1919 LeRhone Rotary Engine finally shows some initial signs of life.

[gurn58]

Whoever originaly came up with this designed must have been on acid!

[BikerRussell]

@gurn58 What makes you say that? Its a completely logical development when looking at what people where focused on at the time.

[SAMJK456]

Good to see some one using a rotary instead of a raidial. More authentic

[nz3rdsqr]

good on you i hate when people run radials on these. keep them rotary i say

[vintagepropnut]

These rotaries have a short lifetime between overhalls, but at the moment it is starting and running very well. Search Vintagepropnut for my flight videos of this engine.

[paullubliner]

@vintagepropnut The overhauls aren't too bad are they? You are Fred Mirren I take it?

[whizbang47]

This ship flying is a great achievement! Wish I could get down there just to witness the fun.

[Paddymcwhoop]

That is so cool that you have got an (Almost) authentic engine on that fokker. fantstic stuff! thanks for keeping a little peice of history alive!

[CarlosTadeus]

from Brasil

[jickers2]

double tail wheel?

[Treize69]

Its probably a trolley that the tail is sitting on, the "tailwheel" on a WWI plane is just a wooden skid. Not so good on pavement.

[berkelusa]

Gave credit to your Engine in my last Video.. LOVE that Plane ! - Rob

[Bergstaller01]

Sweet rotary on a DR.1, dont see too many of those around. What prevented it from fully lighting off?

[vintagepropnut]

The insulator on the firewall was leaking the high voltage from the magneto and so no spark at the plug. Hard to diagnose when all the plugs are whirling around! We borrowed an insulated feed-thru from the Tommy Morse and the cylinders began to fire. In this video the pilot is trying to hit the right combination of air and fuel to sustain running. These are not coupled so cannot change RPM without destroying the fuel/air ratio. "Get it running and use the kill button to control it."