Tsunami [1][2][3] is an experimental American built aircraft. First flown August 17, 1986 by test pilot Steve Hinton, it was designed specifically to break the 3 km world speed record and to compete in Unlimited Air Racing. The aircraft was designed and built by Bruce Boland, Ray Poe and Pete Law. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, Tsunami was potentially the fastest homebuilt piston-powered propeller driven aircraft in the world with a projected top speed of 586 mph.
Originally, it was designed as a light-weight racer with a single-staged supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin. However, as speed increased in the Unlimited Racing Class, a higher powered two-stage supercharged Rolls-Royce Merlin was installed. An attempt was made in August 1989 to break the 3 km world speed record at Wendover Utah. However, they aircraft was unable to beat the existing record.
Despite being very fast, in its racing career from 1986 to 1991 it only won one Unlimited Gold Race, in Sherman Texas in 1990.[4]
The program ended in 1991 when the owner John Sandberg lost his life while ferrying the aircraft home. The NTSB report states that there was a mechanical failure in the flap system, causing the aircraft to roll on final approach into Pierre, SD on September 25, 1991.