1917 Le Clerget | FerrariChat

1917 Le Clerget

Discussion in 'Aviation Chat' started by snj5, Sep 29, 2014.

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  1. snj5

    snj5 F1 World Champ

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    Russ Turner
    #1 snj5, Sep 29, 2014
    Here is a neat video of Fred Murrin starting Tom Kozura's 1917 Le Clerget 130 hp rotary of about 1000cid. Makes all that hp at about 1250 rpm -- can you say torque?!?!? The smell of burnt caster oil and the throaty bellow listening in person is just magic. This engine is original to and will be going on Tom's Sopwith Camel replica.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4f8ec_-9UE&feature=youtu.be
     
  2. Juan-Manuel Fantango

    Juan-Manuel Fantango F1 World Champ
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    #2 Juan-Manuel Fantango, Sep 29, 2014
    It looks bizarre seeing all that mass turning with the prop. Seems like that would give it a tendency to lift or dip a wing but I'm no engineer.
     
  3. ArtS

    ArtS F1 Veteran
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    Nov 11, 2003
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    #3 ArtS, Sep 30, 2014
    The engine is neat but the airframe it is attached to looks difficult to fly... :D
     
  4. Gatorrari

    Gatorrari F1 World Champ
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    Jim Pernikoff
    #4 Gatorrari, Sep 30, 2014
    In the Camel, it did just that, which is what made the airplane so maneuverable. In the hands of a rookie pilot, the Camel could be a killer, but in the hands of an experienced pilot, it was the enemy that got killed!
     
  5. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    Robert Parks
    #5 Bob Parks, Sep 30, 2014
    Russ, correct me if I'm wrong on this. I remember that the camel could make tight turns to the right to out-turn a combatant. Not so tight to the left. At low or near stall speed, the application of full power allowed the tail to wag the dog and in the case of the F8F, it could produce a torque roll.
     
  6. snj5

    snj5 F1 World Champ

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    Russ Turner
    #6 snj5, Sep 30, 2014
    The famous movie pilot Frank Tallman, on flying his original rotary powered Camel:

     
  7. tazandjan

    tazandjan Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Terry H Phillips
    #7 tazandjan, Oct 1, 2014
    Russ- Would have been fun to see the Camel vs Fred's LeRhone powered Dr.I in a turn contest. Those were the two ultimate turning WW-1 fighters. Both of them were pretty much unstable in all three axes, when you come right down to it. The Dr.I got better press as a pilot's plane, but until they were pulled from the front, they were pretty much only flown by experts and there were only 320 of them built and attrition was high.

    The Clerget was a very nice engine with both intake and exhaust pushrods, unlike the LeRhones and Gnomes. Both 130 and 140 hp Clergets powered the Camel, plus a bunch of other engines (LeRhone, BR1, Gnome 9N, etc). But then, you already knew that. The BR1 and Gnome 9N really transformed the Camel with 150 and 160 hp respectively.
     
  8. Bob Parks

    Bob Parks F1 Veteran
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    Robert Parks
    #8 Bob Parks, Oct 1, 2014
    Digging back into my frayed mental archives I seem to remember that the ME-109 had a built- in 3-4 deg. offset to the left in the vertical fin. This compromised turns to the left after a steep dive. I recall that pursuing P-51 pilots many times could lay in fire to the right of their adversary at the right time and wait for it to fly into it.
     

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