Year: 2017

Builders:

Here is a summary sketch of the Corvair events we have on the slate for 2017. Keep in mind, this will later be updated with both sign up information for the colleges, and also several  Finishing schools ( like this : Corvair Finishing School #1, Video report.) which will be in Florida, with the dates announced later.

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There are many links to Corvair College stories here: Corvair College reference page.

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“When is the next College?” is a very frequently asked question, if you see that come up, please do me a favor and share a link to this page.

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Corvair College #39, Barnwell SC, 10-12 March, 2017

This is almost full, read details here:19 more spaces for CC#39, Barnwell SC, March 2017.

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Oshkosh , Airventure 2017,  display 616, (same spot as always) , July 24 – 30, 2017 (and Stopping at Brodhead for the Pietenpol Gathering)

I have been to Oshkosh more than 25 times, We always have parts for sale these, we are planning on having a parking row behind our display for Corvair powered planes, I always give forums, I am glad to inspect cores,  and we are considering doing an engine in a box assembly there. For an example: Photos from Brodhead and Oshkosh 2015, Pt. 1

Zenith open house, 22-23 September 2017.

We go to this every year, and for 2016 we did a full engine in a box demo assembly and test run. We also inspected cores and picked up ones headed back to Florida  From 2016: Corvairs at the 25th Zenith open house. and “Coming on like a Hurricane” and EAA Major Achievement Award.

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Corvair College #40 Wisener-Mineola Airport, (Tyler) TX 29 September 1 October 2 2017.

This college has Shelley Tumino and Kevin Purtee as hosts the same couple who brought you the four colleges in Austin TX, Read about them here:The Cherry Grove Trophy and here: Kevin Purtee and “The Hat of Power”

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Deland Sport Aviation Showcase – set for Nov. 2-4, 2017

  We will have a display, inspect cores, have parts for sale and have a number of Corvair powered planes on hand. Here is a look at 2015s event:  Deland Sport Aviation Showcase – Today November 5th

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Corvair College #41, Barnwell SC, 10-12 November 2017

This is a return to our flagship College at it normal time of the year.

For a look at the 2015 Barnwell College, check this out: Corvair College #35 Barnwell builders video.

For a look at the EAA film about the 2013 Barnwell College, click here: New EAA video on Corvair College#27, Barnwell 2013.

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Builders:

2017 is my 28th year building Corvair engines for planes, and for about 18 years of that time, our lives have been blessed by common internet use, which suddenly gave every person with a keyboard and a made up name an equal sized soap box, from which they could pass judgement on every guy who had been out there building aircraft parts.

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Timing is everything in history: In 1,000 AD, if you had zero ability to suffer fools, this was a distinct asset in being a Viking, it was respected. Since Al Gore invented the internet, the tables have turned, and now the same quality of intolerance of imbecility makes you a bad guy, and sends the trolls on the net running to their “Safe Zones” where no one has to use a real name . They will claim you didn’t respect their “trigger warning” because you asked for the N-number of the plane they allegedly based their negative observation on.  Yes, I am directly saying most aviation internet discussion groups are as far from the Sterling Hayden – Philosophy honor roll as an modern dance major at a liberal arts college. 

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For the last 15 years internet trolls have stuck to four points about my work:

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“William Wynne doesn’t return calls or emails or answer questions.”

Sorry, in the last year I have geared up and run an incredible machine of factual information to counter all the old wives tales and internet BS. I even answered the very last tech question I had in my inbox yesterday.  Read: Outlook 2016 – The Corvair ‘Information Network’ now in gear.

“William Wynne Made fun of my Prius and the fact I like driving it to Starbucks”

OK, guilty as charged:Thought for the Day: Corporate “Ethics” , but in my defense, I am friends with Phil Maxson, and he drives a Prius, proving I have tolerance for “those People.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSvNhxKJJyU

“William Wynne is a long haired hippy and isn’t always “Disneyland nice” 

I don’t have long hair anymore, and if I’m a hippy, I have to be the only one in history with a shooting range, a firearm collection and a lifetime hatred of VW’s: Thought for the Day – Corporate trust? Oh, and isn’t it ironic that this happened to an asshole: EAA Major Achievement Award.

“William Wynne’s parts are on back order and hard to get”

Well get ready for hell to freeze over, because I have a ton of parts on the shelf, since we put this program together 11 months ago: Outlook 2016, New order page and distribution method. Having SPA/Panther, take care of the distribution of our stuff is the best decision I have made in a decade. Some sample results:

Zero back ordered Motor Mounts.  That’s right, I have not owed one to any builder for months, we have many models on the shelf, right now.

Part #3901-A Zenith/Bearhawk Stainless Exhausts, now on shelf. The last time I looked, we have 11 of these on the shelf boxed and ready to go. About a week ago an Internet

New Front Spinner Bulkhead  An example of a traditionally back ordered part that we have readly available because of a complete redesign to make them easier to keep in stock.

#4201-C Pietenpol Motor mounts, now on the shelf, ready for shipping. This was a part that once had a 9 month back order, but that is long in the past.

Parts Production improvements- #4201 Motor Mounts We have about 5 of these in stock today, and we have had inventory on hand for the last 8 months.

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My next post is going to be a schedule of events for 2017. We will have a lot going on, the first college is just 8 weeks away. Want to make this year different? Take advantage of the fact that in 2016, with the help of good friends, I completely re-invented our business and traveled around the country to prove it: Back in Florida after 7,380 miles on tour. We are now in an excellent position to serve a great number of builders. To take advantage of this, all you need to do is, not listen to internet myths from trolls, call up and get going on parts, and understand The Value of “Showing up” .

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Call Rachel at the SPA/Panther parts order hot line: 904 626 7777.

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Above ScoobE with Zenith mounts on our back porch.

-ww.

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Builders ,

A quick story, just to demonstrate while I am a tireless supporter of American made products, I also appreciate well made machines from all over the world.  Below, a photo taken in my back yard yesterday, with a classic piece of cold war history, a Belgian FN-FAL.

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If you made a very good product, you could expect it to be popular in your own country. Now ponder this question: How good would it have to be for 90 different countries to adopt it as their standard of national defense in the Cold War?  Fabrique Nationale, better known by the initials “FN”, designed the FAL in the years after WWII, and by the 1960s it became so popular in non-communist countries that it was often called “Right Arm of the Free World”.

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This was not a case of super powers exporting weapons to third world proxy state conflicts. While a great number of the FALs were built in Belgium, FN licensed their production to countries large and small. Countries adopted the FAL simply because it was incredibly good,  it was not an imported form political support as the AK-47s and AKMs largely were.

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The next time you are at an airshow looking at a UL Power aircraft engine and someone says “It’s from Belgium, do they make a lot of mechanical stuff there?”  You can take a moment to tell them Belgium spent 50 years as the source of “Right Arm of the Free World”.

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Above, in the back yard holding a FAL. This is a very finely made power house, as nearly all of them were chambered in 7.62 NATO. Even if you don’t know firearms it is recognizable by it’s distinctive folding carry handle, extreme cant of the pistol grip and the magazine that isn’t curved. It has excellent ergonomics, it is easy to shoot accurately, and it took just a few moments to turn a stack of cinderblocks into rubble.

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-ww.

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Builders,

I traveled more extensively in 2016 than I have in 20 years, I saw a lot of people and places and feel fortunate to have the opportunity to experience it, even the parts that were hard work and tiring. But one single afternoon out of 365 will stick in my mind long after the others, even the strong ones, have faded.

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Above, Grace and ScoobE sit with my Father in the hospital, looking at my fathers US Navy albums from the late 1940s and Korea. The photo was taken on May 19th.

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I was in California, just after Corvair College #38 in Cloverdale ended. My sister in law called and said Dad was not doing well, had pneumonia, and it was time to come home. I dropped the trailer in a storage lot, drove to Sacramento and got on a plane headed for Newark. Before getting on the plane, I sent Grace, who was in St. Pete FL caring for her parents, a text explaining my departure from California.

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Without further word, Grace put the dog in Caddy and headed 1,200 miles north, stopping only for gas. Having known my father for 17 years, Grace knew that memories and stories from the past and the company of a loyal dog would go a long way to improving my fathers outlook.  Armed with a stack of photo albums and an attitude that says “Of course he is a real service dog” without anyone needing to ask, Grace spent the afternoon pictured above listening to my father recall both moments of humor and sacrifice, names of men who raised good families and those who’s devotion to duty and shipmates cost them all they might have done in this life.

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The afternoon of May 19th 2016 will remain the moment of 2016 which I am most thankful for. In my life the most profound moments have not been the brief satisfactions of achievement nor victory, but the moments that have lasted are the hours when I have felt weak, unsure and helpless, and someone arrived to show how the moment could be salvaged for a vastly better outcome. If you make a single pledge to yourself for 2017, consider vowing to be the person who arrives, without being asked, in the hour of another persons need. It produces the kind of gratitude not easily forgotten, no matter what may come.

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-ww.

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