treaders,
Thank you. I knew that Pete had been in England, but I didn't know what he did while he was there. I'm envious that you saw Melmoth.
It was designed for long range flights - 580 litre fuel capacity and a range of 3400 miles! He flew Gander to Shannon non-stop in 1975 and then Cold Bay, Alaska to Hokkaido in 1976. Having done a flight, two-up in a Stinson 108, to Oshkosh and back (~2000 nm, 11 hours each way, with frequent stops) and a three-hour solo flight through the Rockies, I can't imagine spending half a day in Melmoth's cockpit.
He has a great website about the construction of Melmoth 2, which includes pictures of Melmoth (1):
Melmoth1 pictures
The site also contains a great blog on the construction of Melmoth 2, starting in 2002 and still being added to as recently as last month. A fascinating read, which I haven't finished yet. It has much self-deprecating humour:
Progress on the intercooler project, which began two years ago, has sped up markedly. One of the reasons for this -- not, I'm sure, a very sensible one -- is that I would like to get the system finished, along with the oil cooler ducting to the new hot-air cloaca on top of the cowling, so that the plane is at least complete, if not clean, in case I contract COVID-19 and die.
Slouching toward airworthiness
Read from the bottom up.
It's beautifully written, as befits someone with an English degree from Harvard. How often do you read a homebuilt blog with a title referring to a Greek nymph, that refers to the poetry of A.E. Housman?
The Tangles of Neaera's Hair
The mountains, like the shoulders of indifferent giants, remind me that The Roman and his troubles now / Are ashes under Uricon.
Here's something just as speedy but a bit more roomy:
