Jerry Hey wrote:

Hi Paul,  In a rare reflective moment I got to thinking about all of the
effort by many talented people trying to shoehorn the rotary into
existing designs.  Even the successes are hard fought battles.   I know
that since deciding to put the rotary in my Tailwind, I have spent so
much creative energy on the engine installation, the rest of my project
has languished.  Most of the major problems can be grouped under
"finding enough space"  for the rads,  the intake manifold and the
exhaust.    This is particularly true for  fast,  small frontal  plate
designs.   What we need are new aircraft  designs that start with the
complete engine (all systems) as a package that is no harder to bolt
into place than a Lycoming.  I imagine the ideal rotary package would be
somewhat longer and with less height and depth  with the radiator in
front of or behind the engine as in a car.     Whatever the final
package,  it would be a known that the aircraft  design could be based
on from the beginning.

I am going to try this approach on my next Tailwind which will have a
different wing placement  and maybe a slightly different airfoil  among
other design changes  to deal with the  forward c.g.  generated by the
longer engine package.    There was a very fast version of the Tailwind
that had the wings swept forward about 4" to handle the weight of an
0-470!   This in an airplane that was originally designed around a
C-85.   The important thing is to get a good engine package together
first and then change the airplane accordingly.

Jerry (non engineer, speculative dreamer )

Check out the Cosman's web site linked to on the ACRE NL web site.
A rotary powered airplane from scratch.

Paul Lamar
 
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