WWI Rotary Engine running
 

Peter Jackson, "Lord of the Rings" director, just bought a G550... so he can fly nonstop form NZ to Los Angeles.

But he also owns "The Vintage Aviator". Restores and builds replica WWI aircraft.

Now, they're building copies of WWI engines.

Here is one of their "Oberursel" Rotary engine with a video of it running. This is NOT a Mazda.

For those that don't know, with a rotary engine, the crankshaft is stationary and is bolted to the firewall. The cylinders rotate around it.

The opposite of the well-known radial engine.

This is VERY cool.

Playing Oberursel Engine Running | The Vintage Aviator

Thats pretty cool, Bet you can make some really tight right turns with that engine.

That is a thing of beauty. Just fill it up with oil and top off the gas every 100 miles and you'll be good to go. ;)

I have seen a Gnome rotary engine cira 1910 and was quite a good engine except the only way to slow down the engine was to turn the spark off and on. this was hard on the engine and most were discontinued after WW1. they never got it right (or wright) and went to the scrap heap in favor of the more convental radial engine we have today. But they did run very cool.

Plus the lubricant of the day was castor, the pilot cant avoid ingesting some of the oil spray from the open rockers on every flight, necessitating a "run" to the bathroom.

Truly amazing - I wonder what the logic behind doing it that way ever was... I looked at the schematic (they have an exploded view axonometric CAD drawing you can look at, but on the screen it's tough to read). Anyone know how they get the fuel to the cylinders?

Yes but only in one direction. The other direction is a real bear...

As an early pilot I knew one WW1 vet. He flew spads and was a real character.

Regarding the castor oil, he said with a smile that "we were real regular fellows" and that what they show in the movies is pure BS, that they often jumped out of the airplanes before they were stopped so that they could run to the slit trench and use the potty!

Impressive website, I spent about an hour looking at the pictures of the construction. Still haven't figured out how the connecting rods work quite yet, but what's impressive to me is that the machining technology was that far advanced back in the 'oughts. It's one thing to use modern cnc equipment, digital measurement devices and modern alloys, it's a whole 'nother ballgame to use a standard mill and lathe to put something that intricate together. (let alone design it. The tapered fins on the cylinder barrels are a work of art. The cam followers are little jewels. Some of those pieces look jet aircraft-worthy, and I can't help think that the level of craftsmanship necessary to make that beast run wouldn't be the same 100 years ago as it is today.)

Thanks to the OP for sharing this.

(Hell, even the website is cool)

like!