Nieuport pr0n

[Treize69]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH2yqCKf7UI&feature=related

Correct engine and all. 

[ChickenHawk]

Love the sound of that old rotary.

Nice find.

[Treize69]

I love seeing one that actually has a rotary instead of a newer radial. I wish they'd gotten a good shot of it from the front so we could see the engine spinning, but considering its about 15 years old, I'll take what I can get. I liked the announcer explaining how the rotary engine works too, since most people would have no idea of the difference between "rotary" and "radial".

Awful short flight though. Seemed to take longer to start than it spent in the air.

[RedTeck]

what was he saying about the engine? something about it not having a true throttle so it shut down cylinders to regulate power?

[Treize69]

That's exactly it. There's only two or three throttle settings, or the engine can be "blipped" (shut down and restarted repeatedly). The benefit of a rotary though is that unlike an inline, it doesn't need to warm up- its ready to go as soon as its started and running smooth. That's why you see the period footage of planes like the DR.I starting up and immediately rolling away and taking off- as soon as its smoothed out, you're ready to go.

Downside though is that it's lubricated with castor oil and that the fast spinning engine is constantly throwing out into the slipstream. One explanation for both the scarf wrapped around the lower face and the sickly looking pilots from WWI is the constant ingestion of Castor Oil- the scarf to keep it out, and the stomach problems caused by swallowing it by the quart.

[ChickenHawk]

Can you imagine trying to stay in formation with a rotary like that, let alone trying to dogfight in one?  Those WWI aviators have got to be some of the bravest men to ever go to war.

I read another reason for the scarves was to wipe the castor oil off the goggles.  Kind of like manual windshield wipers.

[Motherland]

Sounds like a weed wacker

Is that 'farting' type noise a result of the propeller or the engine?

[Treize69]

Thats the engine firing on only a few cylinders- thats what the announcer was talking about when he said "its supposed to do that, its not misfiring".

[Treize69]

Heres a few pics of a the Gnome Monosoupape engine that they used in the N.28. They have one not far from me in Norwich, NY, at the classic car museum. Don't ask me why they have an airplane engine at a car museum.