At the top of the "wish list" of every serious British model engine collector are the handful of engines both designed and manufactured by Gerald Smith, who lived at 297 Lutterworth Road, Nuneaton, Warwickshire! One of his most desired engines, the Skylark 60 Magneto Ignition Engine, was auctioned off in November, 1997 at the request of the family of Vince Redfern who had passed away earlier. The Skylark 60 in "lot 11" sold for $2,200 reportedly the highest price ever paid for a single engine in an open auction in the U. K. When the "air" had cleared the 400 engines, thousands of books, magazines, modeling goods and materials brought close to $65,000.

Relatively few of "us" over here or elsewhere have ever heard of Gerald Smith let alone Vice Redfern and thus some history is in order, at least on Gerald Smith. As always, for history, we are indebted to the "Dean" of model engine testers, one P.G.F "Peter" Chinn who has written widely here and on the continent concerning not only engine testing but the past and current status of modelers and their travails world wide. Mr. Chinn comments in MAN, Sept. 1981, "The first example to be flown of a magnificent new spark-ignition engine, designed and constructed by Gerald Smith, whose superb hand-built engines delighted connoisseurs of i.c. engine design as far back as the 1920s, was by Jim Shelley. Jim won the National Championship Cup for Vintage Class Models flying the "Skylark" in a Westerner replica in May 1981, this year".

The engine is 10cc (.60cid) and is a single-cylinder, two-stroke-cycle unit with many special features setting it apart from the commercially built two-strokes with which most of us are familiar. Mr. Smith began the design of the engine in July 1979, making parts for a batch of fourteen engines. At the time of Shelley's victory, he was flying #2, #1 being retained for testing purposes. The magneto of Smith's own design, powers a rear rotary valve induction engine with the shaft extending to form the magneto drive. Nose mounted timer points, as with most ignition engines, a beautifully engineered linkage coupling the spark advance and retard to the throttle arm, and more conventional features including a twin ball-bearing crankshaft, an aluminum piston with two rings, and Meehinite cast-iron liner make up the engine. A 3/8" spark plug, offset to the exhaust side along with a resistor fitted in the HT lead at the spark plug end keep things humming. The motor, right down to the smallest detail is machined to the highest engineering standards. Designed to "lug" the large props of the vintage era free flight models, it has a great deal more power than those engines. It is also a good deal heavier weighing approximately 28 oz. Engine #2 turned a l5 x 8 prop at 5,000 rpm, and would idle as low as 700.

The Skylark, of course, was not destined to be a "production" engine. And at the time the remaining 12 units for which parts had been made, were nearly all spoken for. Without any doubt, all the remaining "Skylarks" reside very quietly in British collections. Mr. Redfern's name does not appear in any of our "collecting" literature. It would be virtually impossible to obtain one of these "gems" except to be on the "spot" with lots of cash when one came onto the market. Yes, fellow avid collectors, this is one "to die for"!

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