All those weird and wonderful postwar homebuilt U.S. one-offs...

[Stargazer]

No other country has seen as many aircraft designs as the United States.

Apart from those emanating from the big industrial companies, many of these have largely fallen into oblivion... Sometimes they appear in a corner of an old magazine and we think "Wow! Never heard about THAT ONE!", and obviously the more types we know, the more there seems to still discover...

I'm starting this topic with the purpose of it being a place to regroup all these isolated and worthwhile prototypes, mostly homebuilts. Let's not post types from major companies here, only from small businesses or individuals.

PLEASE can we stick to this rule: ONE TYPE = ONE POST? This way it will be easier to move posts around when/if a separate topic becomes justified.

Let's also apply this principle to our replies, so that if we reply about a certain type, we 1°) quote from the original post (which could be a few posts/pages before) and 2°) reply ONLY about that type. If multiply replies are needed, let's reply under separate posts. Thanks in advance!

I'm starting with the next post..

 

[Stargazer]

Here is the Option Air Acapella 100L [N360 CB]. It crashed on July 28, 1982.

 

[Stargazer]

The Aero-Dynamics Sparrow Hawk [N5832M]:

 

[Stargazer]

The Ward RA « Super BD-4 » [N62RW] was the improbable hybrid of a Bede BD-4 fuselage, a Cessna 172's undercart, and a Swearingen SX-200's nose and engine!

 

[Stargazer]

This apparently undesignated Miller biplane entirely made of plywood was built in Milwaukee in the after-war years. It took 850 hours of work on its inventor's spare time and 500 dollars' worth of material to get it completed. It had a wingspan of 4.6 m and a length of 4.1 m, and was powered by a Henderson engine. Miller, a licensed mechanic and student-pilot, claimed a speed of 230 km/h and a range of 640 km for his diminutive biplane.

 

[Stargazer]

Completely forgotten (and therefore presumably unsuccessful) was this pleasant little postewar machine, the Bolton 1-B (thanks a lot to walter for identifying it).

 

[Stargazer]

Cliff Kysor's torpedo-shaped plane of 1950 had tail controls built flush with fuselage. The conventional elevators and rudder were eliminated to minimize air drag and permit greater speed. The four control surfaces at the top, bottom and sides of the tail section, were operated by a stick and by rudder pedals. Small tabs at the trailing edge of the fins were used only to trim the aircraft.

 

[Stargazer]

An amazing homebuilt that still exists to this day: the Bowyer BW-1 Challenger.

We have a topic devoted to this beauty here: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,19592.0

 

[Stargazer]

In 1966, the Mississippi-based Burns Aircraft Co. presented the 6-7 place BA-42 twin-engine business aircraft prototype. It was powered by two 210 hp Continental IO-360D engines with constant-speed MacCauley propellers. A pressurized version was planned, offered with either the same engines or a pair of Allison 250 turbines. The BA-42 was of aluminum construction with numerous plastic components. First flight took place on April 28.

Wingspan: 8.7 m
Length: 9.75 m
Height: 2.3 m
Maximum weight: 1950 kg
Empty weight: 1086 kg
Maximum speed (sea level): 375 km/h
Cruise speed (at 3000 m altitude and with 75% of power): 275 km/h
Range (with 75% of power): 1450 km

 

[elmayerle]

The vertical tail looks a bit on the small side and the engines are probably pushed hard, but it's not a bad design. Switching to the turboprops likely won't change the weight but should definitely improve performance.

 

[Stargazer]

The wacky and wonderful Wainfan FMX-4 Facetmobile [N117WD—a play on the F-117 resemblance] was described as an "experimental lifting-body sportplane." It was the creation of Barnaby & Lynne Wainfan and Rick Dean, and took 2.5 years to develop and build. It was inspired originally by a little flying wing glider in one of the aeromodelling magazines some years ago, and then further by a larger model that he made based on it.

After logging 130 hours of flight time, the Facetmobile was damaged in a forced landing after some engine malfunction, and was in reconstruction in 1999. A two-place version designated as the FMX-5 was also in development at that time, but apparently nothing came of it.

More on Wainfan:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,19333.0
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,9989.0 (senior members only)

 

[Stargazer]

The Sawyer Skyjacker II [N7317] was a two-seat experimental research vehicle, a flying wing of all-metal construction built by Ralph Sawyer and first flown on July 3, 1975.

Sawyer’s objective for constructing this vehicle was to prove the stability, controllability and capability of such a radical, low-aspect-ratio aircraft, the size for this type of aircraft being unlimited due to the nature of its lifting body design. In fact, it was even marketed in its day as the only flying "true lifting body"—not as a sporting aircraft.

Sawyer's design calculations determined the aircraft would be able to carry 4.5 times the load as a typical aircraft with the same span. The airplane was named the Skyjacker because "it jacks itself into the sky."

The Skyjacker was cheap to build because there wereno compound curves, highly stressed areas or complex control systems. The design would not stall or spin and had no rudders. The aircraft was powered by a 200hp Lycoming IO-360-A1B6D pusher engine. Its span was 18 ft. and it was 17 ft. 6 in. long. It is not known what the #I design may have been.

Great info and pics can be found at:

• http://www.mojaveflyin.com/2013/03/sky-jacker-to-be-on-display.html
• http://kiwiwebhost.exon.net.nz/~terryjs/index.php/component/content/article/54/9628-sawyer-skyjacker-ii
• http://svsm.org/gallery/skyjacker

 

[Stargazer]

The Schapel SA-882 was a diminutive flying wing prototype not unlike some of the Horten designs:

More here: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,13386.0

The company had quite a few projects on the side — all pushers, such as the Thunderbolt business aircraft or the twin-boom S-1275 Finesse, S-525 Super Swat and SA-981 Swat (a light COIN proposal).

 

[Stargazer]

Designed and flown by Ron Beattie and Walt Fellers, two North American Engineers who came to work for the Northrop Division, the Acme Sierra (a.k.a. "Sierra Sue") [N12K] was built by the Acme Aircraft Co. at the Torrance Airport in late 1948. The first flight took place on 23 November 1953. It was built according to Goodyear Racing Plane specifications. Although it was never entered in any races, extensive data was obtained during its many flights.

This experimental aircraft was built to investigate the advantages of a pusher propeller configuration. It has a "Y" shaped tail incorporating ruddervators on the upper fins, an unswept wing mounted midway up the fuselage, an engine mounted directly behind the cockpit, and large air scoops mounted in the forward end of both wing roots. The aircraft, now designated as the Sierradyne S-1, was used by Sierradyne Inc. in the 1960's to test and promote Northrop's and Dr Werner Pfenninger's boundary layer control concepts. Northrop used it as a flying technology demonstrator for the Air Force’s AX close-support aircraft design competition in 1972, but despite its being re-labeled as the Northrop Turbo-Pusher, the plane was never officially considered a Northrop aircraft.

The aircraft's relationship to the AX program is also discussed twice in the AX-dedicated topic:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2615.msg10250.html#msg10250
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2615.msg107687.html#msg107687

 

[Stargazer]

The Fogle V333 Sky Cat tilt-rotor was built in 1982 but never been flown. It was designed and built by Hal Fogle, who also worked on the SR-71 Blackbird program.

Photos below depict the prototype (now on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum) and the full-scale mockup that preceded it, at some airshow.

 

[Stargazer]

Fred Smith, president of Frederick-Ames Research Corporation at Novi, Michigan, USA, designed a small single-seat sporting aircraft called the EOS (after the Greek goddess of the dawn) [N10AE], which first appeared in an incomplete form at the 1973 EAA Fly-in at Oshkosh. On its maiden flight on April 25, 1974, the 55 hp Hirth 650 cc engine seized and the aircraft crash landed, causing extensive damage. Despite some restoration work, the aircraft was abandoned through lack of finance.

In early 1978 the project was revived, with a modified Volkswagen motor car engine in place of the original engine. First flight of the reworked aircraft was in mid-1978, piloted by Robert Bishop. By August 1978 the EOS had completed about ten flying hours, and further modifications to the aircraft had been made. Eventually the release of plans and/or kits was never realized, and the prototype remains the only example ever built.

More info (and another pic) at 1000aircraftphotos:
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/SmithRon/11610.htm

 

[Stargazer]

The Halsmer Aero Car [N9085C] was built in 1959 by Joseph L. Halsmer of Lafayette, Indiana was one of the numerous attempts at building a roadable aircraft (and it is quite remarkable that this Seaboard World Airlines captain and father of 11 children could find any time at all to get this airplane built and flown!)

The Aero Car was a high-wing monoplane with two engines in a tractor-pusher configuration, a tri-cycle gear and tail booms. Helsmer built this machine over a two-year period, and later converted into the single-engine pusher Aero Car 3 presented in 1963 (see photos below), powered by a Continental C-85-12 engine.

Halsmer also built a high-wing two-seater [N12043] (possibly the Aero Car 2) with a uni-twin arrangement of two 65 hp engines driving two counter-rotating props.

Also see: http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/GauthierDavidJ/7493.htm

 

[Stargazer]

The Heuberger-Rinker H-5 Stinger [N3638G] was yet another one-off, built at Tucumcari, New Mexico. This two-seat aircraft powered by a 140 hp Lycoming O-290-G engine was an original design by Lawrence K. "Larry" Heuberger, who started its construction around the early 1960s. Prior to completion the project was acquired (around 1968) by Bud Rinker of Santa Barbara, Cal., who almost certainly did some limited testing in 1970. This truly one-of-a-kind aircraft still exists in pretty good condition, as shown in photo below.

More pics and discussion here: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5158.0
More pics in hi-res at: http://whotalking.com/flickr/Heuberger-Rinker

 

[Stargazer]

The Horton HW-X-26-52 Wingless [N39C] was a highly-modified Cessna UC-78 Bobcat with a more airfoil-shaped fuselage than wing — although the original airframe's lines were really not apparent in the finished product! It was Horton's second experiment (the first being a single-engined lifting-body type [N87698]) and was designed and built by Bill Horton in a three-way partnership with Howard Hughes and Harlow Curtice (of General Motors fame). The aircraft was not of riveted construction but was a welded steel frame covered with a fabric skin and powered by two Pratt and Whitney R-985 radial engines.

The Wingless failed not because the it didn't or couldn't fly... Actually it logged around 160 hrs of flight time before Bill Horton had a falling out with Howard Hughes. The latter wanted to take full credit for the patents and production rights, which Horton refused to do. To prove that money talks, Hughes slapped a law suit on Horton that effectively stopped any further development of the aircraft until this day. Hughes managed to have Horton railroaded to prison on trumped up charges and to get both the prototype and its partially constructed production version moved to a bone yard and destroyed.


Much more info and lots of pics in this forum's fascinating thread about William Horton's wingless designs, built and unbuilt:
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,5996.0.htm

 

[Stargazer]

The Carma VT-1 Weejet [N8209H] was one of the rare civilian jet prototypes developed in the 1950s and the first jet aircraft in the small plane field submitted to the CAA. It was designed and built by Harold Dale, a project engineer with North American who was working on the F-100 at the time. Like many other enthusiasts working in the industry, he set out to conceive his ideal jet trainer in his spare time.

Dale's project was a mid-wing cantilever monoplane of aluminium alloy structure, with slotted flaps, leading edge intake ducts, semi-monocoque fuselage, upwards opening doors, butterfly tail unit and retractable tricycle landing gear. It would have side-by-side seating in front of the wing for clear visibility all around. It should have a slow landing speed and a comfortable cruising speed of 350 mph. To help him in his task, Dale got assistance from his wife Eleanor, who also had an engineering degree and handled much of the mathematics, administration, etc. The name chosen was the Weejet 800 (WE=Harold and Eleanor), the 800 meaning the power class of the licence built Turbomeca Marboré II engine of 880 lb thrust.

The Carma Manufacturing Co., a local aircraft parts manufacturer, heard of the design and got involved in the project and offered to built the aircraft. Construction started at Tucson in the second half of 1954 and five people worked one and a half years on it. First flight took place on March 30, 1956, with Harold Dale at the controls. During the following weeks further test flights were made by another pilot, except for the spin tests; the aircraft handled and performed well.

Now designated the VT-1 Weejet, it was proposed on March 25, 1956 to the US Navy, who showed some interest and decided to evaluate it at Patuxent, but before delivery of the aircraft, the spin tests had to be performed. Unfortunately, during the final spin test USAF pilot Doneby inadvertently activated the trim tab into full nose-down position, lost control while trying to recover and had to bail out. Later data was found thrown clear of the wreckage, showing the spin tests were a complete success. However, the Weejet crashed and burned, and all work was interrupted.

A variant designated the Weejet 1300 was considered in June 1957, powered by two Fiat model 4002 centrifugal flow engines with 650 lb thrust. However the Temco's TT-1 Pinto was eventually procured by the Navy and both Dale and Carma probably didn't have the financial backing that could have enabled them to make that project come alive.


Much more about the Weejet (a lot of the above info comes directly from the second link—walter's great site):

• http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,12858.0
• http://1000aircraftphotos.com/HistoryBriefs/DaleWeejet.htm
• http://machdiamonds.com/weejet.html

 

[Stargazer]

The Peterson Hi-Hopes [N5960V] was an open single-seater built by Peter Peterson of Davenport, Iowa. Powered by an 85 hp Continental C-85 four-cylinder horizontal-opposed air-cooled engine, it was flown in September 1960. It had a wingspan of 20 ft. and was 17 ft. long.

More about the Hi-Hopes: http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/GauthierDavidJ/7641.htm

 

[Stargazer]

Despite its superficial resemblance to a Pitts S-2, the Panzl Pan 1 [N11ZL] is an original 1987 homebuilt experimental biplane that won the EAA's Champion Custom Plans Built award at Oshkosh in 1990. It was substantially damaged on March 18, 2003 during impact with terrain following a forced landing attempt near Vernal, Utah. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant on board, received minor injuries.

 

[Stargazer]

Dewey Eldred's Flyer's Dream [NX36282] was a very original prototype floatplane designed by Dewey Eldred and Sol Fingerhut. Built in 1946 in Willoughby, Ohio, it featured an automobile-like nacelle mounted on top of a 30-ft span W-shaped wing placed in lowermost position. Its tail was mounted at the end of twin-booms extending attached to the rear of the floats. It used a 125 hp engine and first flew June 4, 1946.

 

[Stargazer]

The OMAC-1 was a 6-8 seat canard pusher business aircraft introduced in 1981. OMAC Inc. was founded in 1977 in Reno, Nevada, by Carl Parise and Larry Heuberger. The name stood for "Old Man's Aircraft Company". Two prototypes were built: the first one [apparently unregistered] was powered by a 700 hp Avco Lycoming LTP 101-700A-1 engine and first flew on Dec. 11, 1981, while the second one [N81PH] used a 700 hp Garrett TPE331-9 and flew on February 19, 1983. It was 30 ft. long and had a wingspan of 35 ft.

 

[Stargazer]

The OMAC company moved in 1985 to Albany in Georgia and worked an improved production version, the Laser 300 [N301L] which first flew on July 29, 1988 (pictures showing an aircraft registered "N300L" are only promotional artist's views). The aircraft apparently failed to attract any orders and was no longer heard of. Other similar projects tried to find their niche on the business aircraft market, such as the Avtek 400, the AASI JetCruzer 500, the Beechcraft Starship or the Piaggio Avanti but only the latter two enjoyed any degree of success and reached production stage.

 

[Stargazer]

The Advanced Composite SUA-7 (for Sport Utility Aircraft, 7 seats) [N3061L] was designed by Andreas Montgomery and William K. Regester and built in the early 2000s (the company was known as KLS Composites at the time). The aircraft was mostly made of composite materials and designed to accept automotive V8 engines, such as the GM (Chevrolet) 502 V8 engine that was installed on the prototype. It was presented at the 2003 Fly-In but not flown until a few months later.

After disappointing performance on its early flight testing, the wings were discovered to be inadequate and a new pair of wings was fitted in 2005. On the first day of test flying with the new wings the nose gear got broken, and further improvements were made. From then on the SUA-7 flew amazingly well, but the money behind the company pulled back and the plane has been sitting on the tarmac since.

More on the SUA-7: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,10888.msg133616.html#msg133616

 

[Stargazer]

The Larkin Aircraft Corporation was set up by Keith Larkin in the mid-sixties in Scotts Valley, California.

The Larkin KC-3 Skylark [N1LA] was a single-engine amphibious two-seater homebuilt aircraft, a pusher-style design with a single 100 hp Volkswagen air-cooled engine above and behind the fully enclosed cockpit. The cockpit seats two occupants in side-by-side configuration, with a large Plexiglas canopy curving around both occupants. The landing gear is a tricycle arrangement with the nose gear positioned at the foremost point of the nose and the two main gear semi-recessed into teardrop-shaped fairings on the lower sides. The fuselage and landing gear were internally supported with an aluminum tube keel.

The tail was a twin-boom arrangement attached at the trailing edge of the wings, allowing clearance for the pusher propeller above and within the booms. The booms were attached to the wings and connected at the rear, between twin vertical stabilizers, by one single-elevator surface. One unique feature of the airplane’s structure was the use of a square tubular aluminum keel which was responsible for the loads from the landing gear and the main fuselage. The Skylark was also capable of amphibious operation when fitted with an optional V-shaped lower hull made out of fiberglass. Only one aircraft was built and flown, circa 1972-73.


More on the Skylark:

• http://kiwiwebhost.exon.net.nz/~terryjs/index.php/component/content/article/53/5869-larkin-skylark
• http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/aircraft/international-aircraft-directory/homebuiltkitbuilt-aircraft/larkin-skylark.html

 

[Archibald]

Edward Lanier "Paraplane".

http://www.1000aircraftphotos.com/PRPhotos/LanierParaplane1.htm

The Lanier (father and son) were convinced they had invented the best thing since bread came in slice. In fact they just re-invented Handley Page flaps of 1919... in the 40's.
They were aparently inspired by... ice cream cones inherent stability.
At least they build extremely-odd looking aircrafts that were detailed in Le Fana de l'Aviation 371 (year 2000).
The one below is one of the most "reasonable" designs they come by. Imagine the others. :

 

[Bill Walker]

I hope we can include non-US obscure aircraft in this thread. Here is the third prototype Trident Trigull, c.1978, at Victoria, BC. Thats me on the left, without grey hair.

It looks a lot like a Seabee, because it was orignially designed by the same man, Spence Spencer. He developed a home built based on the Seabee, called the Spencer Aerocar, in the 1960s. The Trigull started as a productionized Aerocar.

 

[Stargazer]

I hope we can include non-US obscure aircraft in this thread.

Canada is fine of course. I have taken a habit of filing Canadian and American aircraft in the same general directories myself, anyway.

Let's keep this thread strictly for Northern American types though. Let's also exclude rotorcraft (I'll create a separate topic) so that it doesn't become too generic...

 

[Stargazer]

The Lesher SN-1 Nomad was the brainchild of Edward Lesher, an aeronautical teacher at the University of Michigan. It was a small two-seat all-metal pusher with an aluminum semi-monocoque fuselage and side-by-side seating for improved visibility. The 100 hp Continental O-200 engine was placed immediately behind the cockpit, fed with air intakes at the wing roots. The wing was built as a single assembly with a very simple profile and no dihedral. The vee-tailed empennage and vertical fin in low position was meant to impair the Hartzell propeller's efficiency as little as possible, while the vertical fin placed below helped to keep the propeller clear from the ground.

Construction began in 1959 and the Nomad flew late in 1961. The Nomad was followed by the better-known Lesher Teal, which also remained a prototype.

More on the Lesher prototypes: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,12399.0

 

[Stargazer]

In the late 1990s Duncan Aviation of Michigan developed its Xantus V/STOL design [N44CX], named after a species of hummingbird and designed by Terry Duncan, a lead engineer for Williams International. It featured four 80 hp Hirth F30 engines placed at wingtips fore and aft of the fuselage, and was unveiled to the public for the first time at AirVenture '99. The company predicted that the four-passenger tilt-prop aircraft would take off and land vertically, and cruise at 290 mph with a range of up to 800 nm. After receiving an airworthiness certificate from the FAA on July 7, 1999, the aircraft made its first tentative hovering flight on July 11. Its current disposition is unknown.

More on the Xantus: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=7355.0

 

[Stargazer]

Terence O'Neill's Pea Pod [N10T] of 1963 was an odd diminutive machine in which the pilot lay in a prone position, with most of his body inside the wing. It was powered by a 35 hp Kiekhaefer O-4-35 boat engine mounted inside the vertical fin, and could be carried atop the family car. Taxi tests were performed, but it could not meet FAR 103 requirements and reportedly never flew — hardly surprising considering the questionable aerodynamics and apparently insufficient wing loading of the design...

More on the Pea Pod: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,19239.0

 

[Stargazer]

In February 1959, two former Piasecki engineers formed the Vanguard Air and Marine Corporation to design and build an executive VTOL aircraft. Their first design, the Vanguard 2C Omniplane [apparently not registered] used a 25-ft long Ercoupe light plane fuselage and weighed 2,600 lb. The round wings each housed a 6 ft diameter three-bladed propeller that was mechanically driven for vertical flight by a 265 hp Lycoming O-540-A1A six cylinder piston engine. During forward flight, covers above the rotors and louvers below sealed the wing for aerodynamic lift. Forward thrust was produced by a 5 ft diameter shrouded propeller in the tail. Elevator and rudder surfaces immediately behind the rear fan controlled pitch and yaw, while differential propeller blade pitch affected roll in hover.

Ground tests, starting in August 1959 and including tethered hover trials, were followed by NASA full-scale wind tunnel testing. Modifications to the Omniplane in 1961, including an improved control system, upgrading to a 860 hp Lycoming YT53-L-1 turboshaft engine, and 5 ft nose extension to house a third lifting propeller, led to the redesignation 2D. The nose propeller improved control in pitch as well as in yaw, through the use of movable exit vanes. The 2D completed tethered hover tests, but was damaged by a mechanical failure and discontinued in early 1962.


Source: http://www.vstol.org/VSTOLWheel/VanguardOmniplane.htm

Much more on the Omniplane at xplanes.free.fr: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

More on other Vanguard projects: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,969.0.html

 

[Stargazer]

Around 1980 Burt Rutan was engaged by Tom Jewett, whom he had known at Bede, and Jewett's associate, Gene Sheehan, to help design an airplane that would carry ease of construction and low cost to the extreme, even at the expense of performance. That airplane became the Quickie. Rutan's involvement ended after testing of the prototype; Jewett and Sheehan then marketed the tiny 18­ hp airplane as a kit. The Quickie Aircraft Corp. installed itself in a hangar at the opposite end of the Mojave Airport from Rutan's.

Himself an aeronautical engineer, Jewett designed, and the Quickie Aircraft shop staff started building, an airplane called Big Bird in which Jewett intended to break the absolute distance record for unrefueled airplanes, set in 1962 at 12,519 miles by a B-52. The aircraft featured a unique landing gear dolly, which was designed to be jettisoned after the airplane took off on its record-attempting flight. At the completion of the flight, the airplane was to be landed on a wooden skid on the bottom of the aircraft. Burt Rutan thought ill of the design, and after he fell out with Jewett and Sheehan, the principals of Quickie Aircraft and RAF repeatedly sniped at each other in unseemly ways on the ramp at Mojave and in the aviation press.

After a hostile encounter on the airport camp with Jewett and Sheehan, Dick Rutan proposed to Burt that they do Jewett one better and build an airplane that could fly unrefueled all the way around the world.The Rutan brothers soon made a public announcement of their goal, reducing Big Bird to insignificance even before it had flown. Stung, Jewett quickly announced the same goal for Big Bird — which he rechristened Free Enterprise [N82X] — though his airplane was not really equal to the task. Jewett insisted that it was, but he never got the chance to prove it: the Free Enterprise crashed during testing, taking his life. Ironically, the goal initially set by Jewett was finally achieved by Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yeager in Burt Rutan's Voyager.

Adapted from an article published in the February 1989 issue of Flying.

More on the crash of the "Big Bird": http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/N82X-Jewett.htm
Also see:
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%200220.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%200221.html

 

[Stargazer]

Al Backstrom's tailless WPB-1 was a powered version of the Plank sailplane which he originally helped to design and build in the 1950s. Construction of the powered Plank was begun in 1972, most of the work being done by Van White, a director of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association). It was intended originally to fit a Sachs Wanzel or OMC snowmobile Wankel engine, but as neither became available, a fan-cooled single-ignition Kiekhaefer Aeromarine 440 was installed, driving a two-bladed pusher propeller via belts.

The original tandem-wheel/outrigger undercarriage was replaced by a more robust tricycle unit in 1976. Fuselage was of tubular structure, the wings were of wood and the whole airframe was fabric-covered. A two-seat version was also planned.

Source: Flight, 9 July 1977 (an item which was humorously entitled "Flying plank").

 

[Stargazer]

The one-off Hoops SP-1 [N2149] from Anaheim, Los Angeles, on which I could find no information, besides the fact that it was built in 1978 and was for sale in 2009.

 

[walter]

The Geraci Jeep-O-Plane
2-seat sport
one 90hp Continental C90 piston engine
wingspan ca.8ft
DETAILS: This unusual configuration homebuilt was a design of Mr. Al Geraci and developed in co-operation with Mr. William J. Simonini and was completed in 1956. The aircraft, named Jeep-O-Plane, made one flight only and further work was then halted. The aircraft was sometimes referred to as Alliance X and it featured a pusher engine installation (one 90hp Continental C90) and staggered wings with large interconnecting end plates. The one-of-a-kind aircraft (registration N275) featured a wing configuration as later also found on several of the French Starck designs (qv).

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Hi All -

The Backstrom WPB-1 is on display at the Airpower Museum in Blakesburg, IA - I have some print photos of it buried somewhere in a box. I also have drawings and an article on it from a vintage issue of EAA's Sport Aviation magazine I'll dig out and post too. It's been long on my list of "to do" R/C electric models.

Plank is the standard term for an unswept constant chord flying wing. An appropriate moniker...

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[walter]

McWhirter Skyrider (NX40000).
This obscure light plane appeared around 1946 and was attributed to a Mister (or Company?) McWhirter. It was reportedly intended as flying ambulance and had a 185hp Continental E185 engine.
I understand a picture (and some details?) may have appeared in the September 1946 issue of Popular Aviaton, but unfortunately I donot have access to that copy :'(