Dan at Hemmings found something unusual and cool... an Ford flathead powered magnetic coil carrying airplane minesweeper used to clear paths for ships in the English Channel and Suez Canal during World War II.

the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force began working on ways to counter the German aquatic magnetic mines. The RAF decided to detonate them from the air.

the German mines used dip needle detonators that worked “on the same principle as a compass,”
to detect the passing disruption in the earth’s magnetic field caused by a metallic ship.

RAF engineers had Vickers equip a Wellington twin-engine long-range bomber with a 51-foot-diameter balsa wood ring that housed an aluminum coil.

Inside nestled a Ford flathead V-8 engine hooked up to a 35-kilowatt Mawdsley generator that in turn energized the aluminum coil to create a magnetic field that would trigger the dip needle detonators.

The aerial minesweeper had to fly at between 60 feet and 35 feet to to trigger but avoid damage from the mines.

The RAF ordered construction of another three before replacing the Ford flathead with a lighter and more powerful DeHavilland Gipsy engine to turn a 95-kilowatt generator that powered a smaller 48-foot coil

Among other accomplishments, the plane was used to clearing a lane for aiding the escape of the Dutch royal family to England in May 1940.

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/06/17/how-fords-flathead-v-8-helped-save-lives-as-an-aerial-minesweeper-during-world-war-ii/#comments-block

thanks Gary!