Chill31

So...going to go for it...anyone feel like building airplane parts?? And next year, we will start building a N23 powered by the Clerget to represent Nungessers bird!

I may be able to get Mikael to do the testing with my equipment though! I will see about it

Sadly, I am the only person in the world, to my knowledge, doing flight testing on WWI aircraft for accurate data capture with modern equipment.

Here is a cool first person view of Mikael Carlson's D7 doing aerobatics...a few interesting points: It takes about 7.5 seconds to do a roll and about 8 seconds to do a loop. Compare that to the Fokker Dr.I that does a roll in 6 seconds and a loop in 8 seconds. Enjoy!

Won't help today...or tomorrow...but I'll be finishing an SE5a project over the next few years. Gotta have something to shoot at in the Dr1!

I'm curious...if you could have a flying SE5a in 5 years...it would take a lot of work....would you do it?

There are some really talented graphic design/skin editors here, so I am reaching out to see if anyone is willing to help me create a digital logo that I can use for Knights of the Sky....I got the name from the very old Microprose game by the same name. Microprose and KOTS are beyond copywriter limits, so the name is definitely up for grabs. I’d love to do a close resemblance to the attached box cover such as the name with a Dr1 (preferably a black and white one, but Richthofen red would suffice) as a bit of tribute to the WWI sim that inspired me to pursue my interest in WWI aviation. If you can help me with this, I can offer you the chance to sit in the Dr1 and do a ground run of the 120 hp Le Rhône if you can make it to where the plane is located. Please let me know if you can help,

For the inquiring mind

Yeah, I am hoping that the 120 Rhone with the Dr.1 propeller will tell us how strong the engine is based upon the static RPM. So far, the engine is looking very nice. I do have a rate of climb indicator! I need to mount it though. The 950 fpm was based upon timed climb using GPS recorded altitude. The Dr.1 has no ATC transponder, which is required above 10,000 ft, so to fly up that high, I would need a chase plane with a transponder installed. The BOM will give me all the data you mentioned plus AHRS (heading, altitude, pitch, roll), so it should be pretty comprehensive data. Yes, same here! It will be the real deal, or as close as we will get in modern times.

Once I have that, along with the new engine/ propeller, I will make that chart. I could maybe get to 3-4km if I can find a small plane that will keep up with me in the climb. The 80 hp Rhone gives me about 950 fpm climb rate after take off, so I expect about 1300-1500 fpm with the 120 Rhone. I do have one, and I did the turn at full power which is about 1200 rpm. ZX was said it correctly. Pure castor oil. You can use 120 weight mineral oil...but it doesn't smell as good. Yep! The propeller going on the dr1 with the 120 Rhone is an exact copy of an original Dr1 propeller stored in a European museum. It is also the same one on Mikael Carlson's dr1. I would love to do this! I'm not sure how I will do it just yet, but I will work on a way to gather that data at some point. Yes, without actually measuring an engines output, ypu can never know for sure. With an actual Dr1 propeller on it, we should have a good idea based on RPM and performance.

My IAS indicates about 9 mph too fast at that speed. My actual airspeed is about 55mph there. At 120mph IAS it is indicating 15 mph too fast. I just got the Levil BOM for flight testing though! And the next flight will be behind the 120 hp Le Rhone 9Jb

Here is a clip of left and right turns, accelerated stalls, etc. You can see the sustained turn rate to the left and right is about 11 seconds for 360 degrees. What do you think? Also, notice the stall behavior when the plane is turn left vs what happens in FC. Hope you enjoy!

I highly recommend this thread for discussion of rotary flight characteristics... I have done extensive testing in the Dr1, and given Javier's death, I might go so far as to say I have done more testing than anyone else in the world alive today. Happy to answer any questions you may have about flying with a huge gyroscope attached to the front of your plane.

Only on aircraft with a flying rudder, ie. no vertical stabilizer, such as the Dr1. (The Dr1 has no force feedback in the rudder until you get very high deflection. Then is has NEGATIVE force feedback where it takes pressure to re-center the bar.) Other aircraft (Camel) should have positive rudder force feed back though.

If you want realistic feel in the Dr1 rudder bar, no springs! I tried my sopgrip attached to a TM Warthog today. VERY cool! The Sopgrip is different from the MS Sw FFB I normally use, and it is a bit different from the Dr1 grip in my Fokker Dr1...BUT! What an awesome addition to the immersion! I felt like I had a WWI control stick in my hand! I say that because they are very different from the modern grips we use today. They don't fit as well in your hand, and they have trigger levers that won't fit neatly under your index finger. If you want a sense of WWI in your hand, I list it as a must have.