by Felix/FFDS » Sun Aug 07, 2005 9:02 am
The Caudron you got - probably a WW1 - is not a "radial" per se.
Through WW1, rotary engines were used in which the crankshft was stationary while the engine block rotated around it. The propeller was bolted directly to the engine block.
Examples were the Gnome, LeRhone, Oberursel and a few others, including the Bristol Rotary (BR) that powered the Sopwith Camel.
Radial engines, while developed in that time, didn't come into the forefront until after the first World War.
In essence, your model is "right".
The rotary engine's torque is what gave the Camel (to name one airplane) it's legendary turning maneouverability - it could turn like a bat in hell to the right, but slightly sluggish to the left...... Rotary engines though had two speeds - full on, or full off, (fuel flow)... plus the pilots of single seaters probably never suffered from constipation - the l;ubricatin system was a total loss system, and so the exhaust included the spent CASTOR oil...
As an aside, Siemens Schukert developed a contra rotating rotary engine in which the prop spun opposite the engine block.
Felix/FFDS