David W. Onan and Sons of Minneapolis, Minnesota and its successors have built engines for many purposes, but are best known for their engine-driven generator sets for military and civilian use, more recently in the recreational vehicle market. The firm was founded in 1925 after Onan had worked on his ideas part time from 1916. They were listed in Ae39 as manufacturers of accessory engines and electric generator sets. The firm went through several changes in ownership from the 1960s, when Studebaker purchased the firm, to 1975, when Hawker Siddeley of the UK purchased a 1/3 share, to 1979 when McGraw Edison purchased the other 2/3 share. In 1986, Cummins, Inc. of Columbus, Indiana began acquisition of Onan and completed it in 1992. The Onan name continues to be used for modern versions of their traditional engine-driven generators for RV, marine, commercial mobility, home standby, and portable use. All Onan products are still manufactured in Minneapolis as part of the Cummins Power Generation group. A brief history of Onan highlights and recent products can be found at the Precision Engine Repair Website. The compiler has not found details beyond those below for the adaptation of one Onan engine model by the Quickie Aircraft Corporation (QAC) for its Quickie light aircraft, which set performance records for its weight and power during the late 1970s and into the 1980s. A great deal of information about the Quickie aircraft family and the horizontally-opposed engines used (Citroën, Continental, Nelson, Onan, and Revmaster) can be found on Dan Yager's QuickHeads Website. Yager has posted the Newsletters published by QAC from October 1978 through Summer 1985, among other useful information for Quickie owners and restorers (Click on "Publications" and then click on "Newsletters").
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2cyl; Onan; 18hp@3600rpm (initial version) - 22@3800 (final version); 1977-1987; Wt = 84#; TC = none.
Four-stroke cycle engine, adapted for aircraft use by Gene Sheehan, who worked with Tom Jewett on the Quickie project. Burt Rutan performed the prelimlinary, and some of the detailed, design of the aircraft. The Quickie prototype [N77Q] flew initially with 16-18hp. Initial kit production used an 18hp Onan version, which could be updated to the final 22hp version used in later kits, if desired, by a retrofit kit.
A turbocharged version of the Onan generating 25 to 30hp up to an altitude of 12,000 ft. was reported to be under development together with a variable-pitch propeller (J81-82). Both may have been flown in a Quickie and/or a Super Quickie. Neither the turbocharged version nor the variable-pitch-propeller version is known by the compiler to have been introduced into the kits.
aerofiles.com; J78-79toJ86-87; Dan Yager's QuickHeads Website; SA7/79 (for Bi-Fly).
Applications: (US) Quickie Aircraft Quickie, Super Quickie; Sorrell SNS-2 Guppy; Teman Mono-fly monoplane, Bi-Fly biplane [N46858] ultralights.