llemon
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2021
- Messages
- 355
Clayton Folkerts is best know for being co-designer of the monocoupe, but he also designed a series of successful racing aircraft in the 1930s. The first of the series was the somewhat funny looking "Speed King" Sk-1, which was followed by the more elegant Menasco powered SK-2 and its very similar, slightly enlarged siblings the SK-3 and SK-4.
The Menasco series had a retractable gear that many of the contemporary papers/magazines referred to as "ingenious" and "clever" but just how this gear worked is a bit of a head scratcher to me.
Here is the best description I've found of the gear in the SK-2.
A 1980s Sport Aviation article called the above drawing "indecipherable"
Some photos of the SK-2 showing the gear;
The later Sk-3 and Sk-4 had similar, but somehow different gear. Just how they differed is hard to figure out, but there are some good photos of these 2 under construction;
I hit the upload limit so the rest will be in the next post
The Menasco series had a retractable gear that many of the contemporary papers/magazines referred to as "ingenious" and "clever" but just how this gear worked is a bit of a head scratcher to me.
Here is the best description I've found of the gear in the SK-2.
A 1980s Sport Aviation article called the above drawing "indecipherable"
Some photos of the SK-2 showing the gear;
The later Sk-3 and Sk-4 had similar, but somehow different gear. Just how they differed is hard to figure out, but there are some good photos of these 2 under construction;
I hit the upload limit so the rest will be in the next post