Hello Jim:
     Greetings from Canada.
=> unfeathered when in the air but never seen it happen. Thanks for the fuel 
inf
=>
=> on doing a 3 engine vs a 4 engine cruise with the P-3. I always 
uspicioned
=> that the plane would have so much drag from trimming out the asynetric 
thrust
=>
     By slowly opening the cowl flaps on the starboard outboard, the F/E
could initiate a very gradual, nearly flat turn to the right.  Very often
used as a training aid for transitioning pilots to demonstrate what minor
adjustments can have on drag, thereby changing flight behavior even in a
lumpy old girl like the Argus.   Do you still have the picture of the
Argus I sent you long ago?
=> that there would be little gain. I would guess the 4 engine Argus acft 
would
=> have very touchy engines when the fuel consumption gets down in that 
region.
     Specific fuel consumption at that low level  (for an engine that
size)  occurs of course under the best conditions.  130-140 KCAS was a
typical climb speed;  specific economic cruise speed of course would
depend on conditions and gross weight.
     47,808 pounds of fuel would often see a 26+ hour unrefuelled patrol
time.  Max endurance was 32 hours on one flight out of Comox.
     However, as you well know, the larger radials were sometimes oil
limited, and not fuel limited.   Each Wright carried 80 gallons of oil,
which was normally sufficient for long range patrols.  However, sometimes
an Argus would return home with an engine which was oil limited, while
the a/c itself still had sufficient fuel on board for many hours' flight
time yet.
     The operating manual states  "Oil consumption per engine in excess
of 3 Imperial gallons per hour requires investigating and reporting."
     Indeed!
                                                  Ken
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