Loving-Wayne WR-1 Loving’s Love Racer
Single-Engine Single-Seat Low-Wing Racing Aircraft, USA

Archive Photos ¹

Loving-Wayne WR-1 Loving’s Love Racer (N351C) on display 2003at the EAA AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, WI (Photos by John Shupek)

Loving-Wayne WR-1 Loving’s Love Overview ^[2]

• Role Racing aircraft
• National origin United States
• Manufacturer Wayne Aircraft Company
• Designer Neil Loving
• First flight 7 August 1950

The Loving-Wayne WR-1 Loving’s Love is a single seat, midget racer built in the 1950s.

Design and Development ^[2]

The WR-1 is a single place, gull-winged aircraft with conventional landing gear. The fuselage uses wood truss construction with aircraft fabric covering. The all-wood, plywood covered gull-wing features faired, fixed landing gear at the lowest point. The design was submitted and approved by the professional racing pilots association in 1948 with construction starting in January 1949.

Operational History ^[2]

In the 1951 National Air Races pilot Neal Loving qualified with a 266 mph (428 km/h) dive. The aircraft’s spinner separated, damaging the propeller.

In December 1953, Loving flew the WR-1 2200 miles from Detroit to Kingston, Jamaica, an unusually long trip for a new experimental design of the era.

In 1954, the design was the winner of the Most Outstanding Design award at the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-in at Rockford, Illinois.

Loving-Wayne WR-1 Loving’s Love Specifications ^[3]

Type

• Single-seat sporting monoplane.

Wings

• Sharply-cranked cantilever low-wing monoplane.
• Wing section NACA 2412 at root, NACA 2409 at tip.
• Aspect ratio 6.06.
• Chord a root: 4 ft 1½ in (1.25 m).
• Chord at tip: 2 ft 1½ in (0.65 m).
• All-wood structure, plywood-covered.
• Frise wooden ailerons.
• No flaps.

Fuselage

• Wood structure.
• Forward portion plywood-covered, rest fabric-covered.

Tail Unit

• Cantilever all-wood structure.
• Fin and tailplane plywood-covered.
• Rudder and elevators fabric-covered.

Landing Gear

• Non-retractable tail-wheel type.
• No shock absorbers.
• Goodyear Maine wheels, size 5.00 × 5, are spatted.
• Steerable tail-wheel.
• Goodyear hydraulic disc brakes.

Power Plant

• One 85 hp Continental C85-8FJ four-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine, driving a MaCauley type 1R94/AM6054 two-blade propeller.
• Fuel and fuselage tank with capacity of 15 U.S. gallons (58.8 L).
• Oil capacity 1.25 U.S. gallons (4.5 L).

Accommodation

• Pilot only an enclosed cabin.

External Dimensions

• Wing span 20 ft 0 in (6.10 m)
• Length overall 17 ft 2 in (5.23 m)
• Height overall 4 ft 5½ in (1.35 m)
• Tailplane span 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
• Wheel track 5 ft 2¾ in (1.59 m)
• Wheelbase 10 ft 5 in (3.18 m)

Areas

• Wings, gross 66 ft² (6.13 m²)
• Ailerons, total 9.88 ft² (0.92 m²)
• Fin 3.17 ft² (0.29 m²)
• Rudder 2.32 ft² (0.22 m²)
• Tailplane 6.98 ft² (0.65 m²)
• Elevators 4.10 ft² (0.38 m²)

Weights

• Weight empty 631.5 lbs (287 kg)
• Max T-O weight 839 lbs (380 kg)
• Max wing loading 13.46 lbs/ft² (65.72 kg/m²)
• Max power loading 9.85 lbs/hp (4.47 kg/hp)

Performance at Max T-O weight

• Max level speed at S/L 215 mph (346 k/hr)
• Max cruising speed 170 mph (274 k/hr)
• Econ cruising speed 142 mph (229 km/hr)
• Stalling speed 58 mph (93 km/hr)
• Rate of climb at S/L 2,100 ft/min (640 m/min)
• Service ceiling 18,000 ft (5,490 m)
• T-O run 500 ft (152 m)
• T-O run to 50 ft (15 m) 1,100 ft (335 m)
• Landing from 50 ft (15 m) 3,100 ft (945 m)
• Landing run 1,200 ft (365 m)
• Range with max fuel 450 miles (725 km)

References

1. Photos: John Shupek
2. Wikipedia. Loving WR-1 Love
3. Taylor, John W. R. Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft 1964-65, Loving: Loving-Wayne WR-1 Love, New York: The McGraw-Hill Company, 1965, pg 255.