R.A.E. light planes

[Jan den Das]

During the two wars at the R.A.E. aeroclub there has been at least three light planes build.
The Hurricane, Zephyr and the Scarab.
It would be interrested if some one good be of any help with details of these aeroplanes, such as drawings/dimensions/etc.


Jjr

 

[cluttonfred]

All three of those R.A.E. light planes are covered in one of my favorite books, Ultralights: The Early British Classics by Richard Riding (Patrick Stephens Ltd, Somerset, UK, 1987). Used copies run about $50 but the book is a treasure trove if you are interested in very light aircraft of the period, there is even an appendix with details on the engines of the day.

The pusher biplane Zephyr and tractor mid-wing cantilever monoplane Hurricane were original designs, the tractor strut-braced parasol Scarab a new fuselage mated to DH.53 Hummingbird wings and tail. All three are actually covered pretty well by their Wikipedia entries, though there is no pic of the Hurricane there. Here is a nice gallery of photos of a flying scale model that shows off the Hurricane's odd fuselage quite well. http://www.richardsandford.com/album.php5?name=Planes/

 

[Apophenia]

Flight September 13, 1923 page 548

The Zephr's "loaded weight is 635 lbs., which figure includes the weight of the pilot (168 lbs.) and 3 gallons of petrol." ... The "Zephyr" has a wing span of 29 ft. and a wing surface of 250 sq. ft. The chord is 4 ft. 6 ins. and the wing loading 2-54 lbs./sq. ft.

The engine fitted is a 500 c.c. Douglas flat twin rated at 3 1/2 h.p. but developing probably something like 17 hp. at 4,000 r.p.m. A two-bladed airscrew is fitted, and is driven by a chain transmission at one-half of the engine speed. The diameter of the screw is 5 ft. The cruising speed is estamated at 45 m.p.h. and the landing speed at 28 m.p.h."

 

[cluttonfred]

Those Wikipedia articles include links to quite a few relevant articles from the FLIGHT archive online.

 

[robunos]

From the above mentioned 'Ultralights' :-

The RAE Zephyr...

cheers,
Robin.

 

[robunos]

The RAE Hurricane...
(the image shows the Hurricane in it's later form, with a 32hp Bristol Cherub, and revised undercarriage...)

cheers,
Robin.

 

[robunos]

And the RAE Scarab..

cheers,
Robin.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

the RAE Sirocco was a single seat ultra light monoplane,powered by one 32 hp Bristol
Cherub III engine,never completed.

And from L'Aeronautique 1923,

I can't ID this design ?.

 

[Schneiderman]

That is the Zephyr from post #5.
Oliver Simmonds, mentioned in the text, left the RAE and joined Supermarine in 1924 and then quit in 1928 to establish Simmonds Aircraft to built his Spartan design.