Rotary Engines

[Bob Sands]

  Turner Classic Movies was showing a film called "Lafayette Escadrille" the other evening,....dismal movie,....precious little flying activity.
At any rate, the engines seemed to run well, and then miss,...did they really sound like this?  It must have been disconcerting to have an engine just stop, and then pick up again.
  If I posted in the wrong area, please feel free to redirect.
  Thanx  Bob

[Des]

I'm no expert on rotary engines Bob but my understanding is that they did not have a throttle as on conventional engines. Apparently they had settings of 1/4 - 1/2 - 3/4 and full throttle, but they also has a "blip" switch which stopped ingnition to the engine, this gave the familiar'"missing" sound that these engines exhibited. The blip was was used when landing and taxing the aeroplane to control the speed, I hope I got it right .

Des.

[Zabu]

You got it right Des.

Some aircraft (like DH2) had a blip switch, so the engine would be running at full throttle... or nothing!

Some nice examples from rotary engines and their sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCi10K0dXgY

[Des]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6PnKUEFX8g

The above link is another good youtube clip, at 1.15 into the video Gene explains the throttle system of the rotary engine, quite a good video.

Des.

[Bob Sands]

  Thanx for the replies,....it all makes sense
  Thanx  Bob