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A Franklin engine? Let me guess, on a Polish built Rallye? They called them a Koliber or some such, ISTR. At one time the Polish were going to build the Franklin engines, too, but I hear suspiciously little about that.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
At one time the Polish were going to build the Franklin engines, too, but I hear suspiciously little about that.
Franklin has been Polish-owned since 1975. They are based in Rzeszów.
And they have been at the Aero 2016. Small booth in one corner, bit still.
Jan_Olieslagers wrote:
Let me guess, on a Polish built Rallye?
Not the big Franklin. To my knowledge only the Koliber 110 has a Franklin 4A-235. The french built Minerva runs with a 220 hp Franklin 6A-350, a very smooth engine.
Sorry to continue off topic, but I regularly fly a Franklin powered Cessna and I love it. The engine had been overhauled in Poland. The company is doing okay and they can manufacture all parts new in Poland. I met them at the Aero 2016 and took a couple pics. They even showed a 6a-350 with fuel injection and say the paperwork is at EASA, whatever that means… ;-)
They had a stand at Oshkosh this year also.
I once owner a Koliber. It had a Lycoming engine
A Franklin engine? Let me guess, on a Polish built Rallye?
No, mine is an original Syracuse built 6A-350-C2 with 215 hp in my C-175 (Franklin STC from the sixties). A great performer, very smooth running. Unfortunately not many mechanics have hands-on experience with Franklins. It had been zerotimed in Poland in 2002. The craftmanship of the mechanics there was excellent.
My question about the Polish built Franklins, especially when reading that the company is doing OK, is what is their ongoing business and source of income today? I believe the way the Polish company started was when the Polish government purchased both a Franklin powered aircraft design from France (the Rallye, some of them anyway) and the engine company from the US, with the intent of creating an industry that wasn’t dependent on East Block technology That was well over 40 years ago. What have they done since in terms of production? What I do know is that US owners of pre-Polish Franklin engines (powering Stinsons, Bellancas etc) can’t use much in the way of Polish parts, both because the dimensions were changed slightly here and there, and because of legalities. Some years ago it looked like Franklin was making a push towards supplying the US homebuilt market at competitive prices, but as with the Czech LOM, they didn’t succeed,
Regarding the engines themselves, I think they’ve always had a pretty good reputation and the six cylinder versions are known for very being smooth, albeit with higher fuel consumption when compared with competitive engines (e.g. Franklin 150 HP six (9 gph) versus O-320 (8 gph)). Franklin would likely have then the dominant postwar engine manufacturer if not for being bought by Tucker Automobiles as part of a fantasy business venture – they had the best larger GA engines at that time and a lot of orders. I think the large access cover on the top of the crankcase is a great feature for inspection and maintenance. It’s nice to hear they’re still out there!
Silvaire wrote:
My question about the Polish built Franklins, especially when reading that the company is doing OK, is what is their ongoing business and source of income today?
Apparently, there was effectively a long hiatus. PZL Rzeszów was the TC holder but the production stalled. In 2006, a new company, Franklin sp. z o.o. (“sp. z o.o.” means “Ltd.” in Polish), took over the TC and is now pushing its new engines on the market. I don’t know for sure – perhaps our Polish colleagues will enlighten us – but I guess the source of income in the meantime was the supply of spares.
