Was curious about the Le Rhone engine, if Schulz was right or not there and looked it up. Learned that the night fighter version of the Sopwith Camel was unofficially called the Comic. The difference was replacing the Camels twin Vickers with a pair of Lewis guns mounted above the upper wing (a Foster mounting) so the pilot wouldn’t be blinded by muzzle flash. Looking at a picture of the Foster mounting system used on an Avro 504K, looks like this mounting also included a cable to pull the trigger by, which explains how the pilot was less likely to be blinded by muzzle flash.
This looks like it could have been two daily strips, being split after the sixth panel. Or, maybe Schulz just wrote it like this to begin with. But there aren’t many of his strips that can be easily split like that…
Plenty of comic strip characters broke the 4th wall (probably every episode of the legendary cult favorite “Sam’s Strip” did!), but Snoopy perfected it. Whether he was saying something like “Actually, vultures rarely bowl perfect games” or “Actually, the night was neither dark nor stormy”, those times were always to be cherished. Like today, the best panel is Snoopy confiding to his adoring readers that flying aces can be very dramatic!
Good question, and there might be some very loose connections here. Unfortunately, the two engine types vary substantially in design. Although it is true a Wankel engine is a rotary design, most rotary engines are not Wankels…
Can’t say as I blame him. Flying at night always was a little creepy. In the daylight you see the space between you and good ‘ol Mother Earth. At night, specially over sparsely lit ground, there’s not much to see. It is interesting though. On a clear night you can make out the curvature of the earth. It’s where the stars stop.
Seems unlikely. Felix Wankel patented his early engine designs in 1929, but it wasn’t until the ‘50s that he actually began designing the Wankel rotary automotive engine. This was after he worked for BMW and Daimler-Benz during WWII developing seals and rotarty vavles for aircraft and naval torpedoes. Gnome et Rhône was the successor of Société Des Moteurs Gnome and Société des Moteurs Le Rhône, the two companies merged in January 1915 to become Société des Moteurs Gnome et Rhône. They’d moved on to radial engines after WWI so it looks like if Wankel studied Gnome et Rhône engines it wouldn’t have been Le Rhône engines produced by the company after the merger (looks like the last of the Le Rhône engines produced was produced in 1917).
stcrowe over 9 years ago
If it is October, 1918, at least he doesn’t have to worry about The Red Baron anymore.
knight1192a over 9 years ago
So he’s flying a Comic then.
Was curious about the Le Rhone engine, if Schulz was right or not there and looked it up. Learned that the night fighter version of the Sopwith Camel was unofficially called the Comic. The difference was replacing the Camels twin Vickers with a pair of Lewis guns mounted above the upper wing (a Foster mounting) so the pilot wouldn’t be blinded by muzzle flash. Looking at a picture of the Foster mounting system used on an Avro 504K, looks like this mounting also included a cable to pull the trigger by, which explains how the pilot was less likely to be blinded by muzzle flash.
Snoopy_Fan over 9 years ago
This looks like it could have been two daily strips, being split after the sixth panel. Or, maybe Schulz just wrote it like this to begin with. But there aren’t many of his strips that can be easily split like that…
Darryl Heine over 9 years ago
Snoopy loves his Sopwith Camel.
Godfreydaniel over 9 years ago
Plenty of comic strip characters broke the 4th wall (probably every episode of the legendary cult favorite “Sam’s Strip” did!), but Snoopy perfected it. Whether he was saying something like “Actually, vultures rarely bowl perfect games” or “Actually, the night was neither dark nor stormy”, those times were always to be cherished. Like today, the best panel is Snoopy confiding to his adoring readers that flying aces can be very dramatic!
Number Three over 9 years ago
Charlie’s Brown’s face in the 11th panel is just enough to have me in stitches!
xxx
neverenoughgold over 9 years ago
Le Rhone was the forerunner to the Wankel engine.
Good question, and there might be some very loose connections here. Unfortunately, the two engine types vary substantially in design. Although it is true a Wankel engine is a rotary design, most rotary engines are not Wankels…
neverenoughgold over 9 years ago
Rest well, Snoopy! You have a true friend in Charlie Brown…
Doctor11 over 9 years ago
Oh, Ace…
mabrndt Premium Member over 9 years ago
Oh the wonders of the internet. Google says you can drive it in a little over an hour. 45 miles seems like too short a distance for an air flight. ;-)
mggreen over 9 years ago
Can’t say as I blame him. Flying at night always was a little creepy. In the daylight you see the space between you and good ‘ol Mother Earth. At night, specially over sparsely lit ground, there’s not much to see. It is interesting though. On a clear night you can make out the curvature of the earth. It’s where the stars stop.
knight1192a over 9 years ago
Seems unlikely. Felix Wankel patented his early engine designs in 1929, but it wasn’t until the ‘50s that he actually began designing the Wankel rotary automotive engine. This was after he worked for BMW and Daimler-Benz during WWII developing seals and rotarty vavles for aircraft and naval torpedoes. Gnome et Rhône was the successor of Société Des Moteurs Gnome and Société des Moteurs Le Rhône, the two companies merged in January 1915 to become Société des Moteurs Gnome et Rhône. They’d moved on to radial engines after WWI so it looks like if Wankel studied Gnome et Rhône engines it wouldn’t have been Le Rhône engines produced by the company after the merger (looks like the last of the Le Rhône engines produced was produced in 1917).
bilwalsh over 9 years ago
The Wankle was developed from the super charger on the Meschershmit best I recall. at least that was what I was told way back when.