I think after reading this thread that not too many people know very much about K&B. I forgot who the K was, but the B was John Brodbeck who ran the company from the 50's until John Jr. took over the operation in the later years, so it was a family business for over 50 years.

Most of the modern engines were designed by either Clarence Lee or Bill Winiewski. Most of you should know who Lee is from all his articles, but Winiewski may be unknown to you. He was very well known for high performance speed engines, as he was the first to use high performance fuels, use tuned pipes on a model engine or build the first Schnurle ported model engine.

In the later years of K&B, the dollar was pretty strong, and imported engines fairly cheap compared to building engines in the states. Brodbeck made the decision to compete on price and go for the beginner market, so the Perry carb was dumped and later the plain bushing engines and screw on head engines were designed by Winiewski. Bill still did a few high performance designs for boats and ducted fans, but that was a limited market.

Bill Winiewski competed in control line speed, though by the time I met him in the 80's his sons were doing most of the flying. His last D speed engine (.65 displacement), built from the ducted fan engine case was so strong that it had problems with breaking props while running. Bill discovered the exact nature of the problem by using a strobe light to watch the shock waves traveling down the length of the prop blade.