Love it!… what a great story.
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
On Monday, August 12, 2024, 11:28 AM, Oscar Zuniga via KRnet
<krnet@list.krnet.org> wrote:
#yiv4397631575 P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}
Netters;
I'll just cut straight to the chase and announce to the KR world that I am the
new caretaker of N335KC, a KR 1-1/2. Upon seeing the gold-bronze anodized
spinner on the plane when I got it home, my daughter dubbed the airplane
"Sunbeam", so this post is about how I came to be the new caretaker of this
fine KR.
The plane was constructed by Ken Cottle in 1987, got its airworthiness
certificate in April of 1990, and is featured in the step-by-step instructional
video describing how Diehl premolded wing skins are installed on KR wings. It
was later owned by Steve Bennett of Great Plains Aircraft, when the engine was
changed to a Great Plains 2180 with a top-mounted Ellison. It's basically a
KR-1 that has been widened a bit but is still just a single-place. It may be
the only KR 1-1/2 in the FAA Registry (unlike the KR-25, of which there appear
to be many examples ;o)
Through my great fortune and occasionally making gentle inquiry to Mike
Stirewalt about the airplane, we recently came to an agreement about me
bringing the plane up here to my home field of KMFR in southern Oregon from his
home base at KSEE in southern California. In a whirlwind transport operation
August 1-4, the plane made the trip uneventfully and in very good weather to
have made the move on an open trailer. KR mover extraordinaire John Bouyea
made the move happen as smoothly and efficiently as it did, and the only
deviation that we made from "shortest route from Point A to Point B" was to
visit Joe Horvath at Revmaster in Hesperia the afternoon of Friday the 2nd on
our way south. Although Joe's people were almost all gone for the day by
lunchtime, he graciously kept the shop open till we got there. Some very
interesting things in development there, along with all of Revmaster's standard
offerings. We had a great time on the tour of Joe's shop, what with all the
shop machinery, engines, and interesting little parts and pieces everywhere.
Joe has some great stories, too... like the one about the 800HP VW.
We arrived at Mike's hangar Friday evening, spent all day Saturday loading and
securing 35KC onto the trailer with the wings on stands in the bed of the tow
vehicle, and Mike offered a running commentary on the airplane's systems and
operation as we worked. The man is a gold mine of aviation knowledge, and as
the plane's most recent caretaker and operator, he is the very best source of
specifics on its care and feeding. We departed the field late Saturday
afternoon, parked overnight in the Bakersfield area, and got to my hangar
Sunday afternoon to unload, inspect, and stow everything. John stayed in
Medford overnight and made it back to his home field up in Hillsboro on Monday
after putting 2,310 miles on his truck. Operation Sunbeam was a complete
success thanks to John's organization and skills as well as the use of his very
capable Ford F250 and flatbed trailer.
I still can't believe that I'm looking at a KR in my hangar as I get it cleaned
up, inspected, and understood. I have a Rand-Robinson info pack that dates
back to when I first got interested in the plane sometime around 1994-95...
some 30 years ago. To learn more about building and operating a KR, I found
out about the KRNet back when it was just transitioning from bulletin board
format, probably around 1997. Some of you may recognize names from back then:
Tom Crawford, Bobby Muse, Ross Youngblood, John Bryhan, Ron Lee, Randy Stein,
Robert Covington, Don Reid, Mike Mims... and so many more. One of my first
contacts with this group was when I became aware that Mark Langford was THE
builder who I wanted to emulate and learn from, and one of my first keeper
posts from the net is dated 10/12/97... from John Bouyea. I also met Jeff
Scott through the KRNet, and he has been a constant source of technical
information and engine smarts for me. I would have loved to be planning to fly
35KC to the Gathering this year but it's just not ready yet and neither am I.
I need to learn the plane first!
My eternal gratitude to Mike Stirewalt for so graciously launching me out on
this new adventure and for sharing this airplane and his knowledge with me. I
am equally grateful to John Bouyea for his tireless efforts, long hours and
miles on the road, gallons of sweat, and constant encouragement that I could do
this. I told him that he's very good at lighting matches... he had to light a
lot of little fires under me to keep Operation Sunbeam on track and across the
finish line. I also want to thank all of you on the Net for keeping this flame
alive for me all these years. The culmination will be when I get air under the
tires and get to take my first ride in a KR time machine!
Oscar ZunigaMedford, ORKR 1-1/2 N335KC in preparation --
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