Jim Tomaszewski called this afternoon to say he took his Corvair powered twin, the JAG-2 for its first flight. It was a carefully planned 15 minute test flight the went flawlessly. The two things he commented on was it having enough power to leave the ground in just 600′ and the smoothness second only to a turbine engines. Jims observations are backed by more than 15,000 hours in multi engine aircraft. I have seen old pictures of twin Corvair projects, but as far as I know, this is the first one to fly in the 58 years of Corvair powered flight.
.
Over the years that Jim worked on this project, he has been cheered on by the Corvair community, but it was something of a lighting rod for many negative comments from internet keyboard warriors, particularly from Van’s aircraft owners. While the aircraft does share some parts with the RV-6/7A aircraft, Jim has always directly said it was not a Van’s product, it was his design, and he was solely responsible for its outcomes. I find that attitude to be at the very core of what it means to be an American Aviator. The willingness to follow your creative drive while accepting the full responsibility is exactly what Teddy Roosevelt meant in his “Man in the Arena” speech. Today Jim has very effectively demonstrated the reward of being that Man, and the wide and permanent gulf which exists himself and petty critics who Roosevelt called “those cold and timid souls.”
.
.
A recent photo of the JAG-2. ( The name is an abbreviation of “Jim and Ginger” ) For an in depth look at the origins of the design and Jim and Ginger’s work at Corvair Colleges, follow this link: JAG-2 Corvair Twin, running on film
.
Over the next few days Jim is going to have a more detailed announcement and include links to videos of the flight. For today he just wanted to call and share the moment. Far from being centered on himself, he was full of gratitude for the assistance of Grace and myself, and also Rachel and Dan Weseman at SPA. He additionally wanted to thank our old friend Arnold Holmes, the DAR from Florida who flew to NY to inspect the plane and issue the airworthiness cert. But above everyone else, Jim wanted it clearly understood that it has been the continuous and direct support of his wife Ginger who has always been the irreplaceable element in the path to the success of the aircraft.
.
wewjr.
.
Feel free to use the comments section to congratulate Jim and Ginger.
