GAAM Barnstormer Day 2008- part 2: biplanes

[beaky]

The word "barnstormer" of course evokes biplanes... there were quite a few there.
First is the museum's Great Lakes "sport trainer", a wonderful airplane for light aerobatics, built in 1930 and powered by the famous Ranger engine.





A visiting Stampe SV.4:

     





This 1930 (?) Fleet Model 2 with an original Kinner radial dropped by...



     


Another Great Lakes- this one a replica, I believe.

     




And here is Brunhilde, a British-built replica of a 1917 Rumpler C.V., built for but never used in the shooting of Lawrence of Arabia back in the 60s.  It sports a Gypsy Major instead of the Mercedes found on real Rumplers... mounted upside down... or is that rightside up?




Next- Part 3: Pietenpol Air Camper

[Mitch.]

Great captures.

Nice work.

[Hagar]

Great stuff. Reminds me of Popham. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

The cowling on that Stampe looks very odd. I wonder which engine it's fitted with.

And here is Brunhilde, a British-built replica of a 1917 Rumpler C.V., built for but never used in the shooting of Lawrence of Arabia back in the 60s.  It sports a Gypsy Major instead of the Mercedes found on real Rumplers... mounted upside down... or is that rightside up?

That "Rumpler" was most likely the work of my old friend Les Hillman. Believe it or not it probably started life as a Tiger Moth. Unfortunately he passed away some years ago but did some amazing things back in those days. Look for the name Crewdson or Aviation Film Services in the credits of British films from the 50s & 60s. His boss Captain John Crewdson* also worked on some of the Bond films.

Are you sure that's not an original upright Gipsy engine? I don't think the Gipsy Major would work very well upside down.

*PS. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0187682/

[beaky]

Great stuff. Reminds me of Popham. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

The cowling on that Stampe looks very odd. I wonder which engine it's fitted with.

And here is Brunhilde, a British-built replica of a 1917 Rumpler C.V., built for but never used in the shooting of Lawrence of Arabia back in the 60s.  It sports a Gypsy Major instead of the Mercedes found on real Rumplers... mounted upside down... or is that rightside up?

That "Rumpler" was most likely the work of my old friend Les Hillman. Believe it or not it probably started life as a Tiger Moth. Unfortunately he passed away some years ago but did some amazing things back in those days. Look for the name Crewdson or Aviation Film Services in the credits of British films from the 50s & 60s. His boss Captain John Crewdson* also worked on some of the Bond films.

Are you sure that's not an original upright Gipsy engine? I don't think the Gipsy Major would work very well upside down.

*PS. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0187682/

You could be right on both counts... I only got the info from their website (although I thought I heard the announcer say something about the engine coming off a Chipmunk (?).
I assume the problem would be the wet oil sump? Or the carb? Or both... LOL, I hadn't considered all of that before; I obviously don't know my Gypsy engines.

Here's what they say about this replica's origins:

...  Using a large number of Dehaviland Tiger Moth parts this replica was built by Slingsby Aircraft of London, England.  It is the first of two Rumpler replicas built for Universal Pictures to be used in the 1960s motion picture "Lawrence of Arabia".

[Hagar]

You could be right on both counts... I only got the info from their website (although I thought I heard the announcer say something about the engine coming off a Chipmunk (?).
I assume the problem would be the wet oil sump? Or the carb? Or both... LOL, I hadn't considered all of that before; I obviously don't know my Gypsy engines.

Well, knowing Les nothing would surprise me. It would probably work on a temporary basis but not as a permanent solution. The Gipsy Major is basically an upright Gipsy I turned upside down. (The carb is also inverted which would probably not be too difficult.) As you've noted the oil system had to be modified. The Gipsy Major not only has a dry sump with separate oil tank but the rocker covers are small individual wet sumps. There is no pumped oil supply to the rocker gear. I've never worked on a Gipsy I so I'm not familiar with the original lubrication system.

Here's what they say about this replica's origins:

...  Using a large number of Dehaviland Tiger Moth parts this replica was built by Slingsby Aircraft of London, England.  It is the first of two Rumpler replicas built for Universal Pictures to be used in the 1960s motion picture "Lawrence of Arabia".

Not sure about this. I know for a fact that Les modified those aircraft either at Redhill or Crawley. Slingsby Aircraft is in Yorkshire.