MJ-5 Sirocco #113 - L3LM puis N37LM

 Le Sirocco N3LM a été construit aux USA par Lowell Manary (alors au Connecticut) avec une attention particulière envers la traînée. Le moteur est un Lycoming O-320 de 160 cv. Il construit actuellement dans le Colorado un MJ-51 Sperocco prévu pour être équipé d'un Lycoming de 250 cv.

Lowell est celui qui incita Marcel à dessiner le fuselage arrondi du MJ-51 Sperocco.

Il est acheté par Francis Roganti, de Clayton (NC) en janvier 2001 puis Richard May, s'en porte acquéreur fin 2002.

L'immatriculation change car Lowell a voulu garder celle d'origine pour son futur Sperocco. Elle devient donc N37LM.

Hélice Hartzell constant speed en métal. La vitesse de croisière est de 297 km/h (160 kt) à 75% de la puissance.

 The Sirocco N3LM has been built in the USA by Lowell Manary (Connecticut) with lots of attention to cut the drag. He now lives in Colorado and builds the MJ-51 Sperocco with a 250cv Lyc. Lowell is the one who pushed Marcel to round the fuselage on Sperocco.

Richard May, the new owner recently powered this with a 160 hp O-320 Lycoming engine. He said recently : "Lowell Manary did a great job on the construction of N3LM. He paid careful attention to the cowling and cooling efficiency. At the bottom of the cowling, he made a nozzle type of exit for the cooling air, and the inside around the engine is very well designed, with good airflow control. He also built the wing with no washout, added wing-root fairings, as all the various things add up to some real speed.

He was an aeronautical engineer, and an A&P mechanic, so I feel lucky to get a hold of a Sirocco built by such a talented builder.

The constant speed prop also helps the performance. Another Sirocco builder, John Tomilowicz, and a close friend of Lowell, built his Sirocco with a 200hp Lyc. Lowell told me John could fly circles around 3LM during climb, but once they leveled off, 3LM would pull away from John's Sirocco. Johns had a high drag cowling design, and the washout in the wings, so that slowed him down. I spoke with John at Oshkosh when he brought his Sirocco right after he finished it, back in the late 80's, as I wanted to build a Sirocco back then. But he kind of scared me off, after I found out that it was a scratch-built, plans only design.

Being a first time builder, I thought it might be a bit much for me. So I bought a Glasair 3 kit. (It's still not finished after 12 years!) But the lines of the Sirocco were still in my heart, so when I saw one for sale, not far from where I lived, I bought it. And was lucky to get such a fine example. I keep it hangered at a field about 20 minutes from my house. And even when the Glasair is finished, I won't part with the Sirocco!

Lowell designed one of the best downlock systems I've seen on any airplane for the landing gear. And it uses a Piper Arrow retraction system. 3LM has a bit over 1,600 hours on it, and the gear has worked flawlessly the entire period. I like the extended cowling design of your Sirocco, F-POIL. I didn't want to use a prop extension with my constant speed Hartzell, as that limits aerobatic G-loading to 3.8 G's. That Sirocco is kick to fly isn't it? That thing will drop out of the sky when you pull the power back on approach like I've never encountered. It rides turbulence a bit rough though, as I attribute that to the stiff wing.

Once I got my engine overhauled, and the new prop on, I took it up and gave it full power. The air was rough, but it was indicating 195 mph. I think in smooth air, I might coax 200 mph out of it. Lowell had planned to install inner gear doors, which I have the ones he made. But he told me once he started flying it, he never got around to putting them on. I plan to make some longer gear doors to more cover up the gaping hole around the wheels when retracted. That should reduce the drag even more."

Hartzell constant speed metal propeller.
Cruise speed is 160 Kt @ 75% power.