a wrote:
/snip/

I remember watching WW1 airplanes flying at Old Rhinbeck (sp?) airport
in NY. Those had two engine settings -- full on or off, and power was
controlled by what an electical engineer might call pulse width
modulation -- switch the mags on and off as needed. I have no idea how
that would work in today's engines, but my instinct would have been to
reach for mags, not mixture. Your way worked, I'll remember that.

Those rotaries had very short, very stout crankshafts, as you might
expect - the whole engine mass was spinning on them.
But it was hard on the crank.
Now cranks are long and (comparatively) slender - and the shock load is
not what you'd want to put on the crank if you can avoid it.
That mixture control idea is a softer option, no doubt.

Brian W