William Wynne

"The Corvair Authority"
5000-18 HWY 17 #247
Orange Park, FL 32003

Corvair College #19 Photo Album

P.F. Beck aloft at the controls of his Corvair-powered Pietenpol. In addition to hosting Corvair College #19, he flew 25 people in NX747PF Nov. 12-14, bringing his total number of passengers to 187. Throughout his decades in aviation, P.F. is well known as an enthusiastic supporter of flight. He has been a particularly good friend to the Corvair movement.

Corvair College #19 Nov. 12-14, 2010, was a huge success. The lion's share of the credit goes to P.F. Beck and his crew, Airport Manager Tim Freer, Cal Hoffman, Don Harper and Mike Kinard. They did an outstanding job of prep work and ran a very smooth event. Fifty builders came extraordinarily well prepared. Eight very high quality engines were given long runs at the College. Many of the other builders made very solid progress, and are certain to run their engines in the coming months. Five Corvair-powered aircraft were on hand, we awarded the Cherry Grove Trophy for Corvair-powered aviator of the year, and memorable moments and new friendships were made that will be remembered throughout the coming years. Take some time to savor these photos and stories, and make sure that you find yourself at a future Corvair College.

Zenith 750 builder Jeff Cochran of Alabama supervises the run-in of his 2850cc Corvair, above. Jeff is making great progress on his airframe, and chose to have us build the engine for him. We delivered it at the College. The engine features a RoysGarage.com bearing, the 2850 cc dished pistons, all of our Gold Systems, and Falcon heads equipped with Inconel valves and exhaust rotators. This is a seriously robust engine. The Zenith 750 is a large airplane capable of climbing at very low airspeeds. This combination makes it brutally unforgiving on engines with inadequate cooling or light duty construction. The Corvair's outstanding cooling and high quality components make it impervious to installations that are the undoing of lighter engines.

Special visitors at the College included, above left, our brother-in-law Colonel John Nerges, and my sister Alison, right.

Ralph Flick of Pennsylvania runs his engine for the first time, above. It's a 2700 cc powerplant.

The modest fee charged for the College went entirely toward food. Large quantities of excellent food were available at all times. In the three full days we were at Barnwell, Grace and I and the majority of people on hand did not once leave the airport, except to go flying. Well organized food provides more time on task, and a good chance for builders to socialize. Above, P.F. Beck with Friday night Chef Extraordinaire Mike Morrow. Incredible roast beef, chicken and local specialities set Mike's feast apart from the fare at typical aviation events. A majority of the excellent meals were provided by Bill Frye of Fryebabys. The Godwin family with help from fellow homebuilder Mike spent Friday night and Saturday cooking succulent pig, and served it with homemade hash to the delight of the crowd.

The College was held inside a well insulated 100x100 hangar. This gave plenty of room for sit down dining as well as engine building. Our hosts had great attention to detail, all the way down to tablecloths.

The centerpiece of any College is hardcore engine building. Above left, Pietenpol pilot Randy Bush of Tennessee gets a hand from KR builder Emory Luth of Illinois. This is the latest of many events that Emory has attended, and he's again shown himself to be a great contributor and a serious asset to the Corvair movement.

Above, the brothers Houston. They showed up with a number of extremely dirty core motors and had a great time disassembling and inspecting them. Glenn, on the left, has worked in U.S. Air Force calibration labs for 40 years. They insisted on being called The Brothers Grimey for the duration of the event.

Above left, Grace Ellen chats with Corvair-powered 601 builder and pilot Gary Thomas of North Carolina. This was the second College to which Gary has flown his plane, having attended Corvair College #16 a year earlier. Gary is a native of Bath, England, and is an excellent example of the diversity of characters who make up the Corvair movement. I have no idea how warm Bath, England, is, but Gary was the only guy walking around in shorts at CC #19.

Above, Alan Johnston installs his forged pistons on rebuilt connecting rods. Many precision techniques, such as rod heating, are best taught in person. Roy and I brought two trailer loads of specialty tools and put them to good use at the College.

Above, Cliff Rose, Cleanex builder from Florida, with his 2700 cc, Weseman bearing, Falcon head engine with Reverse Gold Oil System. Cliff spared no expense to acquire all the parts of his engine. Still, he spent less than one third the cost of an imported engine. More importantly, he has the well earned pride of creating his own engine.

Extraordinarily clear weather brought cold temperatures at night. Here, the four Corvair powered planes that flew in are covered in frost Saturday morning. With coffee and hot breakfast immediately available, work quickly commenced, and the temperature rose into the 60s by the time the sun was far above the horizon. The weather remained crystal clear all weekend.

A front end view of Gardiner Mason's Pietenpol cowling, above.

A nice photo of Gardiner's red Corvair powered Pietenpol and P.F. Beck's yellow one.

Above, Mike Robitaille of New Jersey strikes the Captain Morgan stance. The milestone moment of your engine running will certainly make you feel as bold as a pirate. Mike's engine is a 3100 cc engine with a Weseman bearing, Falcon heads and Reverse Gold Oil System. Mike traveled to Falcon Machine and worked one-on-one with Mark Petnunias to handle the custom work that went into his 3100. 3100s traditionally have been known as the large displacement Corvair engine, but as Mark Langford's Web site points out, they are filled with custom machining and hand fitting, and are difficult engines for amateurs to build. Operationally, they have a high compression ratio that produces power, but has small margins against detonation. Our modern, clean-sheet-of-paper development, the 3-liter engine, was specifically designed to avoid those pitfalls.

The Robitailles' daughter Caroline had a great time with her new friend Scoob E.

Mike, Christine and Caroline Robitaille enjoy the prop blast of his sharp running 3100.

Philip Hiatt and his sons Blade and Joshua in the prop blast of his 2700 cc engine built to power the family VP-2. The engine ran great, except for a flicker in the oil pressure. Despite the busy schedule, we took the time to track down the problem on a hunch from Roy. The rear accessory case gasket had silicone sealer used on it instead of copper spray sealer. The excessive thickness of the RTV had caused an internal pressure loss in operation. This problem was easily resolved with a gasket change. One of the many advantages of College attendance.

Above, I present the Cherry Grove Trophy for Outstanding Service to the Corvair movement to Joe Horton of Pennsylvania. Joe has more than 550 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, Buttercup builder Eric Klee of Florida, veteran of CC #16 and CC #17, returned to CC #19 with renewed determination and made great progress. His engine is a 2700 cc Weseman bearing engine that utilizes all of our Gold System Components.

Jim Barbour of New York with his partially assembled engine. His plane is a 601 HDS. The engine is a 2700 cc, Weseman bearing powerplant built up with all of our Gold System Components.

Steve Wetherington, above, after conquering his core. Although it was filthy on the outside, it proved to be extremely good after precision inspection by Roy.

Col. John Nerges, above left, thanks P.F. Beck for his flight in P.F.'s Pietenpol.

Above, Roy mans the controls for a test run of Ivan Carlson's Pulsar powerplant. The engine is a 2900 cc powerplant with a RoysGarage.com bearing and a Reverse Gold Oil System. Sharp eyes will notice that this is a reverse rotation engine. Ivan originally built the engine with assistance from our crew at CC #9. He later had Roy upgrade it with one of his fifth bearings. The original 2900 cc engine kits were sold by a now-defunct company in California. Like the 3100, they were based on custom machined VW parts. These parts rarely fit without a lot of hand work, and were not interchangeable in engines of the same displacement. Like the 3100, these engines had either too high a compression ratio, or a compromised quench height. Our modern clean-sheet-of-paper engine, the 2850, eliminates these downsides with purpose built pistons and pure Corvair design and geometry. There is nothing wrong with existing 2900s and 3100s. However, all modern builders should make their lives a lot simpler by working with 2700, 2850 and 3 liter systems.

Above, Grace Ellen was one of the 25 people P.F. Beck took aloft during Corvair College. She snapped this photo of him in his element.

Thomas DeBusk, above, with his very potent powerplant that will find a home on the front of his Kitfox Model IV. While it was running, we had a chuckle over the old wives tales that Corvairs are heavy engines that don't make enough power. Thomas' engine is the absolute upper limit of power for a Kitfox Model IV. Anyone who saw it in person would never question its performance potential in that airframe. The engine is a 3 liter with a Roy bearing, Falcon heads and a Reverse Gold Oil System.

The last engine to run at the College lit off at 6:10 p.m. Sunday a bit after dark. It belongs to well known Pietenpol/Corvair builder and pilot Randy Bush of Tennessee, above. After 180 hours of successful flying, Randy decided to upgrade his engine with a Roy bearing and Reverse Gold Oil System. Look for Randy to fly in to many events in 2011.

Sunday night brought the wrap up of another College, and the close of the year's group events in the Corvair movement. There will be more events to come in the New Year, but throughout much of the country, a winter's building awaits individuals. Will your engine be amongst the photos in 2011? Actions you take tonight, tomorrow and in the coming weeks will determine the outcome. A lot of external factors play a large role in our daily lives. There are almost no external impediments to your success in engine building. If you turn off the TV, make a plan and stick with it, your success is inevitable, you can have all the adventures that successful builders and flyers have, and you can justifiably take all the credit for it. If you let the opportunity drift by, the responsibility will equally rest with the man in the mirror. We stand ready to assist anyone who chooses the first path.

Salute To Veteran's Day Thursday

From The Family Photo Album, A Veterans Day Salute To the real William Wynne, my father. The photo above was taken by the U.S. Navy in early 1968. In my 5-year-old hand, I hold the Bronze Star awarded to my father during his 1967 tour in Vietnam. My father enlisted in the Navy during World War II, graduated from the Naval Academy with the Class of 1949, served in both Korea and Vietnam, and in the final total, spent 33 years on active duty.

See You At Corvair College #19 KBLN

We will be gone at Corvair College #19 in Barnwell, S.C., KBLN, till Tuesday, Nov. 16. We will not be covering the phones or email until we return. Grace and I wish everyone who has served the country a Blessed Veterans Day and sincerely hope you spend it in peace with family and friends.