Sunday 30 April 2017

A Couple of Sopwiths at Classic Fighters

A feature of Classic Fighters was the re-enactments of battle-scenes including period aircraft, and this bought two of The Vintage Aviator's Sopwith's out to fly for the WW 1 re-enactment:

I am always amazed at how the Sopwith Camel replica ZK-JMU leaps off the ground with its 160 HP Gnome rotary.  This is a more powerful engine than the 130 HP Clerget 9B or the 150 HP Bentley BR1 rotaries that powered the original Camels.

Gene de Marco continues his steep climb out.

While Kermit Weeks climbs out in a more sedate manner in the Sopwith Snipe 7F-1 reproduction ZK-SBY.

Even though it is powered by a more powerful 230 HP Bentley BR2 rotary engine.


This last photo of the Snipe flying away from my camera may be prophetic as I understand that the Snipe may be leaving New Zealand soon.

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