ULTRA-RARE footage of the Red Baron (100 years ago)

[KSATRoadWarrior]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XIiuyijwKRs

[pedrotrindade]

One of the greatest. Thanks.

[Skywolf]

Fascinating....It is unreal now that is 100 year old footage.

 

This question I am sure some historical aviation buffs can answer - How does a plane like that shoot from its guns when the spinning propeller is right in front of it.  Don't the bullets hit the blade when blade spins right in front of the gun barrel.

[hs118]

1 hour ago, Skywolf said:

Fascinating....It is unreal now that is 100 year old footage.

 

This question I am sure some historical aviation buffs can answer - How does a plane like that shoot from its guns when the spinning propeller is right in front of it.  Don't the bullets hit the blade when blade spins right in front of the gun barrel.

German fighters of that era used a mechanical gearing system that sychronized the guns firing pins with the position of the propeller. British fighters did not have this arrangement and their propellors were sheathed in metal.

[Dolphinhog]

The German engineers developed a gun mechanism that allowed the guns to only fire when the blades could not be struck, basically timed to miss the propellers. Some actually had metal reinforcement to deflect rounds off the blade without damaging them. Still other had the guns mounted above the blades and the trigger was above the pilot. Imagine believing that this was all done thousands of feet above the earth, and no parachutes!!

[Skywolf]

7 minutes ago, Henry Street said:

German fighters of that era used a mechanical gearing system that sychronized the guns firing pins with the position of the propeller. British fighters did not have this arrangement and their propellors were sheathed in metal.

 

5 minutes ago, Dolphinhog said:

The German engineers developed a gun mechanism that allowed the guns to only fire when the blades could not be struck, basically timed to miss the propellers. Some actually had metal reinforcement to deflect rounds off the blade without damaging them. Still other had the guns mounted above the blades and the trigger was above the pilot. Imagine believing that this was all done thousands of feet above the earth, and no parachutes!!

Thank you.  I was wondering if the airplane had a gearing system.  But with the stress of flying on the parts along with battle intensity, I bet that gearing system could jam up.

I am so glad I got this question answered.  I still can't believe Aviation has its root that not that far back, it still boggles my mind.

[pedrotrindade]

Actually it was not the germans who invented that machine gun system. The inventor was Roland Garros:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Georges_Garros

[Dolphinhog]

Splitting hairs here. Developed but not mastered until Fokker working with the Germans perfected it. Fokker being Dutch, Garros French, WWI was the amplifier.

[WingZ]

Not without the odd failure... Max Immelman was nearly killed when the timing mechanism failed and he shot off his prop.

Strange that a Dutchman would produce such a fearsome weapon in the Fokker Eindecker, for Germany. Until you realise that the Netherlands was "neutral" in WW1, and suspected by many as harbouring strong pro-German sentiment.