On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:06:53 GMT, "Dave Stadt" wrote:

The Nieuport 17 used the 110 hp LeRhone type J rotary. The prop was
fixed to the case, the crank was attached to the airframe. The entire
engine spun.

http://www.pwam.org/gnomeng.htm

I fully understand that the 'real' Nieuport 17 was powered by a rotary but
in the movie they were radials not rotaries. You would think that for the
ground shots they would have dummied up a rotary so at least the engine
looked like it was turning. They didn't. To me this was a major flaw
especially for a director who claims to have gone to extremes to assure
accuracy.

They apparently mostly used the flyable replicas for the ground shots. These
were powered by VW engines, so they had a dummy "plate" attached on the inside
of the cowling to look more closely like the "real" engines. It did look like a
typical radial, but I suspect they were going for the rotary look. To the
knowledgable eye, of course, they didn't look right. Due to the scarcity of
rotaries, I didn't hold it against them...sure didn't expect them to partially
disassemble a flyable aircraft just to install a fake rotary for a few seconds
of ground shot.

They *did* have an actual rotary on a stand, in one of the ground-maintenance
sequences.

Ron Wanttaja