2 Speed Rotaries

I just heard something really amazing, which I wasn't aware of before. Rotary Engine aircraft had ONE speed?

Did they have to cut the engine to land?

I'm also finding it very interesting that Sopwith stuck with the rotary engine for the Snipe, which strikes me as odd since the water cooled engines were more powerful. Was the power to weight ratio that huge for the rotaries when compared the watercooled engines?

[MikeW]

KBOC,

don't believe everything you hear.

If you run a search you will find lots of information here regarding this old chestnut.

Briefly however,

Most rorary engines had a carburettor of sorts that allowed the individual adjustment of petrol flow and air by a needle valve and butterfly valve respectively, so that the mixture could be adjusted by the pilot. This was fiddly in flight so if you were landing and wanted a significant cut in rpm, it was easier to cut the magneto in and out to "blip" the engine. If you had the time it was quite feasible to fiddle about with the controls to get a significant reduction in revs.

If you think about it, it had to be possible for a pilot to adjust the rpm, otherwise how would a patrol stick together, they would all be flying at differing speeds.


Regarding the Snipe - Sopwith's intended the new type to be an interim model, to be fairly rapidly replaced by the Sopwith Dragon, basically a Snipe powered by the ABC Dragonfly radial - a useless engine that brought the British industry to its knees.

Mike