Thank you for that confirmation. I, too, am in my 60’s and seemed to remember the same. The old memory ain’t what it used to be, though... :-)
As to the “Long, long......long,long,long development process”, there was what appeared to be an excellent air-cooled, supercharged and turbocharged, radial Diesel aircraft engine in development in Germany, the Zoche.
“In development in Germany” forever, and ever. They would show up at Oshkosh every year with the prototype, people would BEG to buy a copy. This went on for well over a decade. finally someone figured the problem. Zoche had taken R&D funds from the local government. Once then engine was on the market they would have to repay all that R&D money. Cost of Production plus reasonable ROI plus repayment of R&D money would significantly EXCEED a competitive retail price. If it never goes to market, no repayment of R&D required. At least that is what I read.
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“Availability
As with any leading edge technology, precise schedules are difficult to predict. We expect to ship the first production engines one year after Engine Type Certification.”
http://www.zoche.de/FAQ.HTM#2
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Ah well, it WAS a nice engine...