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Jerrys Web Site
Welcome to my experimental aircraft Web site. In April 1995, while attending Sun-N-Fun with my family, we saw a mock-up of a Murphy Super Rebel 2500. It was a huge airplane, 4-6 seats with a 250 HP Lycoming O-540. After discussing it over night with my wife, we placed a deposit on a future kit. I was the 14th customer to place a deposit on the airplane. As I was in the U.S. Air Force, and about to go overseas, Murphy Aircraft graciously agreed to hold my kit until I returned from a tour in Japan. Murphy Aircraft shipped the aircraft kit, serial number 093 to Virginia in the summer of 1999. I tucked the large crate in a corner of my hangar, shared with a Cygnet SF-2 I was building, as the Air Force posted me overseas again. In 2004, I retired from the U.S. Air Force, but went to work as a consultant in the Washington D.C. area for a small strategic advisory firm. Although the work was challenging and exciting, the pace of activity made the thought of beginning a new project unthinkable. So, in the spring of 2010, I retired for the second time, moved NW of St. Louis, near my wife’s family, and began building Folkerts Aircraft Works, my dream shop. I moved the Cygnet and the Murphy Super Rebel in from Virginia to Missouri in November 2010. I began work on the SR 2500 shortly after the first of the year (2011), setting a goal of one and a half years start to finish. The SR 2500 is a large, four to six place tail dragger, designed as a bush plane. The design was heavily influenced by Dick Hiscocks, who had been vice president at deHavilland and one of the co-designers of the deHavilland Beaver, consequently the similarity. Mine will be an SR-2500 with a Lycoming O-540 (250 hp), 2 blade Hartzell C/S prop and 4 seats. I’m still debating the avionics configuration, as there are numerous options for the experimental aviation community. I plan on the B&C all electric airplane configuration with dual P-Mags (assuming the six cylinder version is completed on time). I also plan on a Tru-Trak auto-pilot (model TBD). The aircraft has electric elevator trim, and 80 gal fuel tanks. Finally, I plan on float fittings for resale, although have no plans to put it on floats. Similar configurations gross at 3200# with an empty weight of 1800-2000#. I estimate fuel burn to be approximately 14.5 gph and cruise about 120 kts.
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