Dan Cullman
New member
Bob, The only place I have seen instructions for the 'H' hub is in the 'Field Service Manual.' I have xerox copy that I got from Scott Ryan.
$20k Cruisair in Trade-A Plane-Wood Sensenich
- Thread starter meat n the seat
- Start date
]I cant resist responding to Dans mention of the Sensenich Skyblade prop for the Cruisairs. If you look down the club home page to a bright yellow Cruisair you will note that the prop is white. This is a Skyblade that I saw in a shipping crate a few years back. At first glance it looked like an Aeromatic,But the owner said to look closer. It was so similar looking that the owner had to point out the difference to me. The main difference is that the Skyblade is only oil controlled as opposed to the so called automatic control of the Aeromatic . It requires a 165 franklin or a drilled 150 to operate and it is a two position prop not a controllable like a 14 19. I talked to one old boy who claimed to have flown Cruisairs with both props and he thaught that the Skyblade was a better performer. The real problem with them is that Sensenich wont even admit that they ever made them and the last known man in the world that would overhaul them was killed in an auto crash a few years ago. In one of my piles of paperwork I have a copy of the Skyblade overhaul manual if someone needs a copy . For a while there was someone selling Skyblade oil bladders in the club Parts Bin but I havent seen the add for a long time. Dan, is there any chance you could mail me a copy of the Highcruise section of your Aeromatic manual? I have 2 Highcruise hubs but none of my manuals even mention it or how to set them up. Enough for tonight Grant
Jonathan Baron
New member
The Skyblade was also the ONLY prop certified for the Culver V. I have a C-85 on my Luscombe that was originally installed on a Culver V and it has an unusual crankshaft, with a hollow end designed to accommodate the oil need to change the pitch. It also has an accessory pad for fuel injection that I use now for a vacuum pump.
The guy who just overhauled this engine has also restored a Culver V. He found parts for the Skyblade in Canada. He also mentioned an old timer - one of those last of the Mohicans possessors of soon to be lost forever knowledge - who came in one day a week to that Canadian shop and helped my buddy out. You know the story: parts out back that nobody can recognize EXCEPT the Mohican elder, who ultimately made the restoration possible. Sadly that Skyblade propeller sensei has flown west, the Culver V was only flown for a year before being donated to a museum, and the front seal for that crankshaft is non-standard, blew the first time the engine was run, and sprayed warm (not yet hot, thank goodness) oil on two poor lads who were holding the lift struts during the run-up, as my mechanic had yet to bleed the brakes. The second seal he installed held.
I know that, as many of us have, I should have gotten used to it by now, but each time yet another earlier era mechanic flees the Eastern realms for eternity, taking the last of venerable know-how with him, I choke up. I suppose you need a layer of leather around your heart if you love old airplanes.
Jonathan
The guy who just overhauled this engine has also restored a Culver V. He found parts for the Skyblade in Canada. He also mentioned an old timer - one of those last of the Mohicans possessors of soon to be lost forever knowledge - who came in one day a week to that Canadian shop and helped my buddy out. You know the story: parts out back that nobody can recognize EXCEPT the Mohican elder, who ultimately made the restoration possible. Sadly that Skyblade propeller sensei has flown west, the Culver V was only flown for a year before being donated to a museum, and the front seal for that crankshaft is non-standard, blew the first time the engine was run, and sprayed warm (not yet hot, thank goodness) oil on two poor lads who were holding the lift struts during the run-up, as my mechanic had yet to bleed the brakes. The second seal he installed held.
I know that, as many of us have, I should have gotten used to it by now, but each time yet another earlier era mechanic flees the Eastern realms for eternity, taking the last of venerable know-how with him, I choke up. I suppose you need a layer of leather around your heart if you love old airplanes.
Jonathan
Dan Cullman
New member
Grant, I'll try to get you a copy. Kent Tarver seemed to know a few things about the 'Skyblade.' I guess the most important was that the failure mode of the bladder was to drive the blades to high pitch, low RPM, which could be bad in some conditions. Interestingly enough, the Skyblade, Cruisair combo project here, came from Alberta. The prop is in OHC., in a crate from the prop shop.