When I borrowed it, towed it to Sun & Fun and ran it up Dave did ask me to
  limit the
  manifold pressure to 45 inches of HG. Try boosting your typical Lycoming
  to 45 inches of
  HG and you will be killed by the shrapnel :) Dave never really gave up on
  it. He just
  ran out of energy to work on it. I have a lot more pictures. You might be
  able to get it
  Steve as you have plenty of room in your hangar. I think I can get it to
  cool.  Maybe
  not 400 MPH but well over 300.

  Here is the last address I have for Dave. At the least it should go in the
  EAA museum.

  Dave Garber
  935 Archer Grove Rd.
  Athens GA. 30607

  Doug Fir knew him too.

  Paul Lamar

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Paul, that is an interesting idea.  I'm insane to even consider it with
everything else going on.

We'll need to find out if Dave's estate have the parts in good
condition...complete fuselage skins,wings, etc.

If you will help with the engineering  and will do the outreach to the
estate and they will be willing, I would be willing to consider establishing
a rotary engine foundation or other volunteer-based, non-profit for the
purposes of attempting to get the aircraft reengined and flying.  It would
be with the expressed intent that it eventually reside in the EAA museum.

In this regard, let's discuss using using two of our three rotor engine NA
peripheral port engines at least in the initial test phase.  With the three
rotor engines, we'll need to evaluate how to reduce weight everywhere we
can.  Also look at swapping out those heavy metal C/S props for ligher
Hartzel composite CS or other.


Steve Beckham

I'll volunteer my time and travel expenses if somebody can loan us a pickup truck. I
think it is stored in a trailer. I borrowed Dave's SUV the last time. Perhaps his widow
would loan it out again. It may mean two trips across the US which I don't mind. Perhaps
the Mcminnville Spruce Goose museum would be interested once we are done playing with
it. The engines are in good shape. I would not change them. Dave spent big bucks on the
accessory drives.  Dave had them over hauled recently. The wood spars need inspection.

Paul Lamar


Paul,

Others

Yes Dave was a great guy and I only knew him for four years but he was
very helpful and gracious in providing me with my Bell 47 parts for a
very reasonable price.

Dave told me he did fly the plane about eight hours but never over engine
rpm of 5500, because of the inferior bearings in the stock Bell 47.
Paul might have run it faster for a few seconds at Sun and Fun:)  Up
until he had a stroke a few years ago he was still hoping  to rebuilt
the DG-1 and do some speed trials.   I was helping to organize the
project, much to his wife's dismay.

The plane is damaged though as something fell on it while it was in the
hangar. I believe he wanted to make new wings and it definitely needed a
new canopy.  The design is not without warts and there are several
things he told me he would like to change.  I came up with a few myself
mainly in the wing attachment method and the PSRU internals design.
Quite frankly I am surprised the PSRU didn't seize.  Some of the roller
bearings in the Bell box had flat spots on them. He had a good oiling
system in it.  Dave was especially proud of the tail and rudder and
remarked that because it extended downwards as well it had a lot of
authority.

Dave also let me take of lot of pictures of his Fuji which was dressed
out Japanese colors and pointed out the landing gear mechanism for my
benefit.  From my understanding the Fuji sat for  awhile.   I don't
know what happened on his last flight but a year ago I also had an
engine lose power on takeoff despite sumping the wing tanks well
(draining them completely actually) and sumping the front.  Ground ran
it for almost 20 mins as well. But a little water stayed in the carb
bowl and of course fuel floats on water.  Depending on the climb out
angle the water is sucked into the carb and the engine sputters.  It
doesn't die it just doesn't make enough power to sustain flight.
Luckily I was prepared for it and had a lot of runway ahead of me to
land again.   After several more engine starts and sputters it ran fine.
 The local A&P said it is a common problem with planes that sit for
awhile.

Contrary to belief Dave  never gave up on the idea of seeing it race and
was quite upset at the Reno crowd.  He also licked the cooling problem
showing me some custom radiators he had with angled baffles. He offered
to sell me the plane or the engines several times and as much as I would
have like to, I feel like the rest of you it would be a shame to part it
out.  I wanted Dave to see his dream come true, fly, and kick the pants
out of the competition or at least make some records. After the stroke
he was agreeable to having some else fly it.  Now the wiser choice would
be to restore it to museum quality.  It needs some work, paint, and I
would guess at least a thousand people/hours to accomplish that.

We are missing out on the company of a great gentlemen.  I can contact
his wife about this matter but for the time being I think we ought to
respect her space and give her time to coup.   Losing Dave in a flight
accident was one of her biggest fears and she made that abundantly clear
to me when I sat in her kitchen years ago.

Doug in Japan

You can always get silicon nitride rollers for the pinion gears.
They will work at twice the RPM.

Paul Lamar