Will Aldridge
Well-Known Member
I'm really surprised that nobody else has posted this so here goes.
The infamous Paul Lamar is actually building a working rotary and he's going big. I phrased it that way since I've heard the claim that he's never worked on a flyable aircraft. While I believe that Mr Lamar is overly biased about the rotary and makes a lot of claims and thinks he is the smartest guy about everything he thinks he knows stuff about, after reading enough of his news letter I think he really has had a hand in the design and some actual hands on experience with a few rotaries installed in aircraft. Well if it were true that he's never worked on a flyable rotary he has now and there is plenty of evidence to prove it. Unfortunately I've deleted most of the emails that have the pictures of this project. In the future as he posts pictures I'll be sure to add them here if there is sufficient interest. Also I know that I'm not the only one on Mr Lamar's email list so if others have those emails feel free to post some pics here.
Mr Lamar is going for the time to climb record (not certain which class) but he says he intends to beat Rare Bears record.
He is modifying a Harmon Rocket and has installed an all aluminum 650 hp Turbocharged rotary with the redrive off a Bell 47 that is supposedly good for 1000 hp. The front cockpit is being occupied by various oil and coolant tanks including spraybar water. If I remember right he is using Motec EFI and they just started their first engine runs within the last month. I usually delete most emails from the newsletter and so I only have 1 pic that isn't very revealing but there have been a lot more and I do have an MP4 of an engine runup but I don't know how to post it here.
The pic below is the left side of the aircraft. Bell 47 redrive is in the upper left corner of the image and the turbo is below and to the right. There are 2 large dodge truck radiators configured for cross counter flow cooling mounted on the bottom of the engine and you can see the wedge diffuser that he is so fond of between the engine and the radiators.
The infamous Paul Lamar is actually building a working rotary and he's going big. I phrased it that way since I've heard the claim that he's never worked on a flyable aircraft. While I believe that Mr Lamar is overly biased about the rotary and makes a lot of claims and thinks he is the smartest guy about everything he thinks he knows stuff about, after reading enough of his news letter I think he really has had a hand in the design and some actual hands on experience with a few rotaries installed in aircraft. Well if it were true that he's never worked on a flyable rotary he has now and there is plenty of evidence to prove it. Unfortunately I've deleted most of the emails that have the pictures of this project. In the future as he posts pictures I'll be sure to add them here if there is sufficient interest. Also I know that I'm not the only one on Mr Lamar's email list so if others have those emails feel free to post some pics here.
Mr Lamar is going for the time to climb record (not certain which class) but he says he intends to beat Rare Bears record.
He is modifying a Harmon Rocket and has installed an all aluminum 650 hp Turbocharged rotary with the redrive off a Bell 47 that is supposedly good for 1000 hp. The front cockpit is being occupied by various oil and coolant tanks including spraybar water. If I remember right he is using Motec EFI and they just started their first engine runs within the last month. I usually delete most emails from the newsletter and so I only have 1 pic that isn't very revealing but there have been a lot more and I do have an MP4 of an engine runup but I don't know how to post it here.
The pic below is the left side of the aircraft. Bell 47 redrive is in the upper left corner of the image and the turbo is below and to the right. There are 2 large dodge truck radiators configured for cross counter flow cooling mounted on the bottom of the engine and you can see the wedge diffuser that he is so fond of between the engine and the radiators.
