How's this for an early aeroplane?

RE: How’s this for an early aeroplane?

Well Hi nephews! The system for controlling this engine was by manually advancing the ignition to run the engine faster, and retarding it to go slower. A bit of a fiddle when your trying to fly the thing! Unfortunately this aeroplane belongs to the Air Force, and as I’m an engineer not a pilot they would’nt let me fly it. Still running the engine was fun. There was no exhaust valves on the engine, everything blew out of a ring of holes at the base of the cylinders, including oil, I found out to my cost the laxative power of inhaling castor oil!!
Uncle KeithMac.

RE: How’s this for an early aeroplane?

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 23-01-02 AT 10:10 PM (GMT)]Hi Keith,
am I too slow with new questions? Well, it seems like it since You´ve had time to dig out these nice piccies! 😉

The Bleriot XI was licence built in Sweden in Landskrona, the town were I was born.
One of these has been rebuilt and is flying but, not by power of an Anzani which was substituted by a LeRhône rotary. To clarify, the engine was substituted in production not under the rebuild.
This was controlled by a button on the stick which short circuited the ignition and it could be shut of only for short periods, otherwise the cylinders would overflow by fuel and castor oil that was taken in continuously.
I guess it was the same with the Anzani!?

Christer

I forgot to mention that it was built under license by Enoch Thulins Aeroplanfabrik under the designation Thulin A.

Bleriot as promised

Taken at Old Warden,takes some beating this type of flying.
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RE: How’s this for an early aeroplane?

Hi Tony, correct, correct and no!

RE: How’s this for an early aeroplane?

Bleriot, Anzani, by fuel flow?