What is it?
 

Okay guys I was searching Google Images and came across this and I haven't a clue as to what aircraft it is. I think it's kinda neat and would like any information anyone can give.

Thanks,
John

RE: What is it?
 

JN - That certainly is a beautiful aircraft. I can't tell what it is, but I would certainly like to know.

Somehow, it strikes me as a Ryan product.

RE: What is it?
 

Hi John; That is an AERONCA SC, built back in the late '30s. I grew up hanging around the Conway Pa. airport and they had one there. It unfortunately stalled on takeoff one day, trying to clear a nearby hill, and crashed, destroying the plane & killing the two occupants. Lee Robinson W. Palm Beach, FL

RE: What is it?
 

How about a Ryan SCW. 145 h.p. Warner engine. Jim

RE: What is it?
 

That would make a fine subject for a model.

While we are on the subject, does anyone have photo's, drawings etc. of the Monowheel Racer NR12407?

RE: What is it?
 

That one is a Ryan SCW as Gollywock pointed out. The Aeronca LC, as seen below, is similarly laid out but is a tube and fabric airplane while the Ryan is all metal.

http://www.airventuremuseum.org/imag...nca%20LC-1.jpg

RE: What is it?
 

Wow are you guys good.

I think it would make a great model, but you'd have to keep the tail really light with such a short nose.

Now I can look for some 3D views. :D

Thanks,
John

RE: What is it?
 

I think I've found my first scratch scale gas model.

Here is another photo from Google Images. It look like the same plane.

John

RE: What is it?
 

Thought someone else might like to see this web site.
http://www.pilotfriend.com/photo_alb...template42.htm

I'll quit now. I'm just excited. I think this is going to be a cool plane.

John

RE: What is it?
 

Try this vintage aircraft photo album. Dozens of Ryan SCW pictures
http://www.russellw.com/photoalbum/default.asp

More great scale projects:
http://yolo.net/~jeaton/gems/gems.htm

/Leo

RE: What is it?
 

Hi guys; GAD! I really screwed that up! It is indeed the Ryan SC. The low wing
AERONCA was similar with the faired gear and the rocker arm bumps on the cowling. Now I can't recall the model designation. It was the one that crashed. I think it had either a LeBlond or Pobjoy of 90 hp. It's been so long ago that my meager memory is fuzzy!! Hey! I've earned some forgetfullness---I hit 80 next March! But I just passed my Class 2 commercial med, and survived my BFR! Lee Robinson W. Palm Beach, FL

RE: What is it?
 

That pic of the AERONCA LC is the one, encept this one does not have the bumped cowling the one at Conway had. I wonder what the engine difference was. I was only about 12 at the time & was in the early stages of that malady called "airplane crazy"!! Lee

RE: What is it?
 

Lee- Good for you! If I can still pass a medical at age 80, I'll kiss the doctor (as long as she's good lookin'....):D Keep flyin'...

RE: What is it?
 

Robinaire - Good for you! I'm just a kid of 74, and I let my Medical lapse (like my memory!).

I hold Comercial SMEL, Inst., and ATP on the B-707, 720, 727, 747, 757, 767, and L-1011.

RE: What is it?
 

[b]Lee:

Might have been a leBlond, but I'm sure if it had been a Pobjoy you would remember the prop shaft being about half way up the top cylinder - They were all spur geared with the prop shaft a long way off the center of the engine.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

[b]This is a side jaunt on this thread, but I've always thought the Pobjoy engines were interesting. Here's front and side views of the Pobjoy "R" engine, 90 hp, approximately 155 cid. Third shot is the internals, that's not a flywheel, it's a harmonic damper on the front of the crank. Finally, an "R" installed in, of all things, a Piper Cub.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

Bill,
Thanks for the picture of a most interesting motor! Just when you think you've seen it all. :)
John

RE: What is it?
 

[b]John:

Probably the best known installation of the Pobjoy engine was in the Comper "Swift," a shoulder wing single seat open cockpit sport and racing plane. A Brit flew one from England to Australia around 1931 or so, set several records doing it.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

[b]If you want a headache, dig into the operation of a sleeve valve engine. Most if not all Bristol radials were sleeve valve, also the Napier "Lion" and "Sabre" engines.

The only American sleeve valve engine that I know of was the Knight "Aero" engine. It was used in the Willys-Knight passenger car.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

Bill,
Well since I like researching the improbable and because I have been described as having a convoluted mind, it would only be fitting if I looked at sleeve valve
rotary engines. It would probably fit right in along side the Wankel rotatory engines I thought were going to surpass the V8s in the seventies. :) I really liked that Mazda RX4 I had.
John

RE: What is it?
 

[b]John:

Did a little looking myself, discovered an oddity.

The [link=http://restored-classics.com/willy/page6.html]Knight Aero[/link] used two sleeves in a single cylinder. I have never been into one, I thought it used the single sleeve as did Bristol and Napier. Click the link, there's a good description of the two sleeve system.

[link=http://www-g.eng.cam.ac.uk/125/achievements/ricardo/page36.htm]Here's[/link] a single sleeve single cylinder development engine. No details, just a picture. The caption is interesting though.

[link=http://www.geocities.com/kiwiengineer2002/sleeve.html]Here[/link] is a good explanation of the single sleeve engine, with diagrams. A bit hard to get through uless you already are familiar with this design, but give it some study and you'll get it.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

Hmmm... So the 4 stroke RCV90 bears some resemblance to the E25 Sleeve. The difference being in the RCV the sleeve is on a rotary gear and the E25 it is a crank pin and socket. Aren't engines wonderful? You're right they are a strange animal. I can't conceive of the dual sleeve Aero Knight engine as being very practical - heat transfer must have been a bear - and the machining tolerances - ouch, yet it ran and was successful product.

Sometimes we think if something is CNC machined - the tolerances will be better than can be realized by a machinist. So obviously superior is modern technology we forget that the CNC is only following the pattern a programmer taught it. Witness the fact that a skilled machinist 60 years ago held tolerances as good as or better we can hold them today!

John

RE: What is it?
 

[b]John:

Tight tolerances? When Roy Cox hit the market with his 049s some 50 years ago he claimed a millionth tolerance. Might have been pushing the truth a little bit, but it was true that any new piston would work in any new cylinder. And this was a plain iron piston and sleeve, no ring to seal it.

Did the sleeve valve study give you a headache? And RCV tried to get a patent on 80 year old technology.

Bill.

RE: What is it?
 

Bill,
I worked in Automotive. In a lifter the tolerances are grouped into 20 millionths ranges and then selected for the piston to the body during assembly. We thought we were doing good if we kept most of the bodies within 2 ranges. On the body this is an ID grind of roughly 3/8-1/2" X 1/2-3/4" for cars, 5 ranges total 40 pieces a minute.

The key statement is 40 pieces per minute. Production is what has been gained by technology over the years. The other gain has been the ability to use exotic steels and other materials that didn't even exist then. Cast iron machines pretty easily.

Still you can't knock Roy Cox's .049. I know from personal experience that the pistons and cylinders were interchangable. As a boy of 12 we took them apart and swapped parts looking to make the killer motor! Most of them ran with used - well used parts! :)

John

RE: What is it?
 

John did you ever build it? I'm in the process of building 2 versions of this very plane in 1/5th scale.

Mike in OKC