This video shows the Animated assembling process of the Clerget 9B engine. It is based on a true story of assembling the
French Clerget engine (SN2120) upon which the drawings and the 3D model presented here.

The first test run of the REAL engine took plave on 12 August 2016 (Perth, Australia).
Watch the Clerget 9B test run movie

It closely follows the procedures outlined in the “Manual of Clerget Aero-motors” Air Board Issue number 243

This video shows the first test run of the Clerget 9B engine (Serial No. 2120, manufactured 26 April 1917), upon which the 3D model presented on this web-site is based.

After 2 year restoration, this test run took place on 12 August 2016 and is the first running Clerget 9B in Australia.

The owner (Chris Mawson) said; “When it first fired and I turned the fuel on and there was a slight pause before it roared to life, I thought “oh no, is that all that is going to happen, one bang?” Then it started roaring and my face shield started to get blown off.
I tried to adjust the fuel/air ratio to get max power, I had a digital tacho back there with me and it showed around 1100 RPM, which for static running is max power. The wind blast was much more than I had anticipated.....
I spent most of the day cleaning up castor oil, it went everywhere, there is even some on the fence across the road........ ”

This video shows the first run in almost 100 years of the Clerget 9B engine (Serial No. 3244) in September 2014.

This particular Clerget 9B, produced July 1917 by Société Clerget-Blin et Cie, was held in stores at Toussus Le Noble airfield, west of Paris, during the Great War. After WWI the engine was sent to a French aviation training unit at Aeroport Pau Pyrenees where it remained in its crate. The engine was purchased by Jean-Baptiste Salis in 1937 with only factory run time on it. Baptiste moved the engine to Cerny-La Ferte Alais where it was hidden from the Germans during WWII. In 1965 the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis (AJBS) was formed to restore and maintain vintage aircraft to flying condition. Here the engine was fitted to a Morane-Saulnier and flown for a short period of time. In 2005 the engine was removed for its first 20 hour “opening-up” inspection and placed in storage. In 2011 the engine was traded by AJBS to Koz Aero LLC in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From 2012 to 2014 the engine was disassembled, cleaned and overhauled to airworthy condition by Koz Aero LLC .

Vickers Mk1 & Sopwith-Kauper Gun Gear operation

On the Sopwith Camel, two Vickers Machine guns were mounted on the top of the fuselage, directly in front of the pilot.
Employed by the Sopwith Aviation Company, Harry Kauper designed an interrupter mechanisme (in 1916) which made it possible to fire through the propeller blades without hitting them. Not an easy task and various design changes were tried before coming to a reliable version. Type No 3 is shown here.

In this animation video, it appears that there's actually quite a bit of time for a gun to fire between the propeller blades.
However, in reality the margin of error was NOT quite that wide. Note that the Vickers machine guns are firing at their own rate (approx. 500 rounds/min.) and are not synchronized.
During a flight, the propeller would be spinning at 1200 - 1500 RPM, which made the exact timing of the interrupter gear a very important issue !