That's intriguing to me a slow/high torque combo makes the difference in flight characteristics. I'm presuming the undercamber - high lift/drag of the wing factors into the equation. One that Seth is likely thinking through right now!
The late Jef Raskin (the inventor of the Mac if you'll recall) was an avid model aviator with an astounding math background. He published an article on the scale flight speed (along with the formula) to get realistic flights of scale models.
It always 'felt' awkward to compare full scale WWI aircraft flying (the NY Aerodrome has clips of their demo flights) to our models in flight. Jef's explanation certainly shed new light on that awkwardness for me.
Thanks for the contribution here Tom! I'm soaking up just as much as I can here.
Erich
ORIGINAL: TFF
I think the Blue Max planes had Ranger 6 cyl aircooled engines. I also understand that they did not fly well with the modern small prop and high rpm engine. They needed the big prop and lots of torque. What is interesting is there was a US licened version of the Mercedes engine in the 20's but I think it had a diffrent apllication than aircraft, but someone built a Folker DVII replica with one.
tom