Classic British Flight Sim

Searching for things Sopwith Camel related I found this bit of film on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtprTL66-FY

I enjoyed it, hope you do to.

Jon

Excellent video, great find.

A lot in there I did not know like no actual throttle on the Camel and the gyro effect on the ground was amazing.

The actual engine sound makes the default MS sounds seem well off the mark!

Pete

That was a brilliant find.The torque effect whilst on the ground was really pronounced.ATB EricT

I loved the noise as well Pete.

I also liked the idea of such an environmentally unsound machine. No exaust and it burns 12 pints of oil an hour. :o

I wonder if that's skimmed US pints or the full fat Imperial ones. :think:

Jon

I wondered if the guy who popped into the shot asking about the takeoff time was Nigel Lamb. Met him a few years ago when he flew for OFMC Great vid that.. a very nice find ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

This reminds me of the Biggles books where he learns to fly. This was during WWI and he is sent to France immediately. I understand WE Johns, the author, was a WWI pilot himself and possibly the Biggles of this era was almost autobiographical.
This vid takes me back to reading these books.
Biggles camel had a Bentley rotary engine and all the things in the video are described in the book. The pilot's shoulder always covered in castor oil, the blipping on the engine, the gyro effect that made turns one way difficult - but turning the other way a snap resulting in a tactical advantage (untiil the Germans worked out which way it was going to turn, I suppose). The fighter-pilots' head-roll while scanning the sky with the silk scarf as a lubricating mechanism. Great stuff.
Almost makes me wish to read them again. "Biggles Learns to Fly" and "The Camels are Coming" were two titles, I believe. The later books where he is in the police force were not nearly so interesting for me.

Jim

Me too Jim,

http://www.biggles.info/

I liked the WWII ones as well, "Biggles Sweeps the Desert" was a good one.

It might not be a good idea to read them again though.

Jon

I was appalled to see the Camel pilot playing with the prop, moving it back and forwards. For any of you tempted ever to do this, this is precisely how to get your arm chopped off . For the uninitiated, if a mag earth fails, which is quite a frequent happening ( and is the reason for dead cut checks being performed before stopping an engine) it fails live, with potentially catastrophic consequences

Christopher,

You are absolutely right about propellors. They are bloody dangerous. There was an occasion which brought this home after I had moved on to the design office at Hawker Aircraft. It was not related to a mag earth failure but its shows just how careful you have to be. A couple of fitters were working on a Sunday in the flight sheds. Against all the rules, the Coffman starter breech had been left in a Sea Fury after its last flight. One fitter was in the cockpit, the other was doing something near the propellor. For some reason the one in the cockpit pulled the starter cable. His colleague was killed instantly.

Ralph