by chiefss » Fri Mar 08, 2013 5:32 pm
Hooray, I found it Frank. Dad built this plane in 1938 and planned on using a Forster 99 on it. After he was done it was obvious the 99 was too small. Dad who was 16 at the time worked for Frank Merz of M&M wheel company and was friends with Clayton Merry, the other M in the name. Clayton made M&M engines. He made this 6 cylinder engine for Dad's airplane. My grandfather, who was a Professor at the U of Washington, made the radio. The engine used 6 of the M&M modified piston valve 292's that were geared to a common crankshaft. The first attempt tried using a Master rod but it was a two cycle and there was no crankcase pressure to force the fuel into the cylinders, hence this model. It was one of a kind contrary to what you might read in other forums.
WWII was in the offing and the government shut down private use of radio and the plane was never flown. Knowing what we know today it wouldn't have worked anyway. The engine did run well and still does.
After the war Clayton Merry got into other business as did Frank Merz and M&M was no more. There were still many M&M engines around. The plane hung in our garage when I was growing up and the engine was on the wall in Dad's shop. We moved to California in 1963 and dad sold the engine for 25 dollars to a local hobby shop. I could have killed him. I was 16 at the time. He gave the airplane away.
In 1984 I was stationed in Bremerton, Washington and found the airplane. The owner gave it back. We also knew where the engine was. Ted Enticknap had purchased it many years before. He had come to our house in California looking for info on the engine. It was missing the intake manifold and carburettors which dad gave him. He also sold Ted a Syncro Ace and a Brownie.
I 2003 I was recovering from Cancer and we went to visit Ted. Told him dad got the airplane back and was refurbishing it. Ted Gave dad the engine. It took a few years but dad finally got it all back together. It is now in a museum in California.