I am retired military, and it seems to me that there should be machine gun barrels sticking out of them.
--- In [email protected], John Craparo <john.crap...@...> wrote: > > Donald, > > The original Ercoupe design called for an engine which was designed and > built by Erco. It was a four cylinder inline arrangement. The cylinders > and plugs were at the bottom of the engine. The cowl for this configuration > was actually very streamlined and actually came to a point behnd the > propeller (you may know that Fred Weick's earlier work was on propellers and > engine nacelle design... he was about efficiency). It was decided instead to > use the production Continental engine available and forego manufacturing and > supporting the inline themselves. This lead to the wider cowl we know, with > its gills, air intake nosebowl, and the sparkplug humps. I believe any cowl > you see today without the humps is a modification allowed because the > sparkplug wiring was modified on those aircraft. > > Others here can give you more details and perhaps a more accurate recounting > of this, but in a nutshell that is why you see two or three (counting the > prototype) cowl arrangements. I like the bumps myself... they add > character. > > Best, > John > > > On Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Donald <dongen...@...> wrote: > > > > > > > What is the story with the bumps in the cowling? I had been led to believe > > that the bumps had to be added because of different spark plugs/harness, I > > know my Ercoupe just very recently had them added. I was surprised therefore > > to notice that serial number one in 1939 had the identical bumps! What gives > > with the bumps or lack of bumps? > > > > > > >
