Written by DR (02/1981), Reformatted by JS (04/2012)
This pensive-looking gentleman is Mr. Walter Hurleman, Jr., now 68. He was 20 years old when his father’s machine shop turned out the first production batch of Brown Jr. gasoline model airplane engines. They were
designed, of course, by Bill Brown, who at the time (193132) was more or less an “apprentice” to Walter Hurleman, Sr.
Walt Jr. (or “Reds,” as he was known then) also worked in that shop and had charge of, among other things, carving 14-inch propellers for the engines on a jig he made himself.
The Hurleman Aristocrat .60 was a direct development of the original sandcast-crankcase “A”model Browns, one of which Max Bassett flew to a 4th place at the 1932 Atlantic City Nationals. It was built on the original tooling which Hurleman, Sr. retained after Brown split with him in late 1933 to start his own engine manufacturing concern, Junior Motors Corporation. The photo was taken during a series of evening demonstration flights made for Hurleman this past summer. Not having seen a gas model fly since the mid-30s, he was as impressed by the capabilities of modern RC as by the nostalgic sound of the old engine. Hurleman built a gas model or two himself in the early days, one of which he entered in a contest against Bassett’s Miss Philly II in March of 1933. Bassett won, of course.
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