Historic Corvairs

William Wynne, Orange Park, Fla., Pietenpol
First Year Flown on Corvair Power: 1968
Total Amount of Hours on Corvair Power as of July 14, 2001: 850+
N-number: N1777W
Builder of Aircraft: Sampson
Builder of Engine: Original Sampson/Later William Wynne, 5000-18 HWY 17 #247, Orange Park, FL 32003, WilliamTCA@aol.com
Year Aircraft was Built: 1968
Type of Conversion: Original Pietenpol/Later Wynne
Engine Year: 1966
Engine Displacement: 164cid
Propeller Make and Diameter: Warp Drive two-blade 68"
Cruise Speed: 85mph
Cruise RPM: 2,700
Top Speed/RPM: 105mph/3,000rpm
Static RPM: 2,700rpm
Electric Start: Front of motor in 1998 when plane was orange/Rear starter in 2000 after plane was painted blue
Blower Fan: Originally yes/With Wynne Conversion, no
William Wynne writes: "N1777W was built at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii in the 1960s. It was first completed and flown in 1968 with a Ford Model A engine. After flying only 3 1/2 hours, the engine was removed and replaced with a Corvair engine. The aircraft was shipped to the West Coast, reassembled and flown to the first Oshkosh convention in 1970 where it promptly won best auto engine conversion." "Between this time and the mid-1990s, the airplane went through three more owners, but was largely unchanged. I acquired the airplane to utilize it as our flying test bed for all my later Corvair engine development work. The airframe logged hundreds of trouble free flight hours with a large variety of pilots. I never kept count, but I'm pretty sure it gave more than 100 people their first flight in a Pietenpol - the youngest being my 7-year-old nephew, and the eldest being Ralph Carlson, the first person to ever purchase my Corvair Conversion Manual." "N1777W returned to Oshkosh as an honored guest on the 30th anniversary of its last visit. The aircraft was destroyed on July 14, 2001 in a non-fatal accident attributed to pilot mismanagement leading to a stall-spin (see the Carburetor Ice page). The N-number remains registered to me, and it's my intention to re-create the airplane from the remaining parts."