Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp
Today, we’re sharing the stunning light painting of a pair of Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines. They’re what powers an amazing and rare aircraft, the Howard 500! This beautiful aircraft is one of only two in the world that are still flight-worthy today.
After completing a “traditional” light painting of the Howard 500 (you can read about that amazing project by clicking on this link), Joannie, myself, and our new friend Craig Schiller, tackled a second light painting project that night. This one was specifically created to highlight those two amazing engines. I guess you could call it a light painting close-up portrait.
This is the setup photo for the light painting of the twin Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines.
A Little History About the R-2800 Double Wasp
In 1936, when Pratt & Whitney began the design and development of the R-2800 Double Wasp, it was America’s first 18-cylinder radial engine. With water injection and turbo-supercharging, the R-2800 was able to produce more than one horsepower per cubic inch. At the time, it produced the greatest output at altitude of any aircraft engine in the world.
During World War II, the R-2800 Double Wasp was utilized in many aircraft. These included the Grumman F6F Hellcat, the Vought F4U Corsair, the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and other combat aircraft. After the War, it was employed to power the Douglas DC-6 and other airliners such as the Martin 202A, Martin 404, and Convair 340.
The Howard 500’s R-2800 Double Wasp’s came from the DC-6. When the Double Wasp’s production ended in 1960, more than 125,000 R-2800 engines had been manufactured by Pratt & Whitney. It was the end of one of the largest production runs of any single aircraft engine model ever built.
Light Painting the Howard 500’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Engines
Joannie and I have been creating light-painted photographs since 2017. Since that time, we’ve created these one-of-a-kind artworks at dozens of weddings, for senior portraits, pet portraits, and engagement sessions. And, of course, we’ve light-painted many cool cars, trucks, construction equipment, restaurants, food, and other aircraft! To have the opportunity to create our art of something so unique and rare is just so incredibly cool!
The finished light painting of the Howard 500’s Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engines. There’s some serious horsepower there!
To create this amazing light painting of the Howard 500’s R-2800 engines, we took 181 images that night. And I used 51 of them to create the completed Master File.
The Build Video
I’ve created a short video containing the images that were used to create this cool project. It’s called a Build Video and shows this amazing one-of-a-kind final artwork coming together, one layer at a time. It can be found on our YouTube channel at the link below.
And if you enjoy these unique photographs, we have a dedicated website filled with cool light painting projects. Please check it out at www.MichaelAndersonLightPainting.com.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to read our post. Have a great day! – M&J