2005 KR Gathering at Mount Vernon, Illinois (MVN)


2005 KR Gathering at Mount Vernon, Illinois (MVN)


The flight up to the Gathering was pretty quick, about an hour and a half for what is usually almost a 5 hour drive. As you can see, it was a pretty hazy day, but I flew on top of all the haze so I had some kind of horizon (which turned out to be the haze itself).


When I got there on Thursday, Bill Clapp was already there. His plane was sporting the new "holey cowl" for Corvair engines from William Wynne. The spinner is a 13" RV spinner, designed to "fair in" a front starter.


His tailwheel has a neat fairing on it. You can also see that his tail wheel cables have no springs, opting to work on the "slack" method instead.


Here you can see his aerodynamic balances on the elevator. There's lead in the forward extending "horns", so this is also a static balance as well.


Larry Flesner was giving a ride to our Czech visitor (forgot his name), so Mark Jones and Allen Wiesner decided to play a little trick on him by holding him in place when he tried to taxi away.


Here's Brian Kraut's Midget Mustang.


Bill Clapp talks about the trip to Steve Jones and Steve Glover.


Mark Jones


KRnet lurker Ron Willett trys on N56ML for size.


Steve Glover explains some details of his plane.


As sunset approached, the crew moved down to the campsite (located conveniently right behind the hangars).


I think Bob Glidden was telling stories about Rustoleum or something, while grilling sausages and burgers for whoever showed up.


There were at least 5 KRs in the hangar, which is not bad for a Thursday night!


On Friday morning, Bill Clapp had his cowling off and his Corvair engine on display.








Here's Bill's removable wingtip, which hides his PVC fuel tank.


This strobe and light combination is housed under an RC model canopy from the hobby shop.



Ken Jones arrived in his "Porkopolis Pig", but it looked a whole lot nicer than last year!



While we were talking, Ken noticed that he still had grease pencil marks on his canopy from flight testing the year before.


Larry Flesner officiated over several informative builder forums.


Steve Jones' turbocharged Covair was immaculate, and had a holey cowl of his own design.




I'm guessing this is the brake lever for mechanical brakes.


This is Kip Lounsbury's KR2 from Maine.



Steve Glover's KR2, with Jim Faughn's in the background.



My plane (Mark Langford), with split flaps on display. It's still in primer, and may not be painted by next year either! Somebody remind me to take the aft deck off next year. That way you can see some details of how the tail is attached to the fuselage.


Troy Petteway took "Czech Dude" for another ride. I think he set a record on KR flights during a Gathering, partly because of his size, and partly because he came a long way to see KRs. If he'll show up next year, he's got a ride with me, if he has the nerve for it!



Bill Clapp's wheel pants, made by John Backer of Iowa.



Bill's quite the accomplished painter, but I think I heard him say this was his first "attempt" at airbrushing. Looked like perfection to me.


John Monday (left) has (or is) selling his KR2S project, but I told him he's cordially invited back next year to keep Troy company.


Troy Petteway's plane has a very healthy O-200 in it.


John Backer checks out Troy's prop.



Troy's seat is a carbon fiber piece. This black seat divider covers the elevator cables and keeps stuff from falling through the crack. I need one of these myself.



Terry Chizak and Tommy Waymack arrived later in the day, along with Jim Faughn.


Jim Faughn is showing me his secret to making NACA ducts work correctly on a KR fuselage side.


This aluminum piece snaps into place inside the vent, and drastically improves the airflow...



...and you can see why.


Bill Clapp kept having a hard time seeing the windsock, so he kept running up and down the runway for a better look, as Doug Steen watches.Joe Weber's KR2 is in the background.



Jim Faughn's 2180 cc VW engine




Steve Glover returns from a quick warmup flight.


Steve Jones's plane was one of the nicest looking KRs there, and got it's share of attention.


Brian Douglas's KR2.


By lunchtime Friday, we had plenty of eye-candy for KR watchers, and lots of building and flying information trading places.


Kip discusses his engine installation.


Tommy Waymack from Pine Bluff.




I think this forum was regarding registering and inspecting your finished KR project.


Larry's KR2 in the foreground, with Matt Elder admiring.


Ron Willett and Brian Kraut check out Brian Douglas's KR2.


Looks like somebody was taking pot shots at Brian on the way over!


Steve Jones' turbo Corvair installation. This plane (and Steve) were lost in a testing accident a few weeks later.


Mark Jones and I did some engine vibration testing. Here he's running it through the rpm range with vibration transducers connected to engine and airframe, gathering vibration for analysis by John Kearney (we're still waiting on the results).


Here's a transducer bolted to my engine for a similar round of testing. I also took the equipment home with me (Ron Willett was kind enough to ship it, since it wouldn't fit in my plane), so I tested it with my old Sterba prop oriented two different ways. That info should tell us something about prop indexing.



Clamshell doors on Kip's retract gear setup.


Joe Weber's VW powered KR from Wisconsin.




Bill Clapp's Corvair engine.





N56ML flying in the haze. The haze was no fun, but the main reason I didn't fly much was the wind. Now that I'm a "real KR pilot" and have significantly more experience than last year, I'll be flying a lot more in 2006.



Another "after hours forum" commences.


Saturday morning Mark Jones did some flying...


...and I had to takeoff for home to attend a funeral. See y'all at next year's 2006 KR Gathering!

The banquet was held Saturday night, and the awards passed out. I'll find out how that went and post it here when I get a chance...

Mark Langford


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