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1940 Stearman restoration

Truly a thing of beauty!
 
Typically, today, the Magnetos are strong enough to start the engine without a booster coil. But that's on electric starters which may rotate the engine faster the the hand crank inertia types. Those early models also had the breaker plates on the magnetos rotate so you would retard the spark for an easier start.
The P-51 here does have a boost coil with the mag having a trailing finger on the distributor that it connects through. The Merlin will start with the Mag switch on Off.
 
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