What is the history of the Dragonfly?
In 1979, Bob Walters, a Navy fighter pilot who was educated as an aeronautical engineer, formed Viking Aircraft Company. The Dragonfly was introduced at Oshkosh in 1980, and the prototype received the “Outstanding New Design of 1980” trophy. In 1983, Walters sold Viking to Rex Taylor, the owner of HAPI Engines, Inc. Rex, who was by then a recognized expert on VW aero conversions, immediately upgraded the Dragonfly’s 1600cc engine to an 1835cc HAPI engine. The Dragonfly won the Tom Jewett Memorial Award for Best Fuel Efficiency in the 1983 CAFE 400 competition, carrying 400lbs of weight over a 400 mile course, getting 48mpg at 128mph. Some time around 1990, Rex Taylor passed Viking to his son Patrick Taylor, who tried to make a go of the company for several years, despite the fact that sales were not making the company profitable. By then, people were starting to put all kinds of engines into the airframe, and the major support for builders was beginning to shift away from Viking, now o
