Oshkosh invite to WWI Warbirds

[Dan K]

http://airventure.org/news/2014/140313_ ... -2014.html

[Baldeagle]

And yet they can't be bothered to bring back the grass runway.



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[JLoveless]

And yet they can't be bothered to bring back the grass runway.



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Yea kinda seems counter productive. WWI planes on hard surfaces doesn't look right.

[JDK]

WWI planes on hard surfaces doesn't look right.

Worse. Aircraft of that era had tailskids (it was the braking system) and thus need to operate from grass, which is also safer as a result for this type of aircraft.

Certainly there are W.W.I replicas with tailwheels, brakes etc., but it must be recognised these are compromises forced by operating in an inappropriate environment.

that might sound like I'm condemning some people's choices or airfields, which isn't the case; it's just being plain that problems start with the mismatch of pioneer era aircraft and modern airports, and whatever one does they are compromise fixes.

Regards,

[DH82EH]

The paved runway invented the crosswind!

Think about it.

Andy

[Warbird Kid]

Certainly there are W.W.I replicas with tailwheels, brakes etc., but it must be recognised these are compromises forced by operating in an inappropriate environment.

And yet Oshkosh HAS an appropriate environment for these aircraft, and it won't be used? That's silly, no? Maybe an inquiry by all the optional WWI aircraft owners (as well as other early aircraft owners) should write EAA about the decision.

[Dan K]

...Maybe an inquiry by all the optional WWI aircraft owners (as well as other early aircraft owners) should write EAA about the decision.

But Chris...that would require effort.

[JLoveless]

Maybe they'll send them to Pioneer?

[Mike]

Maybe they'll send them to Pioneer?

Full of swarms of little buzzing helicothinges earning lots of $$$$$$$ during Airventure week

[Baldeagle]

Plus the traffic pattern at Pioneer would be mostly over thousands of parked cars, and people, not my idea of a good time in a WW1 airplane (same with the ultralight strip, which has also been suggested, parked cars on one end, and parked airplanes on the other end). We used the grass at the south end of 18/36 to fly the autogiro, and it was also used for some of the airplanes for the Air Mail event a few years ago (who otherwise would not have come, including a rare Stearman C-3 and a beautiful Travel Air 4000). Somehow that got taken away, and bringing it back obviously isn't a very high priority.

Even the guy with a Lycoming powered Fokker Triplane with brakes and a tailwheel would rather land on a 1,000 foot patch of grass than a 30 foot wide taxiway, for good reason. I've seen a number of "normal" taildraggers torn up going off that taxiway in a crosswind, seems like it's a safety issue, but what do I know.



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[O.P.]

I was fortunate enough to be invited by a guest to go to a couple of Chuck Wentworth's BBQ's a few years back. He was flying the WW1 planes they had built, rotary engines and all. When I first heard it, before I saw it, I was worried someone was in trouble, When I was told what it was and saw it, I stayed worried.

I talked to Chuck about them a couple of times, and he said he would only go 15 minutes at a time in them. He said it's a lot of work among a lot of things, and I got the real impression from him (I don't think he ever said it), that it is dangerous. Paso has grass paralleling the one of the runways. He used that. They towed the aircraft out and back tail up.

You'd pretty much have to truck the planes in, assemble them, fly, reverse. It can be, and probably will be cool. A$$load of cash getting it there and doing it though. Not sure what that would mean for rotary engine attendance.

[JDK]

Nice to see you O.P.!

I talked to Chuck about them a couple of times, and he said he would only go 15 minutes at a time in them. He said it's a lot of work among a lot of things, and I got the real impression from him (I don't think he ever said it), that it is dangerous. Paso has grass paralleling the one of the runways. He used that. They towed the aircraft out and back tail up.

Former chef pilot of the Shuttleworth Collection, and qualified test pilot, Andy Sephton, said of rotary engine handling that they are not difficult, just different.

Up to about 80 hp, and using the technology of the 1910s, rotaries are an ideal answer.

In the places where rotaries and W.W.I types are understood and operated regularly, such as Old Warden and now in New Zealand, it's understood to be no big deal.

For instance operating off grass alongside a runway is better than trying to operate W.W.I types off a hard runway, but still far, far from operating them from a full period field able to handle direct into-wind operation.

(Also kind of amusing to read the "woogy-woogy it's all dangerus" view normally applied by the general public to warbirders being reused by warbirders to another heritage sector.)

Regards,

[over/out]

Looks good

Last edited by over/out on Mon Mar 17, 2014 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

[JohnB]

And how much time did everyone had to know 2014-2018 was coming up? We know how these 'hundred year things "sneak up" on ya!

Some people took the hint.
A good friend is building a full-scale accurate replica of a Sopwith Pup...with a 80 hp Le Rhone.
He started in 2010 and plans to fly it in 2016, to mark the type's centenary.

He is looking for a period airspeed indicator and quality Vickers gun, so if you have either, please let me know.

[over/out]

That's great JohnB! Feel free to put pic.s here even if it's WWI! Your friend might want to ask the Old Kingsbury Tx. People for any leads.