Snoopy's Airplane

[Jeff Higgins]

The Sopwith Camel. One of the best videos I've seen demonstrating one of the more unusual characteristics of the Gnome engine powering these machines. It was a nine cylinder radial, with the crankshaft fixed to the firewall and the entire engine rotating around it. If that were not unusual enough, it regulated engine speed and power output by cutting ignition. It would run as a three cylinder engine at lower power settings, then as a six cylinder at intermediate power settings, and finally would fire on all nine under full power. And, rather ingeniously, the cylinders that were cut out rotated progressively around the engine, so as not to foul plugs on cylinders that were skipped too much. Very cool to watch and listen to this unique arrangement:

[chapo]

Very cool. Funny, as I age I am more fascinated by machinery that goes slower, not faster.

[wdfifteen]

Thanks for the video Jeff. You always dig up something interesting.

There was a mad scramble to invent an effective throttling carburetor in the 1910s. They had enough trouble making one work in two dimensions let alone one that would work under multiple Gs and upside down. Interesting that for a short time the aircraft industry tried to perfect the “hit and miss” concept of RPM control instead of focusing on developing a throttling carburetor. I didn’t know they progressively killed the ignition to prevent fouling plugs. Pretty ingenious- and complicated.

[masraum]

That's fantastic! Thanks for posting!

If the crank is fixed, what's the propeller attached to?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by masraum

That's fantastic! Thanks for posting!

If the crank is fixed, what's the propeller attached to?

The crankcase. I saw this engine a couple months ago. It seems the oiling was done centrifugally.

[wdfifteen]

Here is an animation of the Gnome engine being assembled. It is an incredibly complicated, fascinating piece of machinery. The propeller is bolted to the crankcase and rotates with the cylinders.

[LWJ]

That is fantastic. Made my day.

[drcoastline]

Very cool, I always wondered how a radial engine worked.

[wdfifteen]

It's not a RADIAL it's a ROTARY. Radial engines have the propeller attached to the crankshaft. The crankcase and cylinders do not rotate as they do on a rotary engine.

[Tobra]

Spinning cylinders would give it interesting handling characteristics

[dw1]

Originally Posted by Tobra

Spinning cylinders would give it interesting handling characteristics

"Interesting" to say the least. More like massive gyroscopic effects.

I first learned about the difference between a rotary and a radial aircraft engine from what I still consider one of the best histories of the WWI air war: "Iron Men With Wooden Wings" by Lou Cameron.

Despite the "pulpy" title, it's actually a well-written history and one can learn a lot from it. Unfortunately it has been out of print for many years.

It is worth noting that until relatively late in WWI when in-line engine was made available to him for the Fokker D.VII, Fokker's aircraft used rotary engines. This means the famous Dr.I triplane not only had a relatively short fuselage and a relatively short wingspan, it had a massive spinning hunk of metal at the front, I can only imaging the gyroscopic effects in a turn and just how squirrelly that aircraft was (and also was the roughly similar but far less famous Sopwith Triplane).

[Alan A]

It - apparently - was a bugger to fly due to the gyroscopic effect of the engine.

[Jeff Higgins]

When attempting a right hand turn, many pilots found it was faster to turn through 270 degrees left than it was to simply turn 90 degrees right.

It is my understanding that these were oiled like a modern two cycle, with the castor oil mixed with the gasoline. There was no pressurized oiling system.

[NY65912]

Great day out with the kids, they have mock dogfights. Very cool.

https://oldrhinebeck.org/

[tdw28210]

I remember listening to this song on the Montgomery Ward stereo in my room with my older brother.

[DavidI]

Awesome video! Thanks Jeff.

[Rusty Heap]

They came in Camo Too!

1918 dazzle camo experiment with Sopwith Camels to trick enemy pilots into giving too little “lead” when aiming. The spiral patterned wheel covers also help spoil pilots’ aim, having vanes that spin the two wheels in opposite directions.