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EAA 87 News
The next Chapter meeting will be held Tuesday August 11th
at Merrymeeting Airport
General
membership meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.
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A call for help !!!!!!!!
On
Saturday August 15th, EAA Chapter 87 will host
a Young Eagles event at the Lewiston-Auburn Airport
We
can use pilots (with airplanes) and ground support.
Contact Everett Perkins if you are able to help out.
Support
staff should arrive at 9:a.m. and the flights are expected
to start at 10 a.m. and last through 2 p.m.
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During the second week of this past June, I trucked my
propeller back to the factory in Austinburg, Ohio to
satisfy a service bulletin. The cost of driving it out was
less than the cost of shipping it in a crate, and it gave
me the opportunity to meet the people that I have been
talking with over the phone for the last several years.
Titan Aircraft is also housed in this building. Al Dean
and I left on Monday morning and drove the 750 miles to
Austinburg, arriving just after 5 p.m. There were still
people at the shop and we were able to drop off the prop
before heading to the hotel. They advised us they start
“around” 8 a.m. or so.
The following morning we arrived just after 8 and they had
already uncrated the prop and were already tearing it
down. The service bulletin essentially replaced all the
inner workings of the hub. I did mention that this is a
constant speed prop, didn’t I?
While this was happening, the shop foreman gave us a tour of
the Titan factory that manufactures the Titan Tornado, as
well as the ¾ scale Titan Mustang. After the tour, we
were given free reign of the building and got to check
everything out in detail. We asked a lot of questions, got
to see the fabrication process in detail, all the while
trying not to be disruptive to the workers.
There was one slightly bent Tornado in a corner, but the main
focus of the shop was building quick build Mustang kits.
The Mustang kit is a fascinating piece of engineering. A
steel tube fuselage skinned inside and out with aluminum.
Originally designed to use a 912 Rotax, they have since
moved up to a 220 HP Suzuki engine, and in the copy show
below, are developing a 245 HP Honda engine conversion.
The Honda version should be available for demo at Oshkosh.
A
customer aircraft under construction in the Titan
facility. The exhaust plenum made from 321 stainless steel
duplicates the look of the Merlin exhaust. How cool a
Young Eagles ride would this plane make?
A
“B” model quick build Mustang fuselage is well under
way. This is the first copy of the B version fuselage.
Other “D” model fuselages in various stages of
construction are in the back ground.
The
basic cost for the kit is $55K if you buy the basic kit.
All other items to complete the airplane are available
from Titan. If you buy the works, minus any quick build
options, you’ll be spending about $83k. That includes
engine, reduction drive and prop. They have developed a 4
blade composite prop the mimics the original Mustang. The
tongue in cheek quote build time is estimated at 900
hours.
The kits until now have had the P51-D type canopy. A P51-B
version is in its final stages of development with the
first customer quick build fuselage to leave the shop
soon. It’s a pretty cool looking plane, but the person
in the back seat will need a high tolerance level for
confined spaces. It’s really tight.
All in all, this was a great trip. The hospitality of the
folks at Titan was remarkable. They are a small group of
very talented and motivated individuals producing a high
quality product. They come across with a very high
commitment for customer service.
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