Mike I totally agree with you. I started building my first KR2 back in 1978 or
so when I lived in Tulsa. I recall that Dan Diehl was building a Quickie at
Riverside airport (way before it was named Lloyd Jones Riverside or something
like that) and still lived with his mom (just as a point of reference). I had
gotten the airplane into the boat stage when a guy that used to jog by everyday
stopped and offered me $750. I had a very young family then and really needed
the money so my dream was put on hold. Today, I am well on my way to finishing
up a KR2 project and will definitely attend the gatherings. I wasted a lot of
years and missed a lot of what I have loved for most of my adult life.
Luis R Claudio KR2S Dallas
On Thursday, October 4, 2018 08:44:27 PM CDT, Mike
Stirewalt via KRnet wrote:
Yes, it's a mystery how someone can spend eight years building something
and yet not have enough interest in discussing their planes and projects
and even showing up for the Gathering. The U.S. and other countries like
South Africa must have many hundreds of someone's life story sitting in
the corner of a hangar, covered with dust.
It astonishes me as well at how little money sellers are asking for all
their years of work. I guess that's all their worth since the KR wasn't
a "kit". All the investment in building a KR was in the labor and twenty
or thirty years down the road, nobody gets much back on "labor." It's no
small thing - the work itself, the inspections, the paperwork, the loose
ends and hoops involved in turning badly done drawings on a paper into a
real life machine that flies through the air. Everyone was "airplane
mad" following WWII and seeing something for so little money
(comparatively) that could get them in the air really inspired a
generation of veterans.
I guess there are as many reasons for this phemonenon (the neglected or
abandoned KRs) as there are old KR's sitting in out-of-the-way hangars
around the world. I suppose people, many of whom were not pilots when
this "Build your own $300 plane!" showed up on the cover of PM. There
were plenty of accidents and scare stories as a result, in the beginning.
And the wives of course. Wives must have hated those things.
That damn non-removable epoxy fuel tank was such a bad design fault that
I'm guessing it's one main reason so many planes have been left to wither
away. How to you work on or improve a plane when you can't get behind or
under the panel? When the cockpit always smells like gas from
invariably leaking or disintegrating fuel tanks. That epoxy fuel tank
was a horrible decision on the part of Rand Robinson, but they were
learning as they went along and I'm sure that would have been the first
thing to go if the company had continued.
Others might say it was the retractable gear design that was the biggest
design problem, but I disagree. I stressed the hell out of mine when
learning to fly my first KR, with nary a problem. I thought it was
ingenious, actually, especially when combined with blended covers that
acted as drag producers when gear was extended..
You can tell from the paint jobs and pictures that someone, way back
when, was really proud of what they'd accomplished - and rightly so.
This one currently for sale is a good example.
This is a sad phenomenon, for sure. If those old builders that
abandoned their planes and projects knew just what a joy the KR is to
fly, they might have changed their minds. Sparky Sparks sure did his
part back then . . . Marty Roberts too . . . giving people the experience
of flying the KR and getting them over the "bump", that may have been
holding them back.
Lots of stories out there. A real wealth of experiences and adventures
focussed around this "fiberglass and foam" plane that really paved the
way for all the composite-based aviation industry that followed. Maybe
somebody will write it someday.
One thing for sure . . . for someone with little money starting out to
become a pilot in life, buying one of these KR's & fixing it up (learning
so much in the process) is guaranteed to turn out some of the best pilots
in the world. The KR is the best aerodynamic instructional platform ever
invented.
Mike
KSEE
1 Simple Trick Removes Eye Bags & Lip Lines in Seconds
ourhealthpros.com
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5bb6c1c68e14b41c66361st01vuc
___
Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/.
Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html.
see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change
options.
To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
___
Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/.
Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at h
