Aircraft Show in April 1930.\n\n\n\n\nThe Packard Diesel Model DR-980 won the 1931 Collier Trophy.\n\n\n\n\nThe Packard Diesel DR-980 was the first compression ignition, oil-burning engine flown. It powered such aircraft as the:\n\nStinson SM-1DX Detroiter;\n\nPackard-Bellanca Pacemaker;\n\nVerville Air Coach;\n\nFord 11-AT-1 Trimotor;\n\nGoodyear Defender airship;\n\nTowle FA-3 Flying boat;\n\nStewart M-2 Monoplane;\n\nWaco Taper Wing;\n\nand Consolidated XPT-8A aircraft.",
  "title": "Thank you Joe! Here's the cool story he just shared in the comments on the Coffman Starter",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-04T19:31:07.650Z"
}