Paul’s Panther
Builders,
Below two pictures of Paul Salter’s Panther. Paul lives in Jacksonville, and is a Park’s University trained Aerospace Engineer for the US Navy, working on the EA-6B Prowler program. A number of years ago he built a large hangar at the same airpark where Dan and Rachel Weseman and Grace and I live. Working on weekends, Paul has built a very nice 3,000cc Corvair powered Panther, which is now in the very last stages of construction. Today, Paul was working on the weight and balance data.
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Paul’s plane was displayed this year in front of our booth at Oshkosh. Because Panthers have quick folding wings, it was very easy to transport to the airshow. While the plane was nearly complete then, Paul isn’t in a competition with anyone, he built the plane at his own pace to satisfy himself, and did not loose sight of his personal level of excellence nor his sense of fun. The plane is equipped with an Elison EFS-3A carb and a Sensenich prop. It had a number of details like a full glass cockpit and an autopilot. Yes, Paul is restoring an observatory. Some people take astronomy very seriously.
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Above is a shot of the Panther airbrushed on each side of the plane’s vertical fin. If you look really closely, you can see clever planning on the artist’s part: Notice how the eyeball of the panther is actually a structural rivet head on the plane.
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How many Corvairs are left?
Builders,
The title of this story is a perfectly acceptable question, and one I frequently place an educated estimate on. It doesn’t bother me, even if it is asked many times a day at Oshkosh. I do however contrast this with the person, who walks into my booth at Oshkosh and pronounces, “There are no Corvairs left. “ or “They don’t make parts for Corvairs anymore.”
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I was just about to type “It takes a special kind of idiot to say such things in the face of demonstrable evidence otherwise” but that isn’t correct. Statements like that are not the utterances of special idiots, they are spouted by common idiots. I have actually had a guy flatly say they don’t make parts for these engines while leaning on a stack of new boxes of pistons that was 4 feet high. I pointed out to another person who said their are no engines available, the dozens of pictures on my website of recently finished Corvair powered planes, and asked him where he thought those engines came from. Ironically, no answer from the same guy who knew everything 2 minutes before.
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It has been my experience that you can’t use budget, prior experience, age, nor outlook to predict is a guy will be successful in homebuilding, however, I have noted that the guy who likes to start every conversation in homebuilding with a statement that he absolutely ‘knows’ to be true, is the guy least likely to enjoy learning, and therefore least likely to be a guy who finishes a plane. Be aware that common idiots are not just found at Oshkosh, they are at nearly every airport in the country. For a laugh, I highly suggest getting a look at this: A visit to the insane asylum .
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Above, a very heavy box in the back of my 3/4 ton truck in the front yard this morning. It was 48″x 40″ by 40″ and packed solid with Corvair cylinder and connecting rod cores being truck shipped to Clark’s Corvairs in Massachusetts. the rear suspension is compressed about 8″.
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The box has about 50 engines worth of cylinders and rods, and these are all going back to Clark’s for reboring and rebuilding. I collect them up over time, and send them back in a large lot. Think this is a big amount? I have been to Clarks shop, and this isn’t 5% of what they have on hand, and I strongly doubt that Clark’s is holding 5% of the remaining Corvair cylinders….Oh, by the way, 2,850, 3,000 and 3.3L Corvairs are all based on new cylinders and rods, so everything in this box can be applied to 2,700cc Corvairs.
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There are probably less than 5% of the original 1.8 million Corvairs left. If that sounds small, it is 90,000 cars. We live in a nation of 250 Million registered cars. Any reasonable person can look at those numbers and understand a ratio of 2,778:1. and probably on the order of 20,000:1 in a daily driver comparison, why you don’t see a Corvair driving down your street everyday. But only the common idiot looks at those numbers, the giant box of cores, the fact I have been doing this since 1989, and Clarks has been doing Corvair parts for more than 40 years, and still is sure enough to say there are no Corvairs left.
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Automotive production numbers dwarf anything aviation has ever made: The Jabbaru 3300, the Rotax 912 and the Continental O-200 are all good engines that serve particular builders. These engines have been made for 20, 30 and 60 years respectively. Corvair were produced for just 10 years 1960-69, but consider this: They made more Corvairs in the first 10 days of production in 1960 than Jabbaru has built 3300’s in the last 20 years; To match 30 years of 912s took GM till the third week of production in 1960; To match 60 years of O-200s took the GM engine plant about 50 days in 1960. And from there GM went on to another decade of engine building. It is my educated estimate, that there are more Corvair core engines remaining in the US, than the entire combined production of 3300’s 912s and O-200s. Give that some thought the next time someone tells you there are no more Corvairs.
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Real moral power: HRH, the King of Thailand passes from this life
Builders:
News channels in the US will be occupied with pathetic stories of moral corruption today, and there can be no greater leadership contrast today than looking at the nation of Thailand, where their beloved king who has ruled for 70 years, has passed from this life. Most of my friends know that I spent my childhood living in Thailand. While it has become an ever more popular tourist destination since we were there in the 1970s, few westerners ever took the time to understand that the King of Thailand was an incredible life-long example of real moral power.
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Above, my father speaking with HRH, the King of Thailand, in 1974. Being born in Massachusetts and educated in Switzerland, The king understood both western and eastern worlds.
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During the cold war, our nation ‘befriended’ a number of terrible despots like Chang Kai-shek, Ferdinand Marcos and the Shaw of Iran. In complete contrast, Thailand shared our vision of a world without communist totalitarians, while being lead by a man whom we could be very proud to consider as an ally. If half our allies in the cold war had been people of his morality, the world would have been a much better place today.
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In the western world, we think of “Kings” in the European tradition, where they pronounce their powers as God’s will, declare themselves infallible, write their own law, have their enemies put in dungeons, behead their ex-wives and declare war on their colonies, all while sitting on vast wealth and great estates, tended by subjects that are beneath them. They declare themselves to have “absolute power” but in reality, they are weak because they lack one critical element: Moral Power.
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The King of Thailand was the worlds longest serving ruler, having been king for 70 years. Contrary to western monarchy, he was not the head of the faith, nor was he leader of the armed forces; he didn’t derive power from legislation nor from wealth; he took no direct role in politics, and he directly spoke against the concept of infallibility, calling it an insult. Yet for seven decades he remained the most respected and powerful man in a country of 65 million people. His entire life was a single example of ethical and moral behavior, one that was revered by the people of his nation, and in times of crisis, his leadership by example of ethical behavior, was a compass needle his nation chose to follow.
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Today, in our country, we have two people fighting to be in a position of leadership. I can say without the slightest hesitation, that even though one of them will be ‘elected’, there was never any chance that either one of them would be our nations ‘Leader’, because each of them, a long time ago, did things which permanently crippled any moral power they might ever have. Moral and ethical understanding of life is the critical element without which, no good can come. I would offer my condolences to the people of Thailand, but at this hour, it seems we might be the country who is suffering
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From the 2013 story: Happy Father’s Day William E. Wynne Sr. :
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“Thailand is a constitutional monarchy like England, but the Thais hold the deepest reverent respect for their royal family. The King is the longest serving ruler in the world, and is widely understood as a very positive force in a part of the world that knew very little peace or freedom. He was educated in the United States and knew that his country was on the front lines of the Cold War.
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The location of the photo was a construction site on Doi Inthanon, the tallest mountain in SE Asia. From 1971-74, my father was the OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction) in Thailand. This included numerous military and civilian infrastructure projects in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and places as distant as Diego Garcia. My father worked equally hard on building hospitals and roads as he did building airbases. While all of Thailand’s neighbors, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, fell into savage rule by communist totalitarian regimes that ran from repressive police states to genocide, the Thai people were spared this trip to hell. My father remains very proud of the role he played in preventing their enslavement.
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As a show of respect for our Thai hosts, we lived in a typical Thai home, went to regular schools, learned the language, ate the food and always were deeply respectful of the people, customs and beliefs of our host nation. My father drilled into us that any shortcoming on our part would be tantamount to sabotaging the work that he and many other Americans were doing to ensure excellent relations between the two countries. Today, 42 years later, I have no patience for any American who goes abroad and forgets what the word “guest” means. At the conclusion of our time there, the Thai Secretary of Defense presented the Order of the White Elephant to my father. It is the medal on the ribbon around his neck in his official photo above.”
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Hurricane Reading – “The Winged Watchman”
Builders;
During the hurricane, our power was out for two days. With the hangar flooded, there wasn’t much to do. In the middle of the storm I did ride the dirt bike around the airport, but after visiting neighbors I headed home to read something. The book I picked out was “The Winged Watchman” a 200 page 1960 children’s book which I had retrieved from the book shelves of my parents house last year. It was around when we were kids in the 60’s, and I am sure most of us read it in turn.
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I had never sat down and read the whole book, and was surprised how good it was. It was intended for children, perhaps from 10-15, but it was obviously written by an author who took writing for children as a serious challenge rather than an excuse for weak work.
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The subject of the story is a child’s life in the Netherlands during Nazi occupation. It covers family, faith, work, collaborators, patriotism, hiding partisans, downed airmen and Jews, famine, fear and forgiveness. I got the sense that the book was written 15 years after the war, when children born after it were just old enough to understand what their parents and families had lived through, and it was important to the author that the next generation understand something of this. I have not read any of the Harry Potter books, and I’m sure there are great things about them, but I suspect they have less to teach about life than older children’s books did.
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Too few American kids read Anne Frank’s “Diary of a young girl” in school these days, and almost no Americans can place Anne Frank as being hidden for 750 days in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The Winged Watchman was published at the same time that European Neo-Nazis were just emerging to claim that Anne Frank was a hoax, and that she had never lived. If any of the writing in The Winged Watchman seems slightly heavy handed, perhaps it can be forgiven when seen as having to counter claims that the Germans had arrived as benevolent overseers.
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If there was one good thing about the hurricane, it was reading a book that arrived on our family bookshelves more than five decades earlier, and reflecting on how important it was to my parents that our childhoods be filled with books and reading, even when we were a medium sized family living on the modest income of a junior Naval Officer. Something that makes me feel very fortunate.
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Hangar back in action
Builders,
A few photos from working in the hangar today. Compare these shots with the ones of the hangar flooded 48 hours ago.
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Above the distributor machine test running an E/P-X ignition. I finished 8 of these today and took them down to SPA/Panther for 4 shipping, and the rest for stock. Notice no water on the floor.
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Two part quiz; how big was the spider that was here, and what happened to him?
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Above, the main hangar, without “excessive humidity “.
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Thought for the Day: Columbus Day, 1925.
Builders;
170 years ago, half my DNA lived in Germany, the other half in Ireland. The first element of the Irish half came to America in the form of a 12 year old girl who walked 90 miles to a port, took 4th class steerage to Castle Garden immigration station, and began 8 years of work as an indentured servant in a wealthy home in New Jersey.
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She had a number of sons, almost all of whom became police officers, among them my Grandfather Michael Wynne and his older brother William Wynne. Starting before WWI, they worked as patrolmen for the Passaic and Clifton departments respectively.
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On Columbus day 1925, my great uncle was on duty for the parade in Clifton. He observed the marchers in the lead holding the Italian flag up high, while intentionally holding the United States flag dipped beneath it. He was not one to tolerate such intentional disrespect, and he stepped off the curb and grabbed the pole of the Italian flag. When a number of the marchers moved on him, he drew his revolver to make it clear he would not be assaulted without cost.
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The mayor was pressured to fire him, but there was a public outcry, exemplified by the poem in the paper shown below, written by a woman who’s father was a civil war veteran. William Wynne kept his job, but in the long run paid a price for it. He advanced through the ranks, but not at the pace he deserved or one that matched the success of his brothers. If he ever regretted his actions that day, he never mentioned a single word of it to anyone. He put his loyalty to the ideals of this country above all else.
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My Grandfather and his siblings were aware of their heritage, but were not attached to it; They considered themselves 100% American. In their formative years, Teddy Roosevelt was the outspoken president of the United States. One of the things TR spoke against was anyone identifying themselves as a “Hyphenated American.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphenated_American ) . Roosevelt was absolutely clear that he considered any naturalized citizen just as good as one who was born here, but he had no tolerance for people who were unsure of their loyalty. To some of todays ears, this is terrible, but my grandfather and his siblings understood it without reservation. A century later, I confess to feeling the same way.
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We have all seen the commercial for DNA testing where some person feels their life is changed because they discover that 300 years ago their ancestors lived in a Slavic country, not Spain. I find the very premise laughable, because that person could have traveled to both Slovenia and Spain, and they would really know nothing of the customs, far less the mindset, yet the new results bring them some “identity”.
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Conversely, I have no confusion on these issues: for better or worse, I am an American, period, end of sentence. I have known many Germans, worked with them and have been to Germany; in spite of the fact 50% of my DNA is from there, I feel no attachment to the culture, it isn’t mine to claim. In Munich I was simply a tourist just as I have always been in other countries. I suspect the peoples of those lands would prefer Americans didn’t harbor the fantasy their DNA tests qualify them to understand what it means to be a native of those places.
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Unlike most Americans, I am particularly well read on our history, including its lowest points. I was born 72 years to the day after the US 7th Cavalry killed several hundred people, mostly women and children, at a cold desolate place called Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This was considered the very last ‘battle’ fought between Native Americans and all the people who had come since Columbus. 398 years of warfare came to an end that day, not with just peace, nor even a fair fight. On a day where most people are somehow blindly celebrating a man who ushered in the Europeans, you can set yourself apart by reading the story of Wounded Knee, including the really ugly parts where women with infants who ran miles from the battle where run down and executed by US soldiers. There were less that 500 soldiers there, but 22 of them were awarded the Medal of Honor for their ‘heroic’ actions.
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The awareness of my countries failings doesn’t condone or justify weak loyalty. The awareness just requires my vigilance against further mistakes during the ‘watch’ of my adult years as a citizen. There will be national failings, such as this: Political Reality Check , but they should not be cynically accepted as inevitable. It is beyond me why many people believe that our mistakes are made by the other party, my personal feelings are expressed here: Patriotism has no Party .
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Worth reading: What the 4th of July means to me.
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Your Aviation Connection: Just as I believe that a person can choose to be an American, and make the conscious choice to live within our laws and values, I also believe that anyone, can choose to be an Aviator, and abide by and enjoy the equal protection of the laws of physics chemistry and gravity. It has been my long experience that the rewards of being an aviator go to the people who give it the ‘loyalty’ of their best efforts, not those who dabble in it with half hearted interest, a hyphenated loyalty where the casual retain the customs of lands outside the airport fence where “It should be alright” is a national moto.
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Read: Risk Management – Human factors ” The evidence that fools present for the existence of luck is vague and anecdotal at best. Hard, proven and factual evidence for the existence
of Physics, Gravity and Chemistry can be found at any crash site.”
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When I was little, maybe 9, my Father took us to The Jefferson Memorial. There he explained to us that The United States of America was neither a business nor a playground, it is a set of ideals, which made it the last best hope of mankind. The dream that mankind had moved past kings and dictators, past theocrats and oppressors, to a world where individuals governed themselves as equals. We could look at the ceiling and read Jefferson’s words plainly:
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“I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
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From there we went to Arlington, where my father explained that the nation had set aside an eternal resting place for the citizens who had laid down their lives for the ideals of this country, and if he were ever to take a place among them, we should not weep, as it would only mean that he had lived for something greater than himself.
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“Excessive humidity” in the hangar
Builders;
Below, two pictures, one of the hangar and one of the workshop. We have a family joke that goes back to 1967 about “excessive humidity” as an understatement for water. Our field elevation is 77 feet, but our acre is slightly lower, and is a localized low spot, prone to flooding during exceptional storms. The photo shows the water receding, it was about 10″ deep in the hangar. Because this was expected, the planes were moved to friends hangars, and nothing was left on the floor. ( Notice the Tig welder is hanging from the engine hoist) By midnight on Saturday, the hangar floor was free of water, the workshop was down to 2.”
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Above, a look in the hangar. Notice nothing was left on the floor. 1-26 fuselage is hanging from the roof trusses, the wings are on the back porch. Gliders are designed to have the wings removed in a few minutes. Keep in mind that none of the inventory lives here, it is all high and dry on shelves at SPA/Panther, so there is no interruption in shipping of parts, no matter how ‘humid’ my hangar is.
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Above, the workshop. It sits about 2″ lower than the hangar. It is insulated and cooled and heated, but the insulation stops 3′ from the floor so it doesn’t get soaked in a flood. In the ten and a half years we have been here, the shop has flooded eight or nine times. The typical interruption to work is 3 or 4 days. The most effective solution would be to replace the shop and the hangar with a modern building sitting on a new slab 24″ higher, but that is a pretty expensive sentence, not mathematically supported by the last decades real estate values, nor working to supply the most economical engine on the market, while staying true to Why “Made in America” matters to me.
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If I didn’t like what I do, having the nicest shop wouldn’t make me happy: Equally, if you believe in what you do, then a less than perfect facility, is an occasional annoyance, but not a road block. A lot of homebuilt planes are finished in basements and garages by motivated builders, while a greater number sit in spotless hangars, never worked on.
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For a look at what the yard looks like in a big storm, check out: Let It Not Rain.
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In 1967, one of the projects my father was working on in Vietnam was dredging the port facilities Cam Ranh Bay. The US Government had allowed contractors from SEATO nations to bid the job. The Asian company that got the contract had to tow the dredge hundreds of miles to bring it to the site. When it was late, my father sternly asked for an explanation, and true to the old eastern custom of not loosing face or directly addressing issues, he was told the delay was caused by “Excessive humidity in the engine compartment.” A nice message, but the US Navy sent word the dredge was at the bottom of the South China Sea, having already sunk in route.
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Florida Hurricane Preparedness….
Friends from out of state have asked how Floridians prepare for hurricanes…..
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Please note, “liking” this story requires a permit in NY, NJ, CT and IL. California residents that accidently thought this was funny and laughed may avoid prosecution by fleeing to the sanctuary state of Arizona. Two stroke engines and thirty round magazines could have been shown to cause cancer in cock roaches in California, but a court injunction from PETECR (people for the ethical treatment of cock roaches) halted the tests before the data to support the conclusion could be manufactured.
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The comment above is a humor tolerance test. It is obviously a joke because everyone knows I don’t drink Bud light.
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I think California is a beautiful place filled with many great people. I am just yet to understand why they must live under a legislative system that is only tolerant when compared to Yemen or the Taliban. Again, I am joking, but people should feel free to take it the wrong way and be offended, as being offended is a becoming more common than laughing.
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Seriously, NOAA weather is reporting a significant rise in wind speeds in the projections, and they are now predicting 20-25′ waves on North Florida beaches. If you are inclined to pray for people you have not met, now might be a good time, as the next days will bring tragedy to many people here, as it has in the Caribbean already. Let us hope that no matter what they loose, these people don’t loose the ability to laugh at stupid humor.
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“Coming on like a Hurricane”
Builders,
As wind and rain picks up in front of hurricane Mathew, work goes on while we have power. Yesterday this included final test run on the engine we assembled and ran for 40 minutes at the Zenith 25th open house. This engine is a 3,000 cc 120hp engine featuring a Weseman billet made in the USA crank. It was easy to completely build at the Open House because it was one of the Weseman’s “Engine in a Box” complete kits. If you are interested in purchasing this engine, you are too late, it is already sold, but Dan and Rachel have other “Engine in a Box”‘s ready to go. Contact them at 904-626-7777 for more info.
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Above, the engine on the run stand in front of my hangar. It was raining lightly, but it doesn’t bother a Corvair. During the second run in Florida, the piston ring break in was completed, the oil filter was changed and the first one was cut open and inspected, compression was evaluated and the timing was set with a light, and the adjustable oil pressure regulator setting was fine tuned. It ran like a champ, and then I took it to the SPA/Panther factory for crating and shipping.
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Above is a short clip of the engine running at 1,500 rpm or so.
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Eariler at Zenith, Dan briefs observers on what we are going to do. The assembly had about 25 guys who followed every step, and about three times that many they checked in to see how it was done. When we took it outside to run it on Saturday, about 75 people stood there to watch the first fire up. In the hour before, they had heard a Continental 0-200, that was on a flying plane, that was poorly tuned take two minutes of cranking and stuttering to run. Other engines put on a few less than stellar starts. Many of the 75 people, most of who thought that a brand new engine, made of parts that had not yet ‘met each other’, would be difficult to start. I’m sure they thought is was full of it when I said it would start and come to power in 3 seconds. These people were slightly stunned when the motor started, instantly, as in less than one second. Much of this is the ignition system I build being vastly better than a magneto, but it is also knowing the engine, as we teach builders to make and operate it. It is a very different mentality that the person in another cockpit, relentlessly grinding on a starter hoping it will light off. Hope isn’t a mechanical strategy, understanding and performance is.
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Above, 30 minutes into the test run at Zenith.
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Above, after the show, the EAA’s Charlie Becker speaks with Dan Weseman as we packed up late night on Saturday night. The Conversation was a bit about what had taken place, but much of it is always aimed at the next event, the future, and things that can be put in action. On this night, much of that revolved around the November 3-5th Aviation Showcase in Deland Florida. Dan and I got up at 6am Sunday morning and drove the 1,100 miles back to Jacksonville.
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If you are of a certain age, you will recognize the title of the post as lyrics from the opening song on the seminal 1980 AC/DC album “Back in Black“. Although the band is from Australia, the album was recorded in the Bahamas, where the production was besieged by tropical storms, which created the tone for the song “Hells Bells.”
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In the summer of 1980, I was 17 years old and living in New Jersey. Although we were less than 15 miles from Manhattan, the world wide center of fashion, we all thought there was nothing more stupid than people who were slaves to caring about what others thought of their appearance. We were the total opposite, individuals expressing ourselves, which we chose to do by each and every one of us having long hair, dressing in black tee shirts, Levis 512’s and Timberland boots, while all driving Chevys with cassette decks that all had a copy of “Back in Black” permanently stuck in them. We honestly were oblivious to the idea this was also conformity, but the music endures better than 1980s NYC fashion.
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For my purist builders down under, know that I am actually a bigger fan of Bon Scott, the 1974-79 AC/DC singer. Someone pointed out that is Scott had lived past 1980, he would be the same age as Trump and Clinton today. Without the slightest hesitation, I will say that Bon Scott’s singing on “Highway to Hell” was a greater contribution to the betterment of humanity that anything Donald or Hilary will ever accomplish:
Bon Scott, Paris 1979 ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_KzeQ639b0
It is one of the few elements of teenage years I hold any nostalgia for.
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