Two hours later we were on our way to meet George Loranger
20 miles south west at the Grafton Airport. An original Winnipeg RAA member,
John Blackner, knew George from many years ago when Canadian and American
builders used to get together in Winnipeg and Grafton for the weekend. It was
an RAA-EAA family reunion; the long term bond between builders and importance
of RAA-EAA events was underlined seeing John and George reconnect as if time
had stood still.
George Loranger showed us his High Max with a Volks Wagen
engine.
The Pazmany took 20 years for the builder to complete and he
did his own test flight at 86 years of age!
Another Grafton area builder, Byron Poppenhagen showed us
his Baby Ace, which was painted using the “Red River System”. Byron uses latex
house paint with a flow additive and 10% Red River water added. He then brushes
on this paint mixture and the water helps to slow down the setting time,
allowing the brush marks to blend together.
The Czechoslovakian YAK with a MP14 Russian Radial 360 hp
engine is geared. Larry Brown explained, the geared engine turns the propeller
at a lower rpm, enabling a much larger prop to be mounted and significantly
greater thrust. It cruises at 2900 rpm. Absolutely all systems are pneumatic on
the YAK – brakes, propeller, starter, landing gear, control systems; all
require air. The geared engine cannot be hand propped.
Andy Tibert’s
Rotorway is a two-seater helicopter that cruises at about 85 mph with about 1
hour endurance plus reserve.
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