In article ,
"Big Dave" david writes:
Actually I got the info from a filmed interview of a Grandslam mission pilot
who stated that both he and the flight engineer had the throttle levers
pushed hard against the stops to get a few extra revs out of the engines as
"The cow was bloody overloaded & did not want get off the damm ground".

Thanks. I'm not surprised that that's the action they took. On the
unfortunately too few DC-3 flights that I've flown copilot on, one of
my jobs was to back up the pilot on the throttles (Hold 'em forward,
basically) to keep the power up incase somebody'd hand or the friction
nut slips. That'll help make sure that you're keeping all the
Manifold Pressure that you've laid on until you're safely
flying. (Another copilot job is raising the gear - it helps to have
long arms) A very sensible thing, especially in something as marginal
as a 36 ton Lancaster. A lost engine with that load would have meant
a climb rate of around 50 ft/minute, give or take 75 ft/minute.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster