It's powered by a 2180cc bored and stroked Type 1 Volkswagen engine, similar to what's in my '74 Karmann Ghia. Note the extra side windows, known as "opera windows" in Detroit speak. Jim was the first guy to do this in a KR, and reports the extra visibility is nice, especially flying formation.

The instrument panel and interior are very well done, as is the rest of the plane.

As you can see, it has quite the paint job on it, in stark contrast to N56ML. Jim enlisted the help of a paint shop instructor, and used a top-notch paint booth to spray it. Jim finished construction in 1991, and both airframe and engine only have 310 hours on them to date.

I took this picture while hanging out of Larry Flesner's Tripacer's back doorway (with two seat belts on). Jim is doing what he usually does at Gatherings, giving rides to anybody interested. In this case it's Mark Chamberlain, my roomate in the Air Force in 1975 at Lowry AFB in Denver.

Jim out front, Alderman in yellow, and Marty Roberts taking up the rear.

Jim's airplane always draws a crowd. Here you can see the simple swing-over canopy called for in the plans.

2004 at the Mount Vernon Gathering.

Jim's giving Dan Heath a ride.

Here's the engine, which shows the Great Plains front bearing and Compufire electronic ignition, along with some other very nice work.

Jim always brings his guitar to the Gathering to lead every KR builder's favorite song, "I HATE SANDING"! He's finally taken enough of a break from sailing his home-made boat to roost in Ft. Lauderdale, and has reluctantly decided to part with his plane. I plan to pick it up in August and fly it home. I'm looking forward to the stock KR2 experience, as well as a "Posa" perspective on the carburetor.

UPDATE, August 2012

I bought it and flew it home from Omaha! As luck would have it, Jim was in the neighborhood a few weeks later and dropped by the hangar to enlighten me on some of the details of N981JF. I've been doing some routine maintenance on it, and will fly it to the Gathering. Much more later...

Return to Mark Langford's KR2S