At 09:02 AM 9/5/01 -0500, Ray McCrary wrote:
>Actually, most WW1 aircraft used water cooled engines such as the Liberty.
>The Rhone rotary, which you mention, was a rather weird exception, not
>having a throttle at all, merely a "blip switch". The engine ran at full
>power; to land, you interrupted the ignition. It was difficult to make, and
>the main problem for a fighter was the centrifugal force inherent in
>rotating objects. The "gyro" action of the engine made the aircraft less
>maneuverable.
To the contrary, most smaller WWI aircraft used rotary engines. A few DID
use water-cooled engines. Here is a rough break-down:
water-cooled
SPAD fighters
Albatross Fighters
Fokker DR-7
BrisFit
SE-5/-5A
rotary:
Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
Sopwith Pup
Sopwith Camel
Sopwith Snipe
Sopwith Tripe
all Fokkers save for the DR-7
all Nieuports to the Postwar 29
Larger aircraft -- from the DH-4 to the Handley-Page V/1500 -- did tend to
use water-cooled inline engines. But, in terms of aircraft in service, the
much more numerous single-seat fighters simply swamped the comptetition,
and most of these had rotaries.
Rotary engine manufacturers included Le Rhtne, Clerget, Gntme, B.R., and
Oberursel.
Marc
msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315
Cha robh b`s fir gun ghr`s fir!
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