Fokker Dr.1 Fuel Tank Hand Pump

[rfindley]

I'm working on several 1/48 scale Dr.1's using the DML kit. It - the kit - includes a fuel tank hand pump (as in the DVII, it looks like a bicycle tire pump) to be mounted on the starboard side of the cockpit. However, all my drawings, cutaways and photo's of Dr.1 cockpits do not have this feature.

Does it belong there?

Thanks

Rick

Thanks Fellas - that answered my question. No pump for the Dr.1

[R Pope]

A rotary engine has the carburetor sticking out of the firewall on the end of the crankshaft. Most fighter planes had the fuel tank directly above it, so no pump was necessary. The inline engines used this space for the longer cylinder block, forcing the relocation of the tank. Also, some rotary-powered planes required longer range, again forcing the use of a gravity tank. My drawings of the DrI also show no pump.

[R Pope]

Looking at my collection of pics, I found a view of an Eindekker with no covering, and there's a "bicycle pump" in plain view on the right-hand side, but the line doesn't seem to go to the tank. Something to do with the firing gear, maybe? The tank and carb are in plain view, one above the other.

[StephenLawson]

A hand pump for the timing gear? <_<

[R Pope]

There was an interrupter gear that used a hand-pumped hydraulic system, but it wasn't German. The Fokker gear was mechanical. My mistake. Maybe Tony Fokker didn't trust gravity feed on the Eindekker.

[Langdon]

The Dr.I used a gravity feed system although you can see a hand pump fitted to a V.7 in some Fokker factory photos. The Eindekker used a pressurised feed because its fuel tank is situated behind the pilot with much of the tank being lower than the engines carburettor.

The original Fokker "Typen" sheets which record various details for all Fokker produced aircraft mention if the fuel system is either gravity or pressure fed, for the Dr.I it states "Fall" rather than "Druck" (pressure).

Langdon