Franklin/Aircooledmotors

Dan Cullman

Dan Cullman

New member
New topic,boys...Thank god for three dot journalism. I'm not a " You Tube" junkie, but if you will type in "Northrop Flying Wing," There is plenty of footage of all these airplanes, Including the B2. The point is, that Northrop, a SoCal company, tried one of it's neighbors, Menasco, to provide power for the prototypes. Jack Northrop needed an engine that would lie flat in the wing of the airplane. Menasco had produced a series of inline four and six cylinder aircooled engines. Many of these engines found their way into air racing in the 1930's. The problem was that no one could keep these engines lasting any time in the flying wing. The same problem that Alex Pampana found in the Bellanca 28-92...So...This upstart from Syracuse, NY. Stepped in and provided an eight cylinder, horizontally opposed, 540 cubic inch engine that worked. Franklin/ACM, was never afraid to prototype..and in their registry, they built lots of engines that never saw more production than a dozen or so. I have a Franklin 6AC298-F3 in the Bellanca T14-14, that was type certified,... but never saw production beyond 200. The war was on and it got converted into a drone engine for the PQ-14. What's the point...The point is, that Franklin tackled the problems that Continental and Lycoming declined. The point is, that Mechs and pilots that want to badmouth anything "Franklin, " are uneducated...at best...On to you... Dan
 
There are two 4 cyl Franklins for APUs on the aft flight deck of the Hughes Flying Boat (spruce goose). I have a picture of them some where when I got to go there.
 
An air museum in Southern Calif. still flies one of the prototype Northrop flying wings with two of the eight cylinder Franklins. Boy does it sound nice. I saw it at an airshow a few years ago, and it is a beauty. It is big and Bright yellow with landing gear that looks like it was for a B29. The Franklins are still roaring after 65+ years. There was a rumor about a farmer here in Northern Calif. that was trying to build a Reno racer, and had several of the 8 cylinder Franklins, but I have never been able to follow up on it.( Franklins Forever)____Grant.
 
Thanks, Larry...Franklin built 2,4, 6, 8, and 12 cylinder engines, as a prototype and production. The list I have of the test engines says they were sent to: Culver, Piper, Stinson, Warner, Marvel, Bellanca, Fleetwing, Shell Oil, Monmouth, Saftey Car, Autolite, US Motors, Naval Aircraft Factory, Clark Bros. Atlantic Refining, Interstate, Willys, Wilcox-Rich, Bell, Stout, Lockheed, Aeronautical Products, Republic, Taylorcraft, Goodyear, Sikorsky, Titeflex,Erco, Bendix, Convair, Globe, Luscombe, Waco, Monocoupe,Beechcraft and Cessna..............Now, the list is much longer...involving European and Asian manufacturers. The point is...That Aircooled Motors did not fail because it didn't try hard enough. Maybe stretched thin. BTW... There is a connection between the HH Franklin Motorcar Company, of Syracuse and the Franklin we know. A bit thin, but I'm going to leave it to the readers to answer. Also, let's throw in Tucker and Studebaker......Have at it, boys!!! Dan
 
Over the years, as a pilot for a major US Airline, I flew into Syracuse,NY. I pained me greatly that most locals were totally unaware of their history of Motorcar and aircraft engine manufacturing. The buildings that housed Aircooled Motors were leveled at least 25 years ago...
 
Is it true that the late Charlie Hart was an employee of Aircooled Motors? I met him at Oshkosh in the late 1990's at his forum on Franklin engines. If I would have known of his backgound it would have been fascinating to hear his stories of working at the factory.
 
Yes, Charlie was at Franklin. I used to talk to him too. In fact, when my tach drive gear sheared on the way to OSK, he told me what to look for, but that's another story.
 
This will be my last post on the topic that I created. What I want to leave with is, that engineering and ingenuity do not equal financial success. My opinion is, that during the periods between the "great depression" and the end of the war years, Franklin/Aircooled showed more innovation and inspiration than any of the others. The Tucker automobile episode involvement didn't help, but, with the support of Stinson, Bell, Bellanca and Hiller, Franklin struggled on until 1976. So........what does this have to do with Studebaker????? Ha .........Not much, except that that I've often stated that if you are into Franklin aircraft engines, you might as well be into Studebakers. And I'm into both. So be it...................
 
Dan, I'm afraid that the same can be said for Bellanca's. Look at how many different companies manufactured aircraft under the Bellanca name prior to WWII, and then again after the war. I guess GM was involved with all of them up to 14-19, so I guess best doesn't always mean most successful!
 
The connection between the old Frankin Motorcar Company and Aircooled Motors: Memory fades but I believe a group of Franklin Motorcar Company employees bought out the company and formed Aircooled Motors. This continued until the involvement with Tucker. What gets confusing is that a while back I read 2 different versions of the Tucker episode: One is that Tucker bought out Aircooled Motors and canceled sales agreements with airframe manufacturers and the other was that it was a partnership between Tucker and Aircooled. I tend to want to believe the former as Aircooled survived the Great Depression years and had a little savvy and its surprising they faded from the scene so quickly after WWII.
 
Don't forget about Republics ownership.. Republic asked Franklin to make that fantastic Seabee engine and when Franklin refused and said the engine was a piece of crap Republic bought them and the engine went into production. Soon after Republic went under. Just another sad story in poor ownership and running of Franklin.......Greg
 
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