You're exactly right! The torque was amazingly strong in proportion to the frame. It's like that old science experiment from school; sit in a wheeled chair and hold a spinning bike tire. When you angle the tire you get whipped around. Same thing happened when you angle a spinning prop while sitting in what is essentially a box kite. Rudders would try to take you downward while the prop whips the plane to the right. Boom!
Fascinating stuff. (to me!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell%27s_Angels_%28film%29
Howard Hughes' film, "Hell's Angels" has some of the most authentic (and expensive) footage of WWI dogfights as he used actual WWI aircraft and staged amazing dogfights for this film!
--Charlie
http://cwcale.com/
