Does anyone know what the 3 wheel car is called? The first model I ever built as a kid in the 60's was this. It had a lever between the seats that steered the front wheel. I've been searching for more info about it for years, and never found anything.
One of the things that doomed rotary engines (not radials) was since the cylinders rotated about the crank it acted as a giant flywheel. As the engines got bigger, they affected the flying characteristics more, ie Sopwith Camel was noted for this - easy to bank one way, difficult the other. And like any large flywheel free to move it will precess. P factor is the effect is the reaction of the plane to the prop turning in one direction - the plane wants to roll in the other. This is why most aircraft carriers have their island on the right - you goose the throttle to go around and the plane will want to roll to the left...
It’s hard to see the cars that people rode in to Northerly Island during the 1933-‘34 Century Of Progress on the shore of Lake Michigan but no doubt it was a thrilling attraction at the time. The two towers were 628’ tall and it looks that the cars might have been about 200’ off the ground.
The Jalopy Journal
