The Better Half VW is an American
aircraft engine
An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the power component of an aircraft propulsion system. Most aircraft engines are either piston engines or gas turbines, although a few have been rocket powered and in recent years many ...
, designed by Leonard Milholland of
Brookshire, Texas
Brookshire is a city in Waller County, with a population of 5,066 people. It is in rural Texas.
Location
Brookshire is located at (29.783737, –95.954325)., 34 miles west of downtown Houston along Interstate 10, 7 miles west of Katy. It is p ...
, in 1993 for use in
ultralight aircraft
Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...
. The engine is supplied in the form of plans for
amateur construction.
[Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011–12'', pages 238-239. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X]
Design and development
The engine is a twin cylinder
four-stroke
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
,
horizontally-opposed
A flat engine is a Internal combustion engine#Reciprocating engines, piston engine where the cylinders are located on either side of a central crankshaft. Flat engines are also known as horizontally opposed engines, however this is distinct fro ...
air-cooled, direct-drive gasoline engine design based on the
Volkswagen air-cooled engine
The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and co ...
. It employs coil ignition and produces about . Unlike other half VWs this design does not require cutting the
engine block
In an internal combustion engine, the engine block is the structure which contains the cylinders and other components. In an early automotive engine, the engine block consisted of just the cylinder block, to which a separate crankcase was atta ...
in half, but instead blanks the two aft cylinders and removes the pistons.
The design has evolved over time, incorporating improvements to reduce complexity and improve reliability.
Applications
*
Milholland Legal Eagle
The Milholland Legal Eagle is an American high wing, strut-braced, single engine, tractor configuration, conventional landing gear-equipped ultralight aircraft that is available as plans from Better Half VW of Brookshire, Texas, and also pro ...
Specifications (Better Half VW)
See also
References
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.betterhalfvw.com/engine.htm
Air-cooled aircraft piston engines
1990s aircraft piston engines