Bob Darrah wrote:

Paul,

The only auto engine powered Seawind I know of was in eastern Canada,
and it was a unique v-6, not a Buick.

As I understand it, he had flown it for several (30?)hours and broke a
bracket in the cooling belt system, disabling the water pump.  

Flew it 8 miles back to the airport only to find he was number 2 in the
flame out pattern. 

Landed ok with an oil temperature over 400 (Mobile 1), no damage but
pulled the engine out and sold the airplane.

Oh well the engine was probably history by that time anyway.

The PT6 copy Walters(?)-  tooo much: (1)money (50k)  (2) power (if there
can be such a thing) (3)fuel burn.
 

Thanks for the guidance on the 20B.

Bob Darrah

$50,000 for Walter LOM PT6 copy and $45,000 for an IO 540.

I just happened to have an old Sport Av lying around with 
the article on the Sea Wind. Sure is a pretty airplane
but you pay for that styling with a less efficient (heavier) 
structure. I would cut that big heavy rudder off and mount 
the engine on a streamlined pylon out of the back of the fuselage.

I would then sweep the rudder back even more and use a T tail.
Should save at least 150 pounds in the structure. Might even
fix one or two weird handling traits mentioned in the Sport
Av article.

$10,000 to $15,000 for a three rotor is starting to look
like a real bargain. Buy one if you can find one and overhaul
it and add a turbo. The cowling should be real skinny which
should allow the prop to work better. Put the rad and maybe the
turbo in the fuselage like the P47. It will be an easy 350 HP.

Brice Dunay has been flying his three rotor turbo for awhile
and Chuck Harbert is going to fly his any day now.

Paul Lamar
 
The Aircraft Rotary Engine Newsletter.              Powered by Linux.

http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            http://www.linux.org