> Paul,
>
>
>
> As promised, I visited the folks at Global Rotary Power in Bowmanville,
> Ontario this afternoon. I met George Payne, who’s in charge of > marketing
> and flies a Piper Archer 3, as well as company head Kurt Wiesbaum whose
> flying credentials go back to WW2 in which he flew the Me-109, no less.
> The license plate on Kurt’s VW reads “ME CIX,” and he still flies > regularly.
>
>
>
> I know a lot of people on this forum are interested in knowing if this
> outfit is “for real.” Well, the company is definitely at the startup
> stage and is “bootstrapping” itself forward on a day-to-day basis,
as
> George readily admits. They have no manufacturing facilities at all, or
> even any engines in inventory. They are trying to secure investor
> financing, but are not finding many takers – not surprising
considering
> that sport aviation is not exactly at the top of the list for most
> venture capitalists, in fact it’s probably at the bottom if it is even
> on the radar screen at all.
>
>
>
> That does not mean that Global Rotary does not have a good idea or even
> a workable plan. They are firm believers in the Wankel engine and have
> been involved in various aspects of the rotary business for many years.
> Kurt worked years ago with Paul Moller and has had close ties with the
> Wankel people in Germany for many years. The German company has been
> making small rotaries for years for use in ultralights, karts, and > other
> applications.
>
>
>
> These German Wankel engines are all-aluminium and very lightweight, > with
> 400cc per rotor displacement. They are charge-cooled, which means the
> rotor is hollow and the intake charge is passed through there in order
> to cool the rotor. They are available in 40hp single-rotor and 80hp > twin
> rotor and weigh no more than two-stroke engines of similar power > output,
> which is quite remarkable. Global Rotary is currently importing
> assembled engines from Germany, but plans to manufacture them here in
> North America with the help of Atkins Rotary Specialties Inc.
> http://www.atkinsrotary.com/
>
>
>
> Eventually, they intend to build a manufacturing facility of their own
> and build the engines in Ontario. Not having any firsthand experience
> with these engines, I wanted to know how good they are. You and others
> have mentioned the coating flaking off the aluminium castings and > George
> acknowledges that this has been an issue, although he stresses that it
> has not adversely affected the engines’ longevity and durability. The
> stated TBO on these engines is 2000hrs, which is impressive, but again,
> I don’t know how realistic that number is in actual practice. In any
> case George admits that they are looking at improving the technology,
> perhaps an improved coating, or even a steel liner.
>
>
>
> George tells me that there is considerable interest in the ultralight
> and Light Sport Aircraft community in these engines. Having been
> involved in the ultralight and LSA community, I can attest that there
> has been quite a bit of enthusiasm about the possibility of rotary > power
> as a replacement for 2-strokes, in particular. Having logged my share > of
> time in both two and four-stroke Rotaxes – both are quite reliable if
> handled properly – I can honestly say that I relish the idea of rotary
> power for these small, fun planes.
>
>
>
> George tells me that he is in contact with ultralight and LSA
> manufacturers who have expressed lots of interest but no sales yet at
> this point. George has been very forthcoming about the details and has
> shown me names and correspondence with these companies but has asked me
> not to make those public, as these transactions are still in the
> discussion stage.
>
>
>
> Those familiar with the LSA and ultralight segment know what a lock
> Rotax has on this market. It will not be an easy nut to crack, I told
> George and Kurt --and they seem fully aware of the challenge – and
> confident that the Wankel’s superiority will win it a place in light
> aviation.
>
>
>
> Aside from the small aluminium engines which are charge-cooled, the
> company plans to sell larger 650cc per rotor displacement engines based
> on the Mazda 13B. These will also be assembled by Atkins, using new
> Mazda parts. These engines have the cast-iron end housings and are
> considerably heavier than the all-aluminium 400cc engines. Again, the
> company eventually plans to bring manufacturing in-house once they have
> established some sales momentum and can put financing in place. The
> company had one single-rotor engine in stock, which is intended for a
> genset and I snapped a couple of photos of that engine, which I have
> attached here.
>
>
>
> As George mentioned here previously the company is exploring a number > of
> different market segments besides aviation, including marine, > industrial
> and others. The company is even exploring the idea of bringing its
> own-design genset to market.
>
>
>
> As you mentioned, this may sound like a scattershot approach, but it > may
> make sense for this company at this point in time because it is now
> essentially a sales operation. Anything they can do to sell more
> engines, regardless of where or into which market, will give them
> much-needed cash flow, which will in turn allow them to transition from
> a sales operation into a manufacturing concern.
>
>
>
> And there is yet a third and very exciting engine possibility on the
> horizon, a modular rotary being developed in the former East Germany
> that is all-aluminium and will be available in single through > four-rotor
> configurations. I was able to photograph some drawings of this
engine’s
> internals but cannot make those public for now, because the technology
> is proprietary. But the technology and engineering is very impressive
> indeed. If this becomes a commercially available engine, it will indeed
> be very big news in the rotary community and the homebuilding > community,
> as this engine will sport an eye-popping power-to-weight ratio.
>
>
>
> And yet another possibility is the certified Russian Aero rotary. > George
> is interested in exploring this possibility with his Russian contacts,
> with a view to importing these engines to the North American market.
> This would no doubt be huge news for the amateur-built community.
>
>
>
> So to sum up, Global Rotary has the small German-built engines and the
> Atkins-built Mazda-based engines available immediately to the homebuilt
> community. Right now they are just a sales and support organization for
> these engines. They can sell the engines to customers and will provide
> after-sales support. They are also hoping to close some deals with
> airframe manufacturers in the LSA segment, which would certainly give
> them a big boost in terms of visibility and credibility.
>
>
>
> In the meantime, those among us who may be looking for an engine for > our
> own project are probably asking the big question, namely how risky is > it
> to plunk down your cash with this outfit? It’s a good question.
Let’s
> face it, the homebuilt industry is notorious for fly-by-night outfits
> who grab the cash and then go belly-up, leaving customers holding the
> bag. Well, the only thing I can say is that you have to do your own due
> diligence and proceed with caution.
>
>
>
> Global Rotary is certainly a very small concern at this point. Their
> facility is a single unit in an industrial strip mall of maybe 2,000
> square feet total. There is no manufacturing or even a maintenance
> facility at this point, although to be fair, they just moved in a few
> weeks ago. So buying an engine from this company is not exactly the > same
> as buying one from Lycoming or from Rotax -- although to be precise you
> would not buy direct from the manufacturer there either, but from one > of
> their dealers. And even here, there have been many cases I’m sure of
> people getting stiffed by unscrupulous operators.
>
>
>
> This appears to be the nature of the game in this neck of the woods.
> It’s not like going into Wal-Mart or Home Depot and buying something.
> When we buy aircraft engines or parts or kits or what have you, more
> often than not there is a small mom and pop outfit at the other end > that
> may not be stable and could disappear in a puff of smoke at any time. A
> lot of people have been burned in the homebuilding community, by a lot
> of different operators.
>
>
>
> However, I get the sense that George and Kurt are in this for the long
> haul and they intend to build a business selling rotary engines for
> light aircraft and other applications. Kurt is certainly an old-school
> gentleman in the European tradition and I don’t believe that after
> having survived the war, in which he was taken prisoner, spent several
> years stateside in a POW camp (where he was treated better than the
> treatment he got as an airman in the Luftwaffe, he says) and then
> immigrated to Canada and went on to build a successful business and
> family there – well, I don’t think this guy fits the mold of a > flim-flam
> man who now in his twilight years is going to go hunting for victims to
> rip off.
>
>
>
> Bottom line, if I was looking for a ready-to-go rotary engine right now
> I would not have reservations about doing business with Kurt and > George.
> However, I would make sure I knew what kind of engine I was getting for
> my money and how good that engine is – and therein lies the rub. We > just
> don’t know enough about the product yet to pass judgement. Hopefully
we
> will begin to see some of these engines flying in North America soon > and
> then we will start getting to know them.
>
>
> Until then, I’m sure George will try to answer any issues that come up
> on this forum.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Gordon Arnaut.
>
>
>

Me or Bf 109?

Just for the sake of clearing my curiosity.

Alfonso

I think Bf is correct, but it means the same.
When the 109 was developed the company was called Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (or so)
Later the company was renamed in Messerschmidt, but Me became the common name.

regards
Thomas




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