Rich Nadig - Harmon Rocket Builder (Page 3)

September 27, 2008:  This cloudy, low overcast Saturday was a good day to drive out to the Collegedale Airport for a visit with Rich Nadig.  He had the cowl removed from his current RV-3, which is powered by a Mazda rotary engine.

Here is a view of the other side of the engine showing the intake and exhaust manifolds.

Over on the other side of the hangar is his Harmon Rocket, which is still in Phase 1 testing.  Rich has added a second oil cooler (NACA scoop on cowl), and opened the main air inlets for additional engine cooling.  There is an IO-540, six-cylinder engine under the cowl.  The rest of the airframe is a modified RV-4, which is the original Harmon Rocket configuration.

This is the front view of the RIGHT engine cooling air intake.  It has a much larger opening compared to photo at the top of the previous page.

Here is the other side of the cowl.  These larger square openings remind me of the Ford Mustang headlight area.  They also have a more menacing look of the brow of an Eagle.

He has also added a cowl flap on the bottom to provide better air flow through the cowl at low speeds and on the ground.

When I was walking around the airplane, I noticed an aileron trim tab on a hinge looking from above.  I got down on the floor to take this photo showing the linkage to the trim tab on the left aileron.