Corvair College #25, April 5-7 Leesburg FL, Part 1 of 3 updates.
Builders:
This is the first part of three that I am going to post on Corvair College #25. We are now 5 weeks out, but a lot of background work has been done over the last few months. This, combined with the fact that our local host Arnold Holmes also was the host of the very popular CC#17 means that we will have a very well run productive event.
This post is just a general guide line on the event and some background on the College. The next post will have some further detail information, a bit more on content and schedule details. The third story will have registration information.
The College will be held at Leesburg airport in Central Florida. It will be on April 5,6,and 7th. Sun n Fun starts on Tuesday April 9th. It is about a one hour drive to get to Sun n Fun from the College. We are going to work through most of the day on the 7th, and then head down to Lakeland on the 8th to set up our booth at site N-55, right next to Dan and Rachel’s Panther display. I bring this up so that builders thinking of both events will see the time line we are planning. We are also thinking of having a Corvair Cook out at Lakeland on the night of the 9th. All of this will be a productive and fun flow of events for builders who can make it.
Above, a late night shot from Corvair College #17. From the left, your humble narrator, Grace, Mark from Falcon, and our host for #25, Arnold Holmes. I have known Arnold for almost 20 years. In the high-end world of composites he is known as “the Repair.” His picture is in the first pages of our conversion manual, standing with Grace and I and our Pietenpol at Brodhead 2000.
Arnold has about 200 hours in Corvair powered planes. He is currently building a Corvair powered Nesmith Cougar. You can get a look at his work as an IA on his website http://www.av-mech.com/ If you are a fan of glass planes, read the story about how he is authorized to do repairs on certified composite aircraft by the FAA. Arnold’ contact info is on the site for people who want to show up slightly early and assist in the prep work. If you need local directions to motels, we will have that in the next post. General questions on the event should be sent to me.
For a little more background on Colleges, spend some time at this link to our main site: http://flycorvair.com/cc23.html. If you read all the way down through the CC#23 story, you will find links to all of the previous 22 events. It will give you a good idea of what to expect. Like wise, you can read about the last college at this link to another story on this page: Corvair College #24, reviewed in photos, part one. Note that there is also a part two and three to the same story.
The plan for the event is this: The official start will be noon on Friday the 5th. I expect to be there late on the 4th or very early on the 5th. I will get everyone set up and have individual briefings on each builders project to form a plan for them for maximum progress. We will have some engine runs and training on differential compression tests that day, and I will break builders into small teams for training on timing and valve adjustments. Dinner will be at sundown, we are planning on doing the traditional first night pizza. After an hour off, we go back for casual work until 10 pm or so. free camping is right at the site, but it is just a big field, there are no hook ups but plenty of room for campers.
Food is normally provided at Colleges, and this is the main element of why Colleges normally have a required registration fee. #25 will be different, as Arnold’s EAA chapter 534 will be on hand to grill food for us that builders will be able to but on the spot for modest cost. This will keep everyone on site and working. The sales of the food is the only thing that the Chapter gets out of being our local hosts, loaning us their hangar for the weekend (which involves moving all their own projects out) building tables for us and doing all the local leg work. I am planning on showing my appreciation by buying all the food I will eat at the event from them, and I encourage all the builders to do the same.
Colleges have a strong social side, and unlike other aviation events you read about on the web, you can see pictures of builders drinking beer at past events. You are not likely to see a photo of anyone holding a beer after hours at a sport air workshop. Almost every aviation outlet tries to project flying as squeaky clean, non- offensive, suitable for Disneyland, family entertainment for people who look like they just walked out of some horrible Land’s End clothing catalog. That’s great for them, but I always thought that aviation was a place for men like Pappy Boyington and women like Poncho Barnes. Although our friends all know that drinking faded out of my life many years ago, I have no desire to attend nor run events for people who need everything to be reduced to vanilla ice cream, polo shirts and Levis dockers. Colleges are a place where your wife can be comfortable and meet new friends, and people are friendly and out going, not pleasant and fake. Golden rule at Colleges: zero tolerance for beer drinking before sundown, and we do not run any engine after sundown. They are both fun, but they don’t mix. Golden rule #2, no one talks about religion or politics at my events, it never brings people together, and it is a waste of time when you can be building. In 24 colleges with hundreds of builders, I have only sent 3 people home; One for not heeding 3 warnings on laying off politics, one for a particularly offensive racist remark, and one for repeatedly praising “always superior German engineering” on veterans day at CC#9 even after I pointed out to him that his table mate Sam Sayer was a B-17 co-pilot who was shot down in WWII and had lost 8 of 10 crew members. Colorful characters are welcome and fit right in at colleges, but no tolerance for A-holes. The College belongs to all the builders who came to have a good time, make friends and learn, I protect this investment by eliminating people who detract from the goals of real builders.
Above, two late friends from the Corvair movement in a photo taken at Corvair College #9. On the left stands Sam Sayer. Sam was a very interesting character. He was a B-17 co-pilot in WWII, and was shot down on his first mission by an 88mm flak shell that went through the throttle quadrant but failed to detonate. He evaded capture and returned to England. he’s wearing a Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame shirt. He was inducted for his career racing hydroplanes. Standing beside Sam is Larry Koutz, a Q2/Corvair builder from Valdosta, Ga. Larry is a former Air Force F-4 Phantom pilot who was well-known in Dragonfly/Q2 circles. Sam passed away from Natural Causes, Larry was killed in a freak yard accident removing a stump. Both men lived lives of adventure. If you can learn anything from their lives it is to go out and make your own adventures now, if you wait for adventure it will never show up and knock on your door.
Saturday at the College will be a full day from 8am through sundown, where we have a hard stop for dinner and everyone puts all the tools down for 90 minutes to enjoy dinner together. Afterwards we work until 10 or so. Sunday starts at 8 am and goes on until mid afternoon.
For this college there will be no registration fee nor requirement. Just showing up is OK. This allows us to attract a number of builders who are sitting on the fence to stop in and get a look for a few hours on their way to Sun n Fun. I suspect that the majority of builders will be people on hand for the whole event, but it is good to welcome new people into the movement. While it isn’t a requirement, we are still going to have a registration page for builders who know they are going to be there. This will help us plan the event. We will have this up in another two or three days, it will be part 3 or this series. No one will be required to pay anything for this College, but we will have an on-line site attached to the registration to allow people who wish to contribute to the costs of running the event to do so through PayPal.
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More info in part #2-ww
Corvair House Call, Range: 335 miles.
Builders,
Over the years I have done something several hundred times that other aviation businesses don’t: I made a house call. Our primary work is educational, and the hardware sales support that mission. This difference has many ramifications, but one of them is that we take the time to meet builders whenever there is an opportunity to advance an individual’s knowledge and project.
Last week I was headed to Columbia, S.C., to help my sister move. Technically this wasn’t a true house call because I only made it 335 out of the 400 miles to York, S.C., where builders Michael Durbin and Stefan N-Plotnicki are getting started on their Zenith 650 kit. I spoke with them on the phone and Michael suggested that they would be glad to load up their Corvair on a stand in the back of Stefan’s pick up and meet me at my sister’s place for an evening “house call.” This offer of meeting me part way and their enthusiasm for their project set the tone for a productive visit.
Above photo taken in my sister’s driveway. Note Corvair on stand in the back of the truck. Stefan on the left and Michael on the right are brothers-in-law and partners in a Corvair powered Zenith 650 project. Their wives are sisters. Michael has long been involved in aviation and served as a mechanic in the USAF. Stefan has a lot of mechanical experience on different engines. He is a proud native of Poland. “Na zdrowie!”
Michael and Stefan purchased their project from the family of a builder who was sadly killed in an auto accident. The builder had done some work on the engine to clean it up and put it on a stand, but had done no work to the airframe kit. Initially the original builder was thinking of putting the Corvair on a plans built wooden kit, but later opted to purchase the 650 kit. These guys suspected that the engine they have is basically a good core, and my inspection proved them correct. The view above shows that the engine was very clean, but was not actually rebuilt. The rod bolts in the picture are used stock ones and the piston skirts show that the pistons are cast. Many years ago I had a difficult time convincing some builders to put quality parts in their engines. Very rarely do we see stuff like this any more. Michael and Stefan plan on a first class rebuild and are only planning on using this engine as a very clean core.
The above photo shows that the pistons are not just cast, but they were also used. Some builders who had been in the EAA a long time had heard that Pietenpol builders in the 1970s had flown Corvairs directly removed from cars with some success. This is true, but I have never encouraged people to do this. We ask much more output from engines now, and for reasons outlined in my Manual, I would actually trust a 25,000 mile stock car engine over the above engine. Re-torquing original rod bolts and using thicker base gaskets on an engine with previously rigid cylinders would actually make the above engine less reliable than one just pulled from a running car. Either way, the point is academic, because no one is planning on flying either of those concepts today.
Above: Home-made 4″ deep sump pan fabricated by original guy. The rough areas are partially ground down welds. The cut outs in the pan lip for the mounts would leak like a sieve. This builder was not following mine nor Bernard Pietenpol’s notes. Both of us told people not to cut the pan like that. Ideas like the one above show that the original builder was willing to put in time, but was not willing to follow known information. The original builder actually had one of our Conversion Manuals. Ideas like this were once common on the Internet, promoted by people who had never built a Corvair themselves.
Above, the project is now in the hands of two very positive builders who are aiming for an outstanding aircraft and engine within a reasonable budget. Their previous mechanical and aircraft experience guides them to a much better quality and far more proven path than the first builder was charting. The above photo was taken after we got to spend two hours going over details and fine tuning a build plan that was tailored to their budget and timeline, and also meets their personal goals of becoming experts on their own engine. In their hands are a number of the parts that they picked up from me that evening. Michael is also holding his Zenith 650 plans set. He brought it to ask me if the Corvair required any airframe changes or alterations to the Zenith fuel system. I pointed out that one of our original design goals with our first Zenith 10 years ago was to make no changes behind the firewall whatsoever. If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one says that much about their positive attitude. Look for these two to have an engine running at a College by the end of the year, and a flying plane next season. Good goals, but just physical manifestations of the real achievement, becoming a proven aviation craftsman and an expert in both your airframe and powerplant. -ww
Out of town until Wenesday night.
Builders,
I am up in the shop this morning at 7am finishing some small tasks that I left on the bench when I turned the lights off at 2 am. We are running some prop tests, as we will have Standard conditions (59F, 29.92 pressure) for a while this morning. Later on today I am driving to South Carolina for a family event and I will be back late night Wednesday. I probably will not have a chance to look at e-mail, but we will cover anything that comes in when I get back.
From that point, we are going to have solid work leading up to the College and Sun n Fun. I will have an update on College #25 by the end of this week. If you are one of the builders planning on making progress at this event, the time is now to line up your plan. Dan told me yesterday that he just got a big batch of 5th bearings, and there may still be time to process gen 2 bearing set ups and cranks before the college. For more info on this, go back and read “Getting started in 2013, part #1”-ww
FlyCorvair.net breaks 150,000 page reads, 2/6/13.
Builders,
We have had this site up and running for slightly over 13 months. In that time we have published 202 articles here, and about 20 more entries on the Mail Sack heading.
The average article on the page has about 1,400 words, you can read one in a few minutes. A double spaced page in 12 point font has about 275 words on it, and most people read 5 pages in about 3 minutes. I hope readers take longer than that to consider the content and use it as a serious resource, but I just wanted to point out that a new reader could cover the whole body of it in week of evening reading. Tolstoy’s War and Peace is supposed to have about 550,000 words in it, there is less than half of that here. I really hope builders have found it more interesting and relevant to their goals than 1,400 pages on the lives of Russian aristocrats during the Napoleonic invasion. I like to set high standards like that for my writing.
This page has really good tracking info on the control panel. It can’t tell me specifically who reads it, but it does tell me very accurately how many people a day and how often they return to individual stories. Today, the total number of page reads on the site passed 150,000. This doesn’t mean that many different people have been here. It is more accurate to characterize it as perhaps 1500 people reading the site on 100 different days each. This is a years average, the daily total has built up slowly. On an average day now about 1,000 different readers show up and read something here. If there are 400-500 serious builders in there who are going to use the information to make something with their own hands over the next year or two, I am more than happy.
The most popular story of the year was:
Guest Writer: Pietenpol builder/flyer Kevin Purtee
The biggest engine story (an AA-5 we built for a 750 last year) was:
3,000cc Engine Running
And the most read story on a plane was Rex Johnson’s
Corvair Powered Davis DA-2, w/EFI
The most popular story on Philosophy was:
Sterling Hayden – Philosophy
A big part of the high numbers for the last three stories are that they have been up for a long time, and many people who have started reading regularly since the stories were first posted have had a chance to read them since. But numbers are not the sole judge of value here. I write a lot of stuff because it means something to me, and I don’t care if it is far from the mainstream or not what some people think of as valuable. The story I wrote on Father’s day:
A Father’s Day Story – Lance Sijan
Is an example of this. About 350 people read it the day it was posted, but since then it has only been re-read 79 times. The numbers themselves don’t tell the story. At Oshkosh this year a guy stopped by the booth for only a minute to say that he works at the Milwaukee airport and he has spent time caring for the contents of the little glass case. At that moment there were a number of wealthy guys having fun flying overhead in restored warbirds and the announcer was saying something to the crowd about celebrating victory and honoring veterans. Inside I was thinking warbirds on a sunny day are great to watch, but the general public might better understand veteran’s sacrifices by looking in that little case an contemplating what a single family’s loss was.
I am well aware that most people in the general public are made uncomfortable by stories like that. I have been told that some of the things I have shared over time are ‘depressing.’ I can only say that contemplating these subjects has brought more value to my life than watching TV or reading Facebook pages. On Memorial day 2010 I wrote the following note on our Flycorvair.com site;
“Every Memorial Day, our little town puts out a cross in the park for each of its sons and daughters that it lost in years past. there are a lot of crosses for a small town, but the city fathers actually put out one for each person who was from our county. the gesture seems at home in this quiet little place. When you walk up close, and read the name, and wonder how young they were, if they died instantly or suffered, if they had kids old enough to know them or if their fathers tried not to cry at their funerals and if their parents live at the same house, and if they do, how dated are the things they had tacked up on their old bedroom walls, and if their mother still has their bicycle in the garage. When you think about stuff like that it really does seem like a lot of crosses, and you begin to think that paying your respects from across the street had been an emotionally safer idea.”
Those are not pleasant, nice nor entertaining thoughts. Here is the connection to flying: I don’t think of flying as pleasant, nice nor entertaining either. I think the valuable parts of aviation have always been, and will always remain challenging, difficult and rewarding. You could finish your plane next week, fly it alone for an hour ever other day for the next 20 years, and you still will never come up with a reason you can put into words why mankind has always wanted to fly. The fact that you will not ever be able to explain it to most people, even many good people whom you love, this will not stop your longing to go spend another hour aloft, another hour immersed in something you can’t explain. It can be your own ‘glass case’ to stare upon and contemplate the value of things.
By the middle of life, most people, even the once adventuresome, predictably seek out comfort and entertainment. For those who resist the required numbing of thought and feeling, I uphold that building and flying is perhaps the best arena to enter. It is a near limitless field of challenge. You will never find all its answers, but neither will find any boundaries. Here, maybe once in a year or so, for a brief moment you will find another person who feels just like you do…..
Last week, out of the blue, the tracking on the site showed that one person showed up every day for while and re-read the story on Sijan. The tracking doesn’t tell me anything about the person, not even their email address. Even though I don’t know where they live, what they do, or how they think, I do know something about the perspective that makes some people return to read that kind of story several times. That kind of connection makes a year of writing time well spent.-ww
Calling All “Zenvair” Flyers……601 / 650 / 750
Builders,
I just spoke with Sebastien Heintz, President of Zenith, and we would like to have a Corvair powered Zenith in the Zenith aircraft display area at Sun n Fun. We have a long tradition of doing this going back to 2004. Sebastien always likes to see affordable examples of his families designs prominently displayed. In the last nine years, between Sun in Fun and Oshkosh we have had about a dozen of our builders planes in their booths. We are not looking for show winning aircraft only, regular examples of traditional builder craftsmanship are actually prefered.
My Commercial display comes with a number of full week passes. Anyone with a plane in the Zenith booth will be an informal rep for Corvair power, so I will cover the pilots of the display aircraft with complementary commercial acess passes. Even if you are able to stay just part of the week, we are looking to cycle 2 or 3 Corvair powered Zeniths through the booth. The Zenith display is in the middle of the broad taxiway, so there is no difficulty moving aircraft midweek , after hours. We do not need a guarantee of being on hand, I just need to hear from Zenith pilots who are planning on attending Sun n Fun so we can do a little coordination and planning.
Below are som photos of “Zenvairs” in the Zenith booth in past Sun n Fun’s:
Above, Phil Maxson (Left) stands by his 601XL in the Zenith Booth at Sun n Fun 2006. Read Phil’s story at this link: Guest writer: Phil Maxson, flying a 3100cc Corvair in his 601XL
Above, Rick Lindstrom’s 601XL in the Zenith Booth at Sun n Fun 2007.
Grace, Chris Heintz, and myself with our Zenith 601XL at Sun Fun 2005.
Our 701/Corvair test bed aircraft in the Zenith booth at Sun n Fun 2010
To read about many more examples of Corvair powered Zeniths, get a look at this link:
List of Corvair Powered Zeniths
Fly Corvair at Sun n Fun 2013, Starts April 9th. (Booth N-66)
Builders,
Grace and I have decided to return to Sun n Fun again this year. This will be my 25th consecutive year at the event. We will have a full commercial display, in booth N-66, which is on the row in front of building “C”, the third of the four main display buildings. This is one row over from where we were last year. Sun n Fun is the second largest air show in the US, and it has been held every spring in Lakeland Florida for many decades. It is a big event, and it draws thousands of planes.
Dan and Rachel Weseman are bringing the Corvair powered Panther prototype to the event, and they have an adjoining commercial display space, so we will have a place for all the Corvair builders to congregate. Just as we did at Sun n Fun and Oshkosh last year, we are going to work together to have a Corvair Cookout for all builders and fans of the Tonawanda master piece.
There will be a one day gap between Corvair College #25, held April 5-7th in Leesburg Florida (more info later this week) and the start of Sun n Fun. We expect to see many builders at both events. We are tentatively planning on having the Cookout on the first night of the show. We will keep every one posted as we get a little closer.
We will do all the regular stuff, parking lot tours to look at builders cores, have every catalog part on display, have short blocks for sale, etc. If you are going to attend the event and have a specific question or would like to pick up something special, just drop us an email or call.
Above, Sun n Fun 2012. old friends left, Roy Shannon, and center, Steve Bacom Jr., both VariEze builders. On the right is Arnold Holmes, long time Corvair pilot and host of Corvair College #17. Arnold is president of EAA chapter 534, the local hosts of Corvair College #25. If you would like to see some of the events from last years sun n fun, get a look at this link: Sun N Fun 2012
For more info on Sn n Fun : http://www.sun-n-fun.org/FlyIn.aspx
Calling Central FL builders, Meeting 9am Sat. 26th
Builders,
Just a quick reminder that I am going to be the guest speaker at the Leesburg EAA chapter at 9am. The meeting is held at the airport in the hangar on the west end. I am headed down to meet the members of #535 and answer any remaining questions they may have about the up coming College #25 at Leesburg. If any builders are in the area, feel free to stop by. I will be there until 12 noon.-ww
Running an Engine at a College, required items. #2
Builders,
This letter came in from Pietenpol builder John Francis:
“William, I attended CC #20 and was happy to have my case checked out by Roy and get it assembled. I am slowly gathering the parts I need to complete the engine. What engine components are necessary to have my engine running at a Corvair College? Or, perhaps it would be easier to list those I don’t need ie carb, alternator, prop, etc? Perhaps as you publish the numbered groups you could put an asterisk by those that are needed to get an engine running at a CC college.”
Above 49 of the 70 Corvair builders at CC#20 in Hillsdale MI June 2011.
John, Thanks for your note. Looking at the photo of the builders at CC#20 brought back a lot of memories and made me think of all the things we will get done at Colleges this year.
John has a very good on line builders log with lots of pictures of his project. I borrowed this one of John at CC#20 from his site at : http://www.mykitlog.com/kringle/
I borrowed this one also, it shows Johns ‘closed case’ with an original Dan Gen 1 bearing installed. This is one of Dan’s original housings, the first 120 or so were heat-treated castings. Today they are made from CNC billets of 6061. Dan made the switch to take out a lot of the different steps in the manufacturing process like working with a foundry and heat treater. They cost more to make as a billet, but he kept the same price to builders.
Above, Spenser Gould, designer and Builder of the SP-500, with his first engine run at CC#23 in Palatka Florida, June 2012.
…..You are correct, it is easier to list the things that live on our run stand that a builder doesn’t need to bring. Looking at the above photo from#23 for reference, the test stand comes with:
Full exhaust system.
intake and carb and throttle connections, and hardware.
its own self-contained fuel system.
All the ignition components except the distributor.
It has its own bushings and mounting hardware.
the stand uses the cooling baffle on all the test runs.
Propeller and mounting hardware.
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To run, engines don’t need a charging system. However, you will see a lot of them running in pictures with the Front alternator bracket (2900) in place, because the inboard bracket for this item fits behind the ring gear, and it is much easier to mount it before the ring gear and hub are on.
The only part of the ignition you need is an E/P distributor or a dual points one.
The intake on the stand is designed to mate with welded on head pipes that match the pattern I developed in 2004. I also have a set of adaptor pipes that mate the stands intake to stock Corvair heads, but this takes a bit of time, and I often try to run these engines last at the Colleges. If a builder is using his own custom intake pipes on the heads, he needs to make a set of pipes that will mate to his heads and to our intake. I will put in a good try to run such engines, but they go last and we don’t guarantee that we can do it. We have succeeded in about 4 out of 5 tries in past colleges.
Virtually all engines run at the last few colleges had Gold oil systems. One or two had stock GM ones. If you have an old remote oil filter system, you need to bring your own filer, housing and hoses. Six or seven years ago the run stand had these items mounted on it, but they are no longer there. If you have questions on this call or write. I would like to run a lot of engines at Colleges this year, it is a very big mile stone in a builders progress that is always a special event.-ww
The Cherry Grove Trophy
Builders.
In the Corvair movement, we have a trophy which we award once a year. It is in recognition of outstanding work in Corvair powered flight. Our primary value in assessing ‘outstanding’ work is that it motivates and assists other Corvair builders to reach their own goals. As you read below, you will find the different ways the Trophy recipients found to make the movement more accessible to fellow builders. To date, we have awarded the Trophy five times. The names of each of these Aviators are CNC engraved on the Trophy base. When we started, we decided that the Trophy would only be awarded eight times, and then be retired. We have three more November College awards dinners to go, but we have many more years ahead to enjoy the lasting work of the builders whose names are on the Trophy.
Above, from Corvair College #16 at Ed and Val Fishers in SC. On the left, Dan Weseman the 2009 Recipient and on the Right Mark Langford the 2008 and first recipient of the Cherry Grove Trophy.
Above, A photo from the following spring at CC#17. Mark with his KR2-s and Dan with the Wicked Cleanex. The Trophy is named for Bernard Pietenpol’s home town, the spot where the first Corvair ever took to the air in 1960. To give you some idea of the long history of Corvair power in experimental aviation, consider that Dan was born 15 years after Bernard’s first flight on Corvair power. Mark’s award was based on his efforts to document his Corvair flight experience on-line, where he went on the fly more than 1,000 hrs. He also flew to numerous Colleges and airshows. Dan’s work was to develop, test and promote a very affordable 5th bearing and an outstanding FWF for Sonex airframes. Both have since been promoters of the Corvair movement. Dan has Co-hosted CC#23 with us and has developed the Panther aircraft.
Many people want to believe that some new product in aviation will arrive and ‘revolutionize’ everything. I think the root of this fantasy is that they would like the work and learning to be removed and save them the effort required to stand in front of a machine and say “I built this plane.” I have been in aviation for 25 years, I have seen 25 seasons of ‘revolutionary!’ things come and go with little or no affect on accessibility to flight for working Americans.
I have watched many of the same people get taken in by a new ‘revolutionary!’ idea every few years, never seeing that they would have been long flying if they had just given up on ‘new revolutionary!’ products with lottery ticket odds of success, and instead embraced the philosophy of proven designs with a track record in place of a promise. These people often willfully ignore that the providers of this years miracle product are frequently the same people behind a previous Chapter 11 bound, LLC promoted miracle.
Getting out the book, rolling up ones sleeves and getting your hands dirty is a serious act of self-empowerment, the acknowledgement that your own aircraft will only come from your understanding and labor. There is no ‘miricale, revolutionary, high tech’ white knight solution that will arrive at your shop and suddenly provide you with access to the world of personal experimental flight without learning and work. Yet, this year, as all previous years, we will see a majority of potential builders sit and wait and exchange rumors of the imminent arrival of their white knight. Often their adherence to this philosophy is absolute, they will still be waiting when the last page of their story is written.
Above, at Corvair College #19, I present the Cherry Grove Trophy to Joe Horton of Pennsylvania. He was the 2010 and third recipient of the award. Joe has more than 750 hours on his KR-2S, and his flown his aircraft to numerous Colleges, and Oshkosh and Sun ‘N Fun many times, and annually to the KR Gathering. He’s a contributor to our Flight Ops Manual, and a frequent positive voice on the Internet. Above all, he’s good company and a quality guy.
Above, a far better photo of Joe with his aircraft at CC#21, with Grace the following year. The engine in the plane is a 3,100 cc with a Dan bearing. Joe’s aircraft is equipped with a 54 x 60 Sensenich prop. It is capable of efficiently cruising at 170 miles per hour.
Above, in 2011, the fourth recipient of the trophy was PF Beck. We made the official presentation to P.F. at the dinner at CC#21. He has more than 250 flight hours on his Corvair powered Pietenpol. Not only has he hosted Corvair Colleges #19, 21, and 24, and attended a number of others, P.F. has flown more than 210 different people in his aircraft. He is a first class gentleman, incredibly modest, and a skilled aviator with decades of experience. For these reasons, Grace and I both felt that he was the outstanding candidate for the Trophy in 2011.
Above, a photo from Corvair College #21. In the photo stand the four of the pilots who have their names engraved on the Cherry Grove Trophy. Left to right are Joe Horton, 2010 Winner, Dan Weseman, 2009, P.F. Beck, 2011, and Mark Langford, 2008.
Above, at Corvair College #24, we awarded the Cherry Grove Trophy to Pietenpol builders and flyers Kevin Purtee and his very supportive better half Shelley Tumino. Their frequent appearances at airshows far from Texas, their constant promotion of ‘learn build and fly’ and the hosting of the highly successful Corvair college #22 made them the right people to be awarded the trophy in 2012. They work as a team, and it was appropriate to award it to both of them. Kevin’s frank discussions of the effort required to achieve something of real lasting value in personal flight reach many builders. Their ‘lead by personal example’ philosophy has shown a great number of builders a path to success. -ww
For a good read on Kevin’s personal perspective on homebuilding, read his story at this link:
Guest Writer: Pietenpol builder/flyer Kevin Purtee
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2013- Phil Maxson, 601XL, New Jersey. Read more: Phil Maxson goes to 3,000 cc for his 601XL.
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2014- Ken Pavlou 601XL, Connecticut. Story: The Cherry Grove Trophy, 2014
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2015- Woody Harris 601XL, California. Read more: Woody’s 2,850cc Corvair/601XL hits 400 hours., watch a film of Woody at CC#35: Corvair College #35 Barnwell builders video.