twin joined Ercoupe and mysterious homebuilt canard- any info?

[AeroFranz]

Last year I drove from California to Virginia to start my new job.
Somewhere in Oklahoma, by the side of the road, I saw two planes sitting in delapidated state on someone's front yard. Both are pretty unique.

One is obvously two Ercoupes joined a la F-82. the other one is a weird little highly swept delta with small foreplanes, which I had never seen before. Does anyone have more info about either?

The Ercoupes bear two different fuselage numbers, so they were individual planes joined by someone, not a factory job. And no, I don't think this is just two wrecked planes someone pushed together. There are quite a few details that lend me to believe that some thought went into this, but I don't know if it ever flew.

 

[walter]

Dear AeroFranz,
The unusual delta aircraft is the Heuberger-Rinker H-5 Stinger and love it that that this one-of-a-kind aircraft still exists in pretty good condition, Did you notice any registration? (it originally was N3638G). The Stinger was an original design of Mr. Larry (Lawrence K) Heuberger who started construction around the early-1960s. Prior completion the project was acquired (around 1968) by Mr.
Bud Rinker (Santa Barbara, Ca) who almost certainly did some limited testing in 1970.
Some details: Two-seat and one 140hp Lycoming O-290-G engine.
wingspan 16ft 6 inch, length 14ft 8 inch
Theoretical max. speed 180 mph, cruise 160 mph, ceiling 10,500ft and climbrate 1.200ft/minute.

Sorry no info on the twin Ercoupe
Regards, Walter (van Tilborg) from the Netherlands

 

[Just call me Ray]

Hmmm, if I had the time, money and ability I'd love to restore the little homebuilt to flying condition. Maybe the current owner can at least donate it to EAA if they're not going to restore it themselves.

The Ercoupe is...quite interesting to say the least.

 

[AeroFranz]

Walter,
thanks a lot for solving the mystery, not knowing had bugged me for more than a year. I wonder what prompted the designer to chose such a risky configuration.

 

[Jemiba]

For the twin-Ercoupe see here :
http://edburkhead.com/Ercoupe/Twin-Ercoupe.htm

 

[walter]

Dear AeroFranz,
My best guess is that among the many aircraft homebuilders there are a few who want to prove that aircraft donot have to look all similar. Just think of Mr. Burt Rutan who started with his unsual VariViggen and you know what resulted from his approach.
Mr. Heuberger designed and built at least two other experimentals. The first one was the SL-1 Doodle Bug
(1954) which I would describe as conventional. Next came the Sizzler (1957) which already started to differ from contemporary designs in that is had a bulky fuselage with straight lines. At least 2 were built (the prototype N75345 of Mr. Heuberger and C-GSIM of Mr. James Sim in Canada).
For a photo of the latter please see www.aircraftworlddirectory.com in the civil section and select heuberger sizzler.
Whenever you locate other uniques I hope you will post again.
Regards, Walter

 

[robunos]

this from 'Unconventional Aircraft', peter m.bowers, ISBN 0-8306-2450-3, page 168:-

cheers,
Robin.

 

[Just call me Ray]

Hmmm, would it be fun to restore both of them to flying condition?

Maybe I need to make a trip to Oklahoma one of these days....

 

[AeroFranz]

Just today a colleague sent me this page, which tells us that the location of the Twin Ercoupe is actually off I-40, in Tucumcari, NM (I was a little bit off! after the first 1,000 miles it all blends in!)

http://www.twinnavion.com/oddballs.htm

 

[Just call me Ray]

Thanks for the link, very informative!

 

[Voodoo Driver]

I am new to the forum, but your post came up as I was trying to find anything on the twin Ercoupe. As a child growing up in the rural village of Bon Air, TN, I was determined to be an "airplane pilot", a dream from my first memory that came true. My first airplane ride was for $2.00 in an aeronca Champ at the airport in Crossville, TN (KCSV) in 1946 or so. Later after that first ride we went to air shows at the Crossville Airport where I was able to get more rides. The most impressive act at the airshow one year (probably 1948) was the twin Ercoupe acrobatic demonstration. They did loops, rolls and spins in a show I have never forgotten. I now live in Crossville and the guys at the airport give me that look of disbelief when I reminisce about those days and that airplane. I have discovered that it was built of two licensed aircraft by a J. B. Collie of Southeast Air Service for the Thrasher Brothers Air Service of Elberton, GA. A rare bit of aviation history.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Here's another photo of what is the Heuberger-Rinker H-5 Stinger N3638G. Know I have seen it listed - early EAA Sport Aviation or Air Progress. Have yet to find it....

Enjoy the Day! Mark