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

  Hi,
  How did they start these engines? It is evident from the photos that there
is no flex plate. I take it that required some one to flip the prop to start.
Dale Davies

-
As I recall they had 24 volt aircraft starters/genrators built into the geared accessory sections. I think Jim Mederer designed the accessory sections. All I had to do was push the start button.

Paul Lamar