01940 Winter 2021_Reduced

WINTER 2021 | 17
Fly like
an Eagle
By Anne Marie Tobin
Two Lynnfield residents have bought into a fad shared by amateur aviation
buffs in the 1970s — building and flying your own airplane.
Main Street resident Vern Rich and his Perry Avenue neighbor Brett
Lombardi are catching their fellow town residents' attention. Their project
to build an airplane — totally from scratch — has drawn the interest of
many a passerby, gawking and wondering what the two tinkerers are up to.
All you need to do is take a quick stroll past Rich's home, located just a stone's throw from
the Lynnfield Middle School, and there it is — a KR-2s sports airplane, awkwardly jutting out
of Rich's standalone.
"It's been fun to have people drive by and see this thing sticking out of the garage," Rich
said. "We've had cookouts and it's the talk of everybody. People have asked if this is the largest
radio-control airplane. They ask 'what the hell are you two doing in that garage?' It's been a lot
of fun."
"This is the ultimate challenge in aviation, building your own airplane and flying it," added
Lombardi, a licensed pilot and physical therapist.
The pair said the plane is about halfway completed and they hope to be airborne in about a
year.
The plane is a knock-off of the original Rand Robinson Engineering KR-2 aircraft, a do-ityourself
kit dating back to the early '70s. The plane's popularity was based on its efficiency, its
low cost, the fact that it was quick and easy to build and fun to fly.
Designed to use standard-size building materials, the KR-2 was extremely lightweight and
sported a wooden frame (known to Rand fans as "the boat") with a fiberglass skin.
Powered by an ordinary Volkswagen Beetle automobile engine, the plane featured a twoblade
wood propeller and could reach a maximum cruising speed of 180 miles per hour.
Thousands of kits were sold with hundreds of models flying by the end of the decade.
Rich, who works for a construction-management firm, and Lombardi began their project on
July 31. Rich's garage workshop is stocked with a huge assortment of carpentry tools. He said
his passion is "building, restoring and fixing things." His most recent project was the restoration
of a 1979 Jeep, which sports a bright-red paint finish.
"I had just finished the Jeep when Brett approached me about the plane, so we moved the
Jeep out to make room for the next project," Rich said.
A specially-constructed workbench was assembled from four benches to allow the duo to
work on the plane. Lombardi said he keeps a log tracking construction, which is required by