Harley-Davidson aircraft

There have been numerous attempts to produce Harley-Davidson-powered light aircraft. Harvey Mummert worked for the Curtiss-Wright Aviation Company in the early 1920s and happened to be a Harley-Davidson enthusiast. He built a wooden-framed monoplane, powered by a-L-model 6lci (1000cc) V-twin. Lightly modified V-twins usually shook light aircraft to pieces due to the vibration, but Mummers had balanced his for its 1,600-1.800rpm running speed and the plane worked well taking second place in the National Air Race. Harvey Mummert later built a small racing biplane for Saner Tiffany. This time with the L-twin inverted and which also competed successfully. Thereafter most light aircraft with motorcycle engines opted for the Henderson or Indian fours, with their inherently lower vibration. An exception was the one built in the early 1930s by plane enthusiast Lester Long Who built up a flat-twin motor for aircraft from L-model cylinder assemblies and a new crankcase. The resulting 80ci (1310cc) unit was well balanced and produced 30hp, able to spin a 5ft 2-in (1.575-m) propeller at 2,750rpm. Long produced 50 of the engines himself, after Walter Davidson had shown no interest in producing it in-house.