The KR at 50: Meet KR2-S Owner John Bouyea

Continuing our celebration of 50 years of the KR, we walk around a very special KR-2S built by Roy Marsh and under the current stewardship of John Bouyea. This KR was the first acknowledged as a stretched "-S" version of the compact, fun-to-fly two seater.

[@kevinnel9275]

I am convinced! I am going to own one.❤🙏🏻 - This video you've made, has me thinking, and you have just started something real😅

[@cmte.paulopinheiro2782]

I have some pictures of this Kr2s, just amazed by this one... Congrats about your baby, fly safe..

[@dallasboricua21c]

Awesome presentation John... looking forward to seeing you at the meet this year

[@mikestirewalt5193]

Very nice presentation of a very nice plane. You really went all out to restore a historically cherished aircraft.

[@robertschmitt5605]

Great Plane! I am looking forward to seeing her at Oshkosh this year.

[@johnbouyea1397]

Thanks Rob. Sure had fun with you at MVN a few weeks ago. Until next time!

[@charleswesley9907]

Thanks for your presentation and the information about the pitch sensitivity being better than the KR2. The KR2 is a hell of a strong plane . It is a joy to fly. Its absolute fun and quick handling . Im sure the VNE is basically limited by unbalanced control surfaces . Mine was up to 220 knots at 3 or so G's on a Split S pull out . At 55kts I could firewall it and zoom 500 ft at a gross weight of 1050# . Its a hell of a little rocket. And it had a super glide ratio. I flew for the fun of it and the KR2 was fun , my God it was fun.

[@bibrakc]

Can the control surfaces be balanced?

[@charleswesley9907]

@@bibrakc Absolutely My ailerons were mass balanced The rudder and elevators didnt need balancing. They were not dynamically balanced . I never had an issue with controls . Never had an issue with control flutter or vibration except when I was flying with out wing gap seals and then it would cause an advanced buffet about 55 knot. L flew it down to 40 kts indicated with gap seals in a 45 Degree altitude holding bank no flaps finally near 40 mph it would fall into a mush . It was not prone to stall. Spins at 50 kts and kick rudder . Elevator trim with bungy . A 3# weight on a 6 inch arm forward of the stick to give some stick pressure to help give stick pressure . The damn thing can can be flown with a thumb and for finger . I did a 3.5 to 4 G pull out at over 230 + mph in a split S before I realized I was still at cruise power . It is some kind of strong . As a trigear it will spoil you absolutely rotten. Its effortless to fly . As a tail dragger it can be a handful . Mine was a taildragger with Asuza wheels and drum brakes which always faded .

[@bibrakc]

@@charleswesley9907 thanks for the details. I will checkout what a gap seal is. Also, do the plans provide details on dynamic balancing etc? I am not able to buy the plans and have been waiting on the Freebird planes to come online next year. Hope it covers all these topics.

[@charleswesley9907]

@@bibrakc The wings bolt on a wing stub on each side and the reliefs that enables you to unbolt the wings have to be sealed . As trashy as it may seem I used Duct tape to seal the gaps for 15 years . Done neatly it was not terrible but wouldnt win awards , but I just wanted to fly. And it was very effective and didnt require you to punch holes in your wing to attach a wrap to close the gap. Do you have a KR?

[@bibrakc]

@@charleswesley9907 no I don't have a KR yet. I am interested in the plane and waiting for the Freebird plans to be available so that I can study them and plan my built.

[@Charles-bz8kk]

that is a gorgeous plane

[@tedstriker754]

What happened to the rearward retracting landing gear? I remember seeing them after they first started to show up at fly-in's with that gear, and I did notice the ones with that sat really low to the ground. I guess to lengthen the gear legs with that setup would put the wheels too far aft into the wing when retracted.

[@danprichard7812]

Looking good John.

[@johnbouyea1397]

Thanks Dan! It's all been fun, the importing, fixing and flying.

[@SpeedDemon651]

I had a KR-2S with an O200, IVOPROP and dragonfly canopy when I was 18. It was a rocket ship up until the moment I spun 3 crank bearings while doing some steep turns around a point. Just barely made the 5 miles back to the airport and glided in without mishap. The O200 was toast though.

[@charleswesley9907]

You could have popped in a 2180 VW and been just as / no happier with the ability to get engine parts from various suppliers . You could rebuild it for the cost of 2 cylinders for your 0200 .