Folkerts SK-3


The Folkerts SK-3 a.k.a. "Jupiter, Pride of Lemont was the third in a series of air racers developed by Clayton Folkerts.

Design and development

The SK-3 was built for mechanic, Rudy A. Kling from Lemont, Illinois as his personal racing aircraft. Kling assisted in the construction of the aircraft. The Folkerts SK-2 was the basis for the aircraft, with a slight upscaling in size with a larger Menasco C6-S engine.
The SK-3 was a midwinged conventional aircraft with retractable landing gear. The fuselage was long and slender. The thin wings used spruce wood spars, plywood covering and split flaps. The fuselage was welded steel tubing with aircraft fabric covering, built in two parts that were bolted together. The manual retractable landing gear used a single lever, rather than earlier crank systems. There were two forward fuel tanks, a main, and an auxiliary of mounted behind the cockpit. The Menasco C6-S was modified by Kling to produce at 3300 rpm, versus the standard output.

Operational history

Rudy Kling was the exclusive pilot of the SK-3. Kling had only 150 hours experience in a J-5-powered Travel Air before flying the racer. In the 1937 Greve Race, Kling came in at first place at, just beating Wittman's Chief Oshkosh.
At the 1937 Thompson Trophy race in the National Air Races, he again won at. On December 3, 1937, during the 1938 Miami Air Races, the SK-3 crashed in the wash of a larger aircraft with Kling dying on his 29th birthday.

Variants

;SK-4

Specifications (Folkerts SK-3)