Bill Sadler (engineer)

Sadler died in Cathedral City, California on 5 April 2022. He was survived by wife Anne, ex-wife Linda, and daughters Sue, Cate, and Vicki.

Appeared at the Monterey Historics in 2014, where he won the "Spirit of Excellence Award" in the Formula Junior class. At Portland that same year Sadler won the "Spirit of Vintage Racing".

Engines considered for the Piranha were the Volkswagen air-cooled engine and a water-cooled automobile V6 engine from Chevrolet. The engine finally chosen was an aluminum block Chevrolet small-block V8 developing an estimated 450 hp (335.6 kW). The Piranha came equipped with a ballistically deployed parachute capable of lowering pilot and aircraft together safely to the ground. The tub was reinforced with Kevlar to protect the pilot from light arms fire. The aircraft provided up to four hard points for mounting armaments and ordnance, including a McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (MDHC) M230LF 30 mm cannon, M60 type 7.62 mm machine guns, 7-shot rocket launching pods for 70 mm MK66, MK4 or MK40 rockets, LAU-32 rocket pods, MK81 general purpose low-drag bombs, MK122 Fireye fire bombs, an SUU-11 7.62 mm minigun pod, or an XM13 grenade launcher. The Piranha weighed 1,450 lb (657.7 kg) and had a vertical climb rate of greater than 4000 fpm (20.32 m/s).

The car was raced in the 2009 Colorado Grand and then shown at the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.

Sadler later designed a two-seat Light-sport aircraft (LSA) called the Vampire 2 that was first shown at the 2009 AirVenture Oshkosh. Power came from a Jabiru 3300 making 120 hp (89.5 kW). The first prototype was destroyed in a fire in 2008. Ron Fisher later obtained the surviving prototype with the intent of having it certified and go into production as the Fisher Kingfisher.

Inducted into the Watkins Glen Drivers Walk of Fame in 2004.

Guest of Honor at the Gold Cup Historics, held 5–8 June 2003.

In the early 2000s Sadler was Director of engineering at Arizona Instrument LLC. While there he received two patents for continuous flow moisture analyzers.

Inducted into the St. Catharines Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.

In 1997 Sadler Aircraft Corp. partnered with Türk Havacılık ve Uzay Sanayii A.Ş. (TUSAŞ — Turkish Aerospace Industries Inc.) to adapt the Piranha for the Turkish military, resulting in the TG-X1 Bat. This very light single-seat attack and surveillance aircraft made its debut flight in February 1997. Chevy V8 engine was installed with titanium conrods. The vision of pilot was excellent and performance was superior to helicopters with a fraction of the cost. Aircraft has foldable wings and can take-off from unprepared runways. Prototype aircraft was crash landed in one of the flight tests due to engine failure. Sadler due to low altitude tried to land the aircraft to the runway that he took off. He survived with minor injuries. Aircraft was fixed and flew many more test flights. McDonnell Douglas/Boeing (MDHC) M230LF 30 mm cannon (This cannon is used on AH-64 Apache attack helicopters) was brought to the prototype shop but never installed on TG-X1. Project was cancelled due to lack of interest from military. Members of the design team remember him as a sharp, mission focused, bold pilot and as a practical engineer. One and only prototype aircraft is still intact and kept in TUSAŞ perimeter.

Inducted into the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1993. Sadler was honoured as Canada's most successful racing car builder, and for his influence on the development of later Group 7 and Can-Am cars.

In June 1987 Sadler signed a contract with General Atomics to convert his plane into a unmanned drone, later badged as a "Predator", with a computerized, GPS based autopilot. The earliest versions had a pilot on board, usually Sadler himself. The vehicle developed was the GA UAV 18-50. The aircraft was successfully demonstrated to American Missile Command late in 1988.

In 1985 Sadler began a search for a small aircraft engine. That search eventually led to his designing a radial aircraft engine of his own that was developed for production by Bill Gewald. The men formed Sadler Radial Engines Inc. to produce and sell the engine. The design was assigned U.S. patent 5,150,670A. The Sadler R1765U was a four-stroke, six cylinder engine with two radial banks of three cylinders each. The pistons and cylinder barrels were Volkswagen parts. The engine had a dual electronic ignition firing two sparkplugs per cylinder. This direct drive engine was 20.5 in (521 mm) wide, 19.4 in (493 mm) high, and approximately 17 in (432 mm) long, depending on configuration. Power output was 65 hp (48.5 kW), and weight was 121.4 lb (55.1 kg) for the basic engine and 162 lb (73.5 kg) when the engine mount, exhaust manifold, and propeller were included. Forty-three prototype engines were built, but none were sold, as the company had difficulty providing parts for service. Rights to the original 1,721 cc (105.0 cu in) model engine were bought by SCI Aviation. SCI produced the 2.2 L (134 cu in) R6-80 and 3.2 L (195 cu in) R6-150.

In 1984 he was one of the founders of the Light Aircraft Manufacturers Association.

1984 was also when Sadler established the American Microflight company, later renamed the Sadler Aircraft Corporation, and put his 1982 ultralight design into production as the Sadler Vampire. The Vampire was a mid-wing, twin-boom, ultralight aircraft with a single engine in a pusher configuration and a 30 ft (9.1 m) wingspan. The design referenced the de Havilland Vampire. The wings could be double folded, allowing the plane to be trailered easily.

In 1982 he took an ultralight of his own design to the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh show, where it won the Grand Champion Award.

The Sadler-Meyer has been restored twice; once in the 1980s by owner Robert Fernando, after which it appeared in historic racing events, and again in 2008, this time with input from Sadler. Over the years the car's body was revised, with changes that include enclosed side pipes, Plexiglas side curtains, a recontoured radiator opening and extended nose, and a clear cover over the engine intake that replaced the original prominent scoop.

In 1972 Sadler built a Formula Super Vee racer for his personal use.

Greenblatt later partnered with Luigi Cassiani to launch their own line of cars called the Dailu. The Sadler Mk.4 influenced their first car, the Dailu MK I. The degree of influence is described as ranging from providing the concept, to the frame design, up to the Dailu MK I being a rebody of the Sadler. The Dailu MK I adapted an IRS from a 1961 Jaguar XK-E.

Sadler bought Jaguar D-Type XKD 545 after the car suffered a crash in 1960 at Watkins Glen. He rebuilt it and raced the car at least twice. He later sold it, at one point offering to sell it to Brock Yates for $2000.00. It appears that it was eventually sold to John Cannon.

Racing sponsorship was provided by Gorries Downtown Chevrolet Oldsmobile, a car dealership in Toronto that billed itself as "Canada's Corvette Headquarters". The Mk.4 was raced as the "Gorries Sadler Corvette". Greenblatt won the 1960 Quebec Drivers Championship in the car.

The car debuted at the 1960 Formula Libre race at Watkins Glen, where it was driven by Peter Ryan. It ran as high as fifth place until the engine failed. The Formula Ferocious was retired, then later restored for vintage racing.

Two Sadler Mk.5s were built in 1960 for the 1961 season. The cars were sponsored by the Canadian Comstock Company, with the racing program under the auspices of Comstock Vice president Charles I. Rathgeb Junior. The cars were originally raced as Comstock-Sadlers.

Sadler became an associate member of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He served as Technical editor for Canada Track & Traffic magazine, contributing an article to the debut issue of September 1959. He left that position near the end of 1961.

He started the Sadler Car Company in the spring of 1959 with a loan from his parents and access to Sadler's Electric's machine shop, including their dynamometer. The company's core staff would eventually include body fabricator Mike Saggers, welder Harry Ross, and mechanic Chuck Richardson. Over the course of a few short years Sadler produced a series of sports racing cars, open-wheeled Formula Junior and Formula Libre cars, and go-karts. He built the first rear mid-engine road-racing special, and proved that this configuration was competitive.

After the updates to the Mk.2 were completed, Nisonger commissioned Sadler to build a completely new car that he would also sponsor for the 1959 racing season.

A total of eight Mk.3s were built in 1959. Years later Sadler built a new Mk.3, largely out of spare parts, which he campaigned in vintage races.

The Sadler-Meyer carried Meyer to his second New York State Hillclimb Championship in 1959, and set fastest time-of-day at the Giants Despair Hillclimb in 1960, 1961 and 1962. Meyer eventually sold the Sadler-Meyer and moved on to other cars.

Sadler's 1958 win at Watkins Glen in the Mk.2 caught the attention of Earl G. Nisonger, president of the Nisonger Corporation, an auto parts supply company and British parts importer handling Smiths products. Nisonger convinced Sadler to replace the used running gear on the Mk.2 with new parts, and hired Bob Said to drive the car.

In 1958 Meyer approached Sadler to have him update the car and return it to competitive form. Sadler carried over the Pontiac V8, Borrani wire wheels and De Dion tube rear suspension from Meyer's old roadster, but fabricated a new ladder chassis and added an enveloping body. The car was completed in 1959.

The car underwent several updates. The original 265 CID V8 was later replaced with a 283 cu in (4.6 L) Canadian-built version of the 1957 Corvette engine fitted with a Duntov cam, lightened valves, a Delco dual-point distributor, and a trio of two-barrel carburetors in place of the original dual four-barrels. The engine was bored out to 300 cu in (4.9 L). After returning from England, Sadler replaced the Healey front drum brakes with Triumph discs and installed a new body. Rear radius rods were also added later, as were front lower A-arms and Armstrong springs and shock absorbers.

In the autumn of 1956 Sadler quit Westinghouse and moved with wife Anne and their two daughters, Susan and Catherine, to England to work for John Tojeiro for one year. Sadler's second home-built Special accompanied the family overseas. While in England the family lived in a trailer in Tojeiro's yard. At the Tojeiro Car Company, he was responsible for the design, pattern making, and finishing machine work for two of Tojeiro's new racing cars.

The Triumph engine threw a rod at the Harewood Acres circuit on 4 August. Sadler replaced the damaged four-cylinder with a Canadian-built 1956 Chevrolet small-block V8 displacing 265 cu in (4.3 L) and making 200 hp (149.1 kW) with dual four-barrel carburetors. The TR2 flywheel, clutch, bell housing, and transmission were carried over, and an adapter was made to mate the engine to the bellhousing. Sadler also built a new rear suspension that replaced the original Panhard rod with a custom frame to reduce wheelspin. The final drive ratio was changed to 3.54:1

Sadler raced a Singer Sports in 1954. He also made a few appearances in a Triumph TR2 as driver for Southam Sales and Service in 1955 and 1956.

The car debuted in 1954 at Watkins Glenn, fitted with simple aluminum torpedo bodywork and cycle fenders. In January 1955 work started on a new enveloping fiberglass body. During the winter of 1955–56 the Jowett engine and transmission were replaced with a 1,991 cc (121.5 cu in) Standard wet liner inline-four engine from a Triumph TR2, and Triumph four-speed transmission. Sadler designed and built his own custom fuel injection system for this engine.

In 1953, while honeymooning in England, with travel expenses paid for by Lucas, Sadler saw his first sports car race, which sparked his interest in the sport. He began racing cars when he returned to Canada. After racing a few modified production cars, he began building his first Special one year later.

Sadler built his first special, the Mk.1, over the winter of 1953–54. He made a multi-tubular chassis of 2.5 in (64 mm) mild steel for it.

The first car he campaigned seriously was a 1949 Hillman Minx. Sadler replaced the car's original four-cylinder engine with a Ford V8-60 flathead V8.

The rear suspension was Sadler's original design. He took the rear axle from a 1940 Ford V8 and cut the axle tubes cut off, then machined the housing sides to accept roller bearings and adapter plates. Spicer 1310 U-joints from a 1950 Canadian Chrysler were adapted to fit modified GMC 3 ton truck propeller shaft sections with splines, that then mated with Spicer 1350 U-joints that in turn attached to the axle stubs. The rear wheels were located by two long A-arms, and the wheels suspended by a transverse leaf made to Sadler's specifications.

One of Sadler's earliest cars was a 1939 American Bantam panel truck that had been Sadler's Auto Electric's delivery vehicle. Sadler completely rebuilt the truck and engine, added a column shift of his own design, and converted it into a convertible with a soft top that he sewed himself.

Wheelspin continued to be a problem with the Mk.1, and Sadler felt that an independent rear suspension (IRS) was the solution. He was already planning to race the car overseas, so it would have to comply with new rules enacted by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) dictating certain basic dimensions. He had also acquired a 1934 ENV preselector gearbox. To add the IRS, accommodate the new transmission, and comply with FIA rules, he decided that a new chassis was needed, and this led to the Mk.2 being built.

William George Sadler (3 September 1931 – 5 April 2022) designed, built, and drove his own sports racing cars, some of which anticipated the later Formula 5000 and Can-Am cars. He left racing and earned a Masters of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, then went on to design and build light aircraft and aircraft engines, and was involved in the early development of Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Sadler was born in St. Catharines, Ontario on 3 September 1931 to George and Bertha Sadler. His father ran Sadler's Auto Electric. The company was the Canadian agent for Lucas of Britain. Sadler's early hobbies included photography and ham radio. He dropped out of St. Catharines Collegiate High School to work full-time for his father. At eighteen he was given the job of opening a branch of Sadler's Auto Electric in Hamilton, Ontario.