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This is one of those major-milestone days. With the cooling system completed and everything else in place, it was time to put some fuel in the tank and see how the engine runs on the airframe. Running the engine on William Wynne’s test stand, with his watchful eye and finely tuned ears was exciting, but doing this on my own, mounted on the airframe that I had constructed, really felt like a major accomplishment. Here is this wooden frame that I have spent many years cutting, shaping, gluing, varnishing, covering and painting, and that I have attached a series of accessories, making every effort to keep things is good alignment, from control systems to landing gear and simple fittings and fasteners. Now, with the crowning jewel, a Corvair engine that my son and I found in a sitting in a 1966 Monza, abandoned in an old car lot, probably never to be run or driven again. It was a mess of an engine, but now, with a second chance at life, looks better than the GM engineers could have imagined, and will spend the rest of it’s days looking down on the roads it once traveled in NE Oklahoma. I couldn’t be more pleased with this choice of powerplant… it runs so smooth, and should make good power for my airship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ESXZkQG-0

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