Great Plains Type 1 Front Drive Explained

The Great Plains Type 1 Front Drive is an American aircraft engine series, produced by Great Plains Aviation Supply of Bennington, Nebraska for use in homebuilt aircraft. The series are all based upon the Volkswagen air-cooled automotive engine.^[1]

Design and development

The engine series are all four-cylinder four-stroke, horizontally-opposed, air-cooled, Volkswagen automotive conversion gasoline engines, with direct-drive. They employ magneto ignition systems and, depending on the model, produce 55to at 3600 rpm, with a compression ratio of 8.0:1. They use a geared electric starter.^{[1] [2]}

The series includes six models, named for their displacement:

• 16001NaN1 producing 550NaN0 for take-off^[2]
• 17001NaN1 producing 600NaN0 for take-off^[2]
• 18351NaN1 producing 650NaN0 for take-off^{[1] [2]}
• 19151NaN1 producing 690NaN0 for take-off^[2]
• 21801NaN1 producing 760NaN0 for take-off^{[1] [2]}
• 22761NaN1 producing 800NaN0 for take-off.^[2]

Applications

• Grosso Aircraft Easy Eagle 1
• Monnett Sonerai

Notes and References

1. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16, pages 258-259. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015.
2. Web site: Front Drive (Direct Drive) Specs. 19 March 2018. Great Plains Aviation Supply. www.greatplainsas.com.