The Sopwith Snipe is considered by many the best British fighter of WWI. It also earned it's place in the Fighter Hall of Fame as being the plane that Canadian Ace Billy Barker flew during his epic VC winning dogfight against 15 or more Fokker DVII's in Oct. 1918. Despite being wounded 3 times in the leg and having his left elbow blown away he managed to down 3 German fighters. Barker was also the most decorated war hero in the history of Canada, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations with the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order and Bar, the Military Cross and two Bars, two Italian Silver Medals for Military Valour, and the French Croix de guerre. He was also mentioned in despatches three times.

What a beautiful propeller!

I love your Museum, we was a lot of times , thanks.

As a newly-minted A&P, I hired into an airline operating Convair 240s in 1965. First chance I got, I stood in the prop blast of an idling R-2800 and luxuriated in the loping staccato of the exhaust. It reminded me of the idle of a Duntov Chevy small block from the late 1950s. To complete the experience, I need to get behind a rotary-engined Sopwith to experience the gorgeous roar of the engine between blips, and the sweet smell of castor oil at the same time. What more could an old gearhead ask for?

8:36 - Kermit! Albatross, two o'clock high! :)

Yes he does look like an old hippy but I too have a lot of respect for him for he is living a lifestyle I can only dream about. I thank him for all he has done for aviation and love every last one of his videos. They're educational as well as entertaining. Thank you Kermit for all you do.

The big white puffy clouds were perfect, could imagine this happening in 1918 way cool kermit thank you.

Mr Weeks, would love to see a series of videos on your favorite plane in your collection by era like WW1, 20s, 30s, WW2, etc perhaps even broken down into civilian/military categories. Can't get enough, every video is an education and a blessing. As always thank you for sharing.

That Bentley really was the epitome of rotary engine design. It just purrs!

blip switches are so bad ass. If it would make any sense whatsoever I'd even have one in my car :) I love the stupid amounts of inertia in that rotary too, whipping the plane around on the switch

Old school high wire act. Engine sounded a lot smoother on the second flight. Thanks Kermit for the updates!

When I first saw this channel I though Kermit was just an old hippy However I now tip my hat to this man he has balls of steel

Nicely done. The late great Neil Williams, described managing the rotary whilst flying the Pup in his book 'Airborne'. If you haven't read it, it's a treat for those of us who value flying real aircraft. His stories about the Spitfire, Mosquito etc are gold. Highly recommended.

That was a real treat, thanks! Squinting a bit, you could imagine an aerodrome in France.

Only one word can define it "BEAUTIFUL'

Thanks Kermit, restoring these old planes are so important, thanks for sharing with me.

What a beautiful noise.

We love your Sopwith Snipe Kermit and this retake is much appreciated of this big WW1 biplane,the singing flying wires is when the flying load comes on the wings and shows up as harmonics,as you know rigging biplanes is a black art and in WW1 was very much a collaboration between the pilots and mechanics as every aeroplane was different,the javelins are a good idea to dampen down the vibes until everything settles down. Thanks for some great footage and the bonus of a PT-17 flying alongside you.

Man I can’t help but feel a bit worried whenever you jump on these old ladies and share the experience with us. You are sharp as a razor though and wish you the best on your upcoming flights.

Gaaaaas futt futt futt! Heavy on the egg n beans, lol! She's a beauty! Uppity up up n down de de down down. Those magnificent men and thier flying machines.......

Seeing and hearing that thing just made me giggle. State of the art WW1 goodness! Oh, did I say yer good good good? 😁🛩

Hazard pay for the wheel chock guys! :-)

Great job Mr. Weeks, Thanks for sharing, a perfect end to my day. Just did my first ever solo nav today. chris in ireland

Cool airplane and super sound. Thanks

Probably the most amazing thing on KZfaq right now!

Nice video of the flight. But hats off to the ground crew who make it all possible. The prop start and pulling the chocks.....good grief.....

Such a pretty aircraft. Kermit's description reminded me that W.O. Bentley designed aero engines well before his more famous cars.

Always a favorite channel and never disappoints. Thank you for keeping us looking up!

Nice, thanks! (That's a big prop at a large angle. Not easy to pull through I would have thought.)

I always thought it odd to have the whole engine rotate on its shaft. Beautiful old plane.

Spewin oil - Love it thanks Kermit!

The torque reaction when you throttle up is amazing, I bet that makes for interesting flying on approach and landing, The guys that flew them in combat where real Heroes. Great video of a lovely aircraft. Keep up the good work!

Much enjoyed Kermit - that rotary sure adds some torque! Does look quite twitchy. Thank you. Wonderful plane. :)

Awesome and might I add, pretty cool.

A friend of mine , his father rebuilt a Sopwith Camel with a Gnome 9 type N rotary engine, that's where I fell in love with the rotary engine, his Dad taught both of us how they worked and were maintained been up in it several times, most fun I ever had, loops, barrel rolls, strait up till it stalled nose over get enough airspeed and she would re-start.

By far my most loved WWI aircraft!! Great video

Absolutely great!!

I am amazed.

Many thanks once again, great film and description of flight characteristics.

So amazing. Thank so much! So cool

Great film, thanks for posting

Sir, you make it look easy. I’m sure that crate is a handful. Thank you for your passion.

Looks great Mr. Kermit.

Very nice, enjoy all the videos posted

Awesome 😎

THIS IS REAL FLYING! ;)

Me thinks you had GREAT FUN flying that plane , well done again guys , doesn't it sound fantastic.

When I hear you refer to the wing wires I think Of my great uncle John who was an aircraft rigger in WW1. Sadly I was very young when he passed away. I remember he saw I had a passion for aeroplanes when I was making them out of Lego when he used to call in for my dad to cut his hair. Any tales he had have died with him....

What a neat airplane really like seeing you fly thanks for sharing.

Now that is flying ! Those old planes really seem to be anything but neutral and savourless ! Thank you for those beautiful pictures and sounds , also ! ( now we'd need a 3d augmented reality of thoses flights ; ) )

i love this channel can watch Kermit all day long so interesting and real

Paul is much braver than I will ever be: Hot propping an airship with no brakes -- insane!

Aw, I was waiting for the pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa! sound from the MG on those low passes!

Fantastic, thank you

Beautiful! I would Love to hear her in person! Thanks Much!

Could take off in my hallway! Magic!

Man that rotory purrs really nice!

Love that Snipe.

Geez Kermie, y’all be careful with that baby, she looks like a bit of a handful, haha.

True early tail dragger skills required to deal with these planes, no brakes or steerable tail wheel . Kermit is one of the very few pilots that can understand and deal with all the quirks. I would stick to ww2 fighters if I had the money to afford and operate war birds. modern technology ,way more practical to go places in comfort ..

What a beautiful aircraft and sweet-sounding engine. All that said, I just can't get my brain around what a complex art it must be to balance throttle and mixture, and intermittent interrupter, and blip switch in real time. I'm sure that I'd run off the rails and every "improvement" that I made would only make it run worse! And I can't imagine a tall tail-dragger with heavy ailerons, stiff pitch, and a sensitive throttle system in a cross-wind landing (and these flights seem to be with a significant cross wind on the ground and quite a stiff one on approach -- 25 - feet or so). That must take a lot of finesse (and knowledge of when to ditch the finesse and PUSH IT) and skill -- and, as a pilot who once had an L-19 give him a dramatic lesson in gusty cross-wind landings, I feel qualified to say that! Great flights, and sweet video, Kermit. Please keep up the good work -- your fine airplanes make my heart sing like a flying wire.

Dumb question time. A hundred years after these things were used,where do you obtain aviation grade castor oil ? Is it chemically modified by removing the glycerin, or is it squeezings straight from the bean ? I remember reading that castor oil fumes plus oil spatter produced a strong effect on the bowels,and that blackberry brandy was the substance chosen to help control the trots. I suppose only Kermit himself gets to find out just how true this really is. Talk about hazards of aviation and needing a strong stomach.....

Excelente el video del vuelo de este hermoso avion legendario gracias por mostrarlo en funcionamiento very good fantast

Fun torque affect during engine run-up.

Thanks Kermit!

Yeah! Looks like very light to get off the ground. I'm right, Kermit?

This Man's a Talented Man,,, Very Talented,,,

what a awesome plane

WW1 ground gunners were like- look at this stupid ass machine gun flying as us"

nice plane,

Beauty of a plane.

The pilot comments on handling qualities are fascinating. I'm in the flight test business, and there's not a whole lot of information on First World War aircraft handling, aside from the usual "torque monster" tales and the abrupt stall characteristics you would expect from some of the thin airfoils in use. It sounds like the directional stability is low, and there's poor harmony of control. Plus the human factors issues.

my father joined the RAF prewar as a Rigger the last biplane he worked on in the RAF was in EGYPT in 47 an Avro 504n hed have known what you were talking abbot properly!

Can you pick up a handkerchief in the ground with your wingtip?

A very tall and narrow gear and dihedral in both wings. Heavy crosswinds could turn it into a current day Draco in the blink of an eye.

Hi Kermit, Can you please show us how the fuel and Electric.s are connected to supply them to the rotary radial Engine thanks Ross from NZ

So a pilot needs at least three hands to operate the Bentley rotary: One for the air valve, one for the mixture control, and one for the blip switch. Consider using a second crew person, or a very smart dog, to operate the air valve and mixture. You could probably find an adventurous small person who doesn't weigh much if the dog doesn't work out.

Thank you very much for another great video love the ww1 aircraft 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✝️

,,, however they have that fuel slinger setup, it sure sounds very even .

Almost reminds me of a Gee Bee with two wings.

Was so bummed that you are closed atm, tried to visit two days ago from Ireland. My own fault, slainte

Next we've gotta get a Fokker Dr.1

Didn't some old timey planes have the wings on jacks and fuselage weighted during assembly? That might be a part of how they tensioned the wires. (As that would give an approximation of wing loading when it was flying.) Just some food for thought in regards to the problem there.

8102 on plane must be the number of type ratings Kermit has..

This kind of plane need a real men are flying on the magnificent flying maschines!

Looks like an Osprey had to make an emergency maneuver to just clear the prop at 8:30.

Do u guys have any bf108 coming up? Great sniipe thanks!!

Me. Ketmit, vou are " O senhor Fantástico da Aviação " From São Paulo, Brasil.

That thing looks super hard to fly.

I wish you would do a video on that type of engine. On how it works and why they designed it that way. It seems to me the engine spins around the crankshaft, instead of the crankshaft turning inside engine. Maybe I am right, but it just does not add up in my mind.

...how does the performance of the Snipe compare to the Stearman?...WW1 fighter vs. WW2 trainer.....

When are you going to bring the Polikarpov l-16 you bought from the CAF to Fantisy of Flight?

Brave man as always but expert test pilot . When is the best date in 2019 /2020 to visit to see birds in the air ?

How do you rev an engine with no throttle control. Is he using a spark advance?

YEAAAA

Fantastic video - have you made a decision to Kermit cam your Lancaster in the containers?

Kermit, as someone who has flown all three, which would you rather have been a combat pilot in, the Snipe, an SE-5a or a D-VII? The other competitor I suppose would be the Nieuport 28 but I don't know if there are any flying, originals or replicas.

There is NO WAY IN HELL you'd ever get me to hand-prop that thing~!

WWI at its finest a nice smooth running Bently rotary engine im surprised it idles too unlike the Gnome Omega, Monosaupe, LeRhone and Oberrusel rotaries you have to keep bliping it on and off to control the speed of the engine while the Gnome has a selector magneto to alter the firing of the cylinders. its between you and the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome that flies these. what other aircraft you think of aquiring in the future? like the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the T-28 Trogan, helicopters the Piasecki H-21 the Sikorsky S-58, or the Hiller H-23 similar to the Bell 47. as those are recriprocating engine helicopters. could be good for the collection.

Ele é da primeira guerra Mundial? 🤨