RE: Oddball engine
Steve mention that it was to sving a big prop at all cost. Ithink rules and regulations did have somethting to do with it too. FAI did at the time not allow engines larger than 10ccm (.61cid) in competition. Then, if you wanted to use a big prop or you could gain an adventage in competition by doing so, a geared engine was the ansver. In free flight geared glow or diesel engines is still in use as the rules call for a max engine size of 1.5 or 2.5ccm in some classes and maximum climb is wanted.