Netters; It is with sadness that I am reporting that I just found out that Ken Cottle went West this past February, just a little short of his 90th birthday. Since I am the current caretaker of N335KC, the award-winning KR 1-1/2 that he built and flew for some 400 hours, I feel a particular loss and separation even though I never met Ken, never spoke with him, never emailed or phoned him, nothing. However, he left his airplane and several very fat albums of construction photos, builder notes, and a lot of very useful information to the KR world and to me especially. Of particular interest is the fact that 35KC was the first owner-built KR to use the Diehl premolded wing skins. Ken's photo albums and writeups document the installation of the skins, and one of the installers was Dan Diehl himself. This airplane is a little piece of KR history.
It appears that Ken lived most of his life, if not all of it, in and around Columbia, Missouri. He began construction of 35KC over the Christmas holidays in 1985 and completed the construction in March of 1987, 15 months after he had begun. I have no idea how many hours he spent on the build, but 15 months is a very short build time in anybody's book. The airplane flew behind an 1835 HAPI conversion all the time Ken owned and flew the plane, but the engine was later torn down and converted to a 2180 Great Plains engine by Steve Bennett after he acquired the airplane from Ken in 1998. Ken's original engine is still the heart of what powers the airplane that he built and that he and others have flown 1,271.3 hours since the plane first flew. In the logs, Ken recorded that 35KC first flew with a Warnke 52x44 prop and at 3400 RPM (which he logged as 97% power output of the 1835) it cruised at 150 MPH indicated. Vne was, and still is, 200 MPH. First flight of the airplane was April 28, 1987 and about a year later in 1988, Ken flew the plane to Oshkosh where it was awarded "Best KR1". Sitting in the cockpit of this airplane, I have one of the best seats in the house and I hope to care for and enjoy the airplane in a way that honors and respects Ken Cottle and the KR community. Did Ken love flying? Here's part of what his obituary says: "Ken was happiest when he was in the air- flying for hours on end throughout mid-Missouri. If he wasn't flying airplanes, then he was building them. In retirement, he enjoyed spending time with family, flying, traveling with Billie and friends, reading, flying, movies, and flying. He loved God, and regularly attended Olivet Christian church." Ken was good people. He was airplane people. Oscar Zuniga Medford, OR KR 1-1/2, N335KC in restoration
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