Barnett J3M

[okikuma]

I was going through some old photos and I came across several that I took at Ken Brock's airstrip of Jim Eich's J3M gyroplane. Does anyone know what happened to Jim Eich's J3M gyrocopter after his passing?

Thanks,

Wayne

[gyroplanes]

According to the FAA, it's still registered to the late Jim Eich

[Dennis D]

I talked to Jim several times at the KBFFs. He was always very friendly and easy to talk to. When I heard he had passed, I thought a good way to honor Jim would be to buy and restore his Gyro. I was never able to find out where it went.

[okikuma]

Hi Dennis,

I spoke to Jim a number of times too when he was alive. A very nice guy. Jim mentioned that his J3M flew very close to the J4B. The gyro had a Continental A-65 with an 8 gallon fuel tank under the seat. When I asked, Jim said that the CG was about 3 to 4 inches below the prop thrust line, but was very stable in flight.

If you noticed in the photos, Jim used a Brock prerotator from a KB3. It seemed to spin up the rotor just fine even though his take off roll was about 1,000 feet on the day I took the photos. In his defense, I didn't think Jim was in a hurry to get off the ground, knowing he had plenty of runway. His climb out seemd to be at a leasurely 300 - 400 fpm.

Wayne

[Dennis D]

Hi Wayne.
I think your best bet would be to ask some of the chapter one members or maybe Marie Brock.

[gyroplanes]

That gyro was built well before the KB3 came out. I saw prerotators of that style in Florida back in the seventies.

[okikuma]

Hi Tom,

That is correct, the J3M was built in the late 60's. Jim himself told me that the pretotator is a KB3 Brock unit. Notice that the rotor head is not the current Barnett offset spindle type, but more like a Bensen.

Happy New Year,

Wayne

[thesultanofscud]

Does anyone know where I could get plans for this thing? I understand there may be some aerodynamic problems (HTL) that should be considered. I'm really more interested from a collector's perspective. There are a number of rare, unique, or long-gone aircraft like for which I'd like to acquire more plans or photos. Thanks in advance for any info.