✴🚜 😮What's a Coffman Starter and How Does It Work? #viral #curiosity | Butterfly Effect

This World War II airplane engine was hand-started with a shotgun shell. The Rolls-Royce Griffin and other massive aircraft engines used a device called a Coffman starter. Essentially, a miniature cannon that fired a blank cartridge to crank the engine. It blasted compressed gas into a piston, which turned the engine over. Why use explosives? Batteries were unreliable and electric starters were too heavy. That bang meant lift off. Mechanics had to load it like a weapon. Imagine needing ammo just