Flying Hexheads

[montmil]

There have been a few aero conversions designed for the 1000cc airhead BMW engine but this is the first factory produced aircraft I have encountered that was designed around the Boxer; a 1200cc hexhead.

Look through the site and you'll find a photo of the engine fitted with a crankshaft speed reduction gearbox that looks quite similar to those utilized on the very reliable and popular Rotax line of aircraft engines.

How about a new license plate frame that says, My other BMW is an Airplane.

http://aerojames.com/index.php?section=actualites&lang=en

Monte

[Bengt_Phorqs]

Can someone tell me the difference between an oilhead and a hexhead?

[Bob_Roller]

There was a documentary made in 2003, about the building of two Wright Flyer replicas, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of powered flight,  one version, was to use an oilhead engine, but somebody in the group, was a Harley enthusiast, and mentioned that H-D started business in 1903, the same year that the Wright brothers made their first powered flight, so they used an H-D V- twin engine instead .

[montmil]

...and it crashed, too. Just like H-D is doing.

[Bob_Roller]

No Monte, the one that crashed was built by a private individual, and used an exact replica of the engine that the Wright brothers used, made by Charles Taylor, and it was very underpowered for the job it needed to do  .

The replica that used the H-D engine was made of modern materials, and the aircraft was successfully flown numerous times, before being retired to a museum .

I believe that it was built by an engineering team from a university in Salt Lake City .

http://usuwrightflyer.org/project/firstflight