The Sopwith Camel's spinning engine!

The Air Zoo is a world-class, Smithsonian-affiliated aerospace and science museum, in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

[BoogieD]

It was actually easier to do a 270 degree turn to one side than do 90 to the other due to its massive torque.

[johne]

Pilots were well aware of the torque characteristic and used it in combat. It's one of the factors that gave the Camel so many victories.

[sumiterxeroslargosiuscrosi]

Fun fact: in battlefield 1 the Sopwith camel has this exact characteristic. Game devs did their research.

[melonalex]

WW1 pilots: Oh the Engine looks so cool.
*10 seconds later gets into a death spin*
Same WW1 pilot: OH GOD, OH WHY.

[pk-somj]

Another interesting fact about the Gnome engine was it had no throttle control. It was either on or off and the only way pilots could control it was through a switch to cut ignition. Between that and having control that reacted 90 degrees away from the pilots inputs due to gyroscopic effects. It definitely would have been a handful and it’s no wonder why they lost so many new pilots due to loss of control.

[eklhaft]

As a kid I remember reading a comic book where some early piloting competition took place (like pre WWI). One of the pilots always had problems with the right turn. Now I know why.

[insertnamehere]

As a car guy as soon as I heard rotary engine I thought this place had an angry spinny Dorito, and then quickly realised they weren’t invented till the 50’s

[pedrohenrique-hbsy]

Him: "...Rotary engine"
My brain: *Brap Brap Brap Brap*

[Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

I worked in aviation maintenance for many years.

I have seen numerous photos and videos of these engines running, yet they STILL seem incredulous to me.

I have a similar reaction when I see an AV-8 Harrier jet _hovering._ 😊

[gaijininja]

First learnt about the Camel from reading Biggles books. Also learnt the old saying it was quicker to turn 270° left than it was to turn 90° to the right.

[hy-roller]

No wonder snoopy was always getting shot down by the red barron🤣🤣

[mydogbrian]

> Not to be confused with the similar looking *RADIAL* Engine.

[Timman]

I wonder if that rotating mass caused accelerated cylinder wall and piston skirt wear to the backside of the cylinders, opposite the direction of rotation. Curious to see a well used engine broken down to see if this was an issue that was consistent with this type of engine. Thanks for the video!

[jasonnolle]

Got to fly in one of those as a kid. So cool.

[jones]

It's always amazed me that anyone could actually build a working internal combustion engine

[TalenGryphon]

It gets worse. Due to gyroscopic procession left turns were slow and the plane would climb. While right turns were alarmingly quick and the plane would DESCEND. Basically you'd corkscrew into the Earth if you didn't know what you were doing. Iirc this killed a lot of rookie pilots.

The infamous Fokker DR-1 also had this same problem

[rev.andyh.]

Fun fact: the man who invented this engine — rather than sit or squat as per social convention & common sense — preferred to lay down on his stomach whenever he had to take a crap.



In addition to this engine, he also designed some of the first public toilets. But they never caught on owing primarily to his insistence that people are meant to lay down on their stomach when going #2.

[cellpat]

Amazing that as he turns the engine, you can kinda hear the compression it makes. That means with spark and fuel it may even start. That thing is over 100 years old.

[Nitephall]

I had a toy Sopwith Camel when I was a kid. I never forgot the strange name of the plane for some reason.

[ronaldguild]

when this type of motor 'grenades', it must be quite impressive.