Tag: owls head transportation museum

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New Video Details Progress on Owls Head Fokker Dr.1 Restoration

Owls Head Transportation Museum of Owls Head, Maine has released a new video detailing the ongoing restoration of their Fokker Dr.1 reproduction.

The aircraft was built in the 1970s by Kenneth Cianchette and performed at museum events until 2014, when it was discovered that considerable repairs were needed. The museum ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to cover associated costs. As the video below shows, an overhauled Warner radial engine has been acquired and the fuselage is awaiting sandblasting, covering and painting. The wing panels have been shipped to upstate New York for covering by Brian Coughlin, who also covered the ailerons and tail surfaces.

It is hoped that the machine will return to the air by the end of the 2018 season.

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Owls Head’s New Sopwith Pup Performs Engine Test [Video]

The Owls Head Transportation Museum in Owls Head, Maine has performed the first engine test on their newly acquired Sopwith Pup reproduction.

The aircraft was assembled by Brian Coughlin and features a steel tube fuselage constructed by Dana Narkunas and restored wing panels originally built by noted WW1 aircraft builder Carl Swanson. Powered by an original Le Rhone rotary engine, the machine made its debut at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome last year.

The recent acquisition was made in a frame-for-frame trade for the museum’s previous Sopwith Pup, a reproduction built by Dick King in the 1960s which was a regular performer at Old Rhinebeck throughout the 1970s. Coughlin is now in the process of restoring this machine (see The Flying Machine #6 for additional details).

Owls Head retained the Le Rhone engine from the King Pup and installed it in this new example. It is expected to return to the air this year.

Click below to check out a video of the test.

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