Mike T. wrote- > According to the website, this engine was first used in the bk1.3 > single-seater. That design has the cylinders out in the breeze, but > the cowling is fairly narrow in front.
The writeup and photos that appeared in The Experimenter were from 2014. If anyone is interested in the origins of Bruce King's BK1.3, N88BK, take a look at the photos of what Bruce's airplane with the same registration number looked like at the Alamo City Corvair Jr. College eleven years earlier, in 2003. Back then it was a taildragger. Scroll down just a short way, here: http://www.flysquirrel.net/AlamoCollege/ACCC.html The engine on Bruce's plane at that time was an 1835, not driving from the flywheel end, but I thought it might be interesting to see the origins and evolution of the BK1.3. The prototype appeared at Sun 'n' Fun 2012 and was written up in Issue #104 of Contact! Magazine, here: http://issuu.com/contact.magazine/docs/contact-magazine_issue-104 You can tell whether a tractor-drive (not pusher) VW is driving the flywheel end or the pulley end by the prop blades. Conventional aircraft engines rotate clockwise as viewed from inside the cockpit and the prop blade on the starboard side is traveling downward and advancing when you prop-start it or when it's running, so a VW that is driving a prop from the flywheel end turns the same direction as a Lyc or Continental. Corvairs and pulley-end-driven VWs (the most usual way VWs are converted for aircraft use) turn the opposite direction. Some say that engines "Down Under" in the Southern hemisphere (Australia/New Zealand) turn in the opposite direction, but I haven't been able to get down there to confirm that yet ;o) Oscar Zuniga Medford, OR host, Alamo City Corvair Jr. College contributing editor, Contact! Magazine
