Ground Support Equipment "Yellow Gear"

[Glenn]

I need some help for a diorama for an L-188. To finish off the set I'd like to add a starter.

1. Did they use a starter cart?

2. And, if so, on what engine?

3. Yes, there's always a 'three' how many ground crew?

Glenn

[elmayerle]

I don't know the Electra but I do know the P-3.  The starter cart (primarily high-pressure air) can be connected to either of the inboard engines, though the starboard one is easier.  If the Electra shares the P-3's APU installation, it's atwart the fuselage just aft of the cockpit and exhausts on the starboard side.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

The early P-3A & B models required an external APU for starting if I remember correctly.  The P-3C was built with the APU incorporated into the airframe just below the cockpit on the starboard side of the aircraft.  I remember seeing the APU carts when I was living on Adak Naval Air Station in the Aleutian Islands and they looked a lot like the drop tanks that were carried by the Bearcat, Tigercat, Hellcat except they were painted yellow and had four wheels, tow bar and suspension lugs for mounting on the bomb rack.  They were designed to be hung from the bomb rack and transported with the aircraft to a forward operating base. 

So if you are doing an early Electra, you would need an APU of some kind, maybe not the fuel tank shaped cart, but an APU of some kind.   

[elmayerle]

Okay, I'll grant you that the ones I saw with APUs were Cs, being converted to EP-3Es.  BUt what I said about the connection point(s) is, to the best of my knowledge, correct.