F10

Haven’t heard or read much about the DVIII, but the DVII, was thought to be such a good fighter, it was mentioned in the Treaty of Versailles!

Yeah, the Slings are pretty cool! I think they are now building them in the USA under licence.

I suspect you could be right. But it does seem to be shaped into quite a tight radius around the wing root area. I don’t think Alexander is all that expensive, so might give it a go. Will a heat gun soften it a bit? Will probably have to be quite careful with that....! The Lexan I used in the rear deck was from “Bunnings Aerospace”....🤓it was a bit thicker, so maybe a bit heavier.....😤 but it has made the deck feel a lot more rigid, swings and roundabouts!

Apologies, you are correct. At least the two places are fairly close together!

Anyone know where I could get a windscreen made, or is there a way to bend a piece of Lexan to fit? My windshield is ok, but it has a stop drilled crack in the top RH corner. The crack has had a rectangle of thin plastic glued over it, so has been well repaired I think, but it still looks a bit second hand. Fortunately the thick piece of Perspex making up the roof looks pretty new. I replaced the decking windows, a fairly simple and fun job. Remember to label all the supports with "L or R, front, back" with masking tape, as they need to go back in the same place to fit the rivet holes.

You need to read posts. Yes, you need rudder in the turn for balance..... but it seemed to me, not that rudder input you need as you simultaneously apply aileron. From what I saw when relaxing my feet on the pedals and rolling the Gazelle, I saw no typical indication of adverse aileron yaw on the balance ball. Normally you will clearly see balance ball movement showing a slight out of turn yaw, very shortly after applying aileron. I've demonstrated adverse aileron yaw to many students, using a slightly rapid aileron application, which makes the ball movement more noticeable. This thing about the Gazelle being "too easy to fly", I totally dis-agree with that. I've flown a Eurofox (looks almost identical to a Gazelle), and 11 (motor glider included) different types of SE typical GA aircraft and you most certainly won't "forget how to fly properly" after flying a Gazelle. Look at it this way, Gazelles were built originally for flying schools, as trainers wwere they not? Most were VH registered. Like mine VH-IOP. You would be a pretty poor businessman if you invested a large amount in setting up a factory in Caboolture, to build aircraft as "GA trainers", that "were so easy to fly, you forgot how to fly properly" if jumping into something else. That makes NO sense. As for a docile stall, well plenty of aircraft have that. Try leaving 2000RPM on your Gazelle when you stall it and be unbalanced....then tell me how "docile" in the stall it was.

I had heard he preferred attacking 2 seaters....also, he wasn’t so great a pilot, but was a brilliant marksman....so often the difference between aces and the others, in both wars. The ability to shoot. That does of course, require good flying, shooting well. Erich Hartmann was flying a patrol, when below them, they spotted 3 Stormoviks in a close echelon formation. Telling the others to stay up for top cover, he rolled his 109 inverted and his patrol watched him make one high speed pass behind them, then zoom climb up and rejoin them. The Stormoviks wobbled about, but carried on, Then all three propellers stopped. Hartmann had nailed all three belly coolant radiators in one pass.The belly radiators were the one weak spot of the heavier armour plated Stormovik. Back at base, he had used less than half his cannon rounds. That is how well he could shoot, and why he’s the top scoring fighter pilot of all time.

Flying my Gazelle, it’s the first time I’ve experienced the Ju87 Junkers type ailerons. I was fascinated to see there is no adverse aileron drag, which makes sense aerodynamically. Adverse yaw is caused by differential lift induced drag, caused by the camber change (lift) of the deflecting conventional ailerons. These ailerons do not cause a camber change. They also won’t induce a tip stall if used when the wing is at high AoA or Alpha, not bad! They in essence are flat plates, (symmetrical little aerofoils), operating according to Newton 3. This is tricky, as I have years of ingrained muscle memory, in making a dab on the rudder, as I roll into a turn, to counter adverse yaw, now not there! What is needed, is a slower progressive input, as the bank angle is reached, enough merely for balance in the turn. At this stage, I’m pretty much in balance....for that brief period when the ball flashes through the centre marks!🥸 Will have to just hand an airsickness bag to my pax, before we start turning! But they say, practice makes perfect.

Well yes....but again we are on the slippery slope of how much is enough....or how to get a perfect flight safety record...put the aircraft in the hangar and lock the doors....

Those look very cool!

Castor oil....so, the sight of Richtoffens circus diving out of the sun wasn’t the only reason underwear needed to be washed....however, let me add, all respect to these very brave pilots of the Great War, it was brutal. Interesting to think the fighters of yesterday, are the RA aircraft of today. The take off weight weight thing is interesting, next time I see someone buying man shakes at the chemist, I know he’s trying to get his GA aircraft onto the RA register!

Ok, I thought they rotate only on opening and closing, not continuously. This was exactly as you said, to avoid hot spots allow even heat distribution or avoid carbon build up and to keep the seating of the valve clean as such? Interesting.

And in class G, would no radio, TXDR below 10 000ft, be a bad thing? Maybe if traffic grew to such an extent, but is that likely? Most pilots are happy to apply good radio procedures and lookout. If the airfield is not registered, (the old CTAFR), you don’t need radio anyway, but most pilots I know will still make calls anyway. I know this has nothing to do with CASA, but going to Part 61, has caused huge financial costs. Was that really necessary? Part 5 seemed to work fine in Australia? Also, CASA didn’t exactly leap to the defence in this case, of thousands of GA and RA aviators?

Correct, valves rotate as they operate, hardened valve seats sort this out in low or no lead engines. Otherwise valve seat recession occurs and you end up with no valve push rod, rocker or tappet clearance, which means, the valve will not close properly, leading to no compression and a burned valve, valve failure and an involuntary visit for coffee with a local farmer. Amazing where life can lead us!

It does seem, Gazelles are very well priced these days, lots of bang for your buck. I bought a tricycle gear recently, in a 50/50 partnership with a good mate. The fact she had stood gathering dust for about a year, with the odd engine run, needed a Rotax 5 year rubber and an annual servicing, gave us bargaining power. With a good few weekends of cleaning, polishing, re -upholstery, doing the 5 year rubber and the annual servicing, all told, she’s back in the air, at a cost of $10 000 each. I think, for what is a very nice, honest little aircraft, that’s pretty good. You can’t buy an engineless, single seat kit for that. They are getting old, so beware, but I think if you are on a budget, some good ones are out there.

Interesting, we’re these the same aircraft (Grob) that the USAAF had so many spinning issues with? Not that it seems a problem here....just ban spinning! But like all the yellow ex flying school Foxbats that suddenly came on the market, buyer beware, some cheap ones could have buckled firewalls due hard landings or other lurking horrors. But yes... certainly worth a look...and I mean a “I was physically there, with an L2/3 mate” look. Not withstanding the Grob airframe hours, as an RA, I would hate to see the cost of an IO360 annual servicing, and spare parts costs...? Have you tried starting a hot injected Lycoming? A Stephen King novel is like a child’s story book in comparison!😜

Correct. 80 to 100Hp, is considered a major mod. You will need to jump through all those burning hoops. What then does “experimental” mean? I thought that was built modded or redesigned by owner, within certain guidelines, with the all important plaque on the dash warning any pax “fly in this aircraft at your peril”.

Really really don’t want to be political, but I will never agree with your view on Israel. They have faced more of a threat and onslaught than any country on earth, not to mention the slaughter of 6 million countrymen in the last war. They have an undeniable right to exist. It is others, not they, who pick a fight with them, in my view.

Considering the Spitfires excellent flight performance. In the late 30’s an Aerodynamicist, Canadian Beverly Shenstone, worked for Supermarine. He had spent a few years in Germany, working at Heinkel, doing a study of the aerodynamic properties of the elliptical wing shape. How ironic! These are a very even distribution of lift generated over the wing span, resulting in a reduction of span wise wing trailing edge and wing tip flow, leading to reduced vortex formation and thus very low lift induced drag. Problem is, this wing shape is complex, each wing rib, for example, is different. It is therefore difficult to mass produce. I believe Shenstone played a big part in the Spitfire having a double elliptic wing, possibly more so than Mitchell. Mitchell’s gift was that he wasn’t ego driven, anyone who had a good sounding idea, was listened to. The leading edge elipse, differs from the trailing edge elliptical shape, hence a double elipse. The saying Mitchell is reported to have said that the wing was “only that shape, to cover the guns”, was I think, a cover to divert from the real advantages of the wing shape. Apart from the planform shape, the other unique feature, was the wings remarkable thin frontal area. For it’s day it was a very thin wing, it was pretty unique. The Spitfire came within a hairs breadth of being cancelled, because the wing was so difficult to mass produce. Fortunately they didn’t!

One of the much loved models produced by Airfix, was a 1/72 scale O/400. I recently built my third I think! But, decided to use some poetic licence and convert it into a civil airliner. Some where actually converted, but this is not based on that.

Yeah, no doubt the Pruner commenting on those who “can’t afford real aircraft”, owns a 747-800 Executive jet, probably 2.

Yes this is stepping on the dangerous thin ice of politics....can’t help but comment on some who appear to be impartial and “why all the fuss”, but then slips like “the rights twisted agenda” give their bias away. My view, if the Spifire and Hurricane pilots could see the state of England today, the anti Semitism and the PC insanity, I dare say they would have turned around and escorted the Heinkels, Ju88’s and Dorniers to London.

Seeing that Jab with all that snow on it.....wonder how many negative “g’s” it was pulling! Snow can be pretty heavy! I remember reading an article the Brit CAA wanted a builder to test to destruction, one complete built wing of a Fisher Flying Products Horison II, because despite Barnes Wallis and the brilliant Wellington, they didn’t believe the geodetic construction was acceptable. So, poor guy, he had to build a complete wing, mounted it inverted on a wall, and they started loading sandbags on it. When they got over 7g, it suffered a partial failure of the rear spar. The aircraft would never be able to fly fast enough, to get close to that kind of g loading.

Things have been quite vibrant in South Africa with recreational flying in the last decade or two. Jabirus being built in George, is that still a thing? Sling aircraft, gaining popularity and respect, Bushbaby, SA version of the Kitfox which seems to have cooled off? Anyone got news or news of any interesting developments?

Agreed, generally do ignore or find amusing....but this was so blatant and arrogant, I was astounded.