NetHeads, This is a pretty good story. The KR2 he's talking about is at www.krnet.org/krs/zs-uku.jpg ...
From: "Leon Du Toit" <rsldt...@mail.uovs.ac.za> To: <krnet-ow...@mylist.net> Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2005 3:17 AM Subject: KR2 > Mark > > I have recently found an old Aviation magazine (Nov 1984) which > featured a KR2 which was build by 'n person in South Africa. Looking at > it filled me with memories of the best flight I ever had in any airplane > in my life... it was in that little plane. So!, I decided to have a > look on the web and obviously did the Google thing. I must be honest > with you, I never expected to find so much information about KR2's on > the web. > > Maybe I should start from the beginning. > > I am Leon Du Toit, 42 - computer programmer/analyst, married, 2 sons > (14,16) , I live in sunny Bloemfontein , South Africa... and I am an > aviation fanatic my whole life. In 1984 I first saw this KR2 at an air > show and a month later me and a friend went up to Johannesburg and we > went for a flip in this KR2 - we planned to build one of them, but we > could not afford it during those years. This plane was build by Sakkie > Halgreen, who had the sole agency for KR's in SA during that time. As > far as I know the plane was standard except for the wingtips. It had a > 2000 VW turbo charged engine. He flew that plane to many air shows, and > it was a huge crowd puller at that time. His favorite trick was to "cut" > a 10 ft Styrofoam strip in two with his wing while screaming past at > around 300 km/h over the runway. The workmanship was outstanding and you > could order his winglet conversion pre-molded and ready to fit for a > meager amount of round about $50. Sadly Sakkie passed away in 1988. He > tested a new KR2 and something went wrong. He crashed very close to his > home which was right next to the Lanseria airport in Johannesburg. > Rumors had it that the builder who's KR Sakkie tested that day attached > lead to the inside of the spinner of his plane in order to rectify the > CG (can you believe it???) and it came loose during the test flight. > Sakkie was not aware of it. At the time of his death he apparently had > dismantled ZS-UKU for inspection and it was literally in bits and > pieces. It was later sold to a partnership and it still belongs to the > same persons... or that is according to the SA Aircraft Register on the > web. I don't know what the condition of the plane is today. > > I have attached two pictures of ZS-UKU. I personally believe that this > is by far the most beautiful KR2 ever build - the light cream color with > that perfect 3 color combination striping... fantastic!!. The surfaces > were genuine as smooth as it looks on the photos. The photos were > scanned in form the 20 year old magazine, but I think the quality is > reasonable. On the picture UKU was flown by Sakkie himself and his boy. > I thought that maybe as a tribute to a builder who really loved KR's > and who gave his life in the process of promoting KR's, you could show > the world how his plane looked, on your website. It is just a suggestion > though and I leave it for you to decide. > > I just thought that I should share this information with you and the > rest of the KR builders out there. > > Regards > > Leon du Toit > Assisent Director > Computer Systems > University of the Freestate > Tel: (051) 4012478 >
