kgwilson

The concept has been revived and Regent Seagliders have tested their first prototype which is all electric. The first is a 12 seater with plans for 100 seat versions by 2030.

A sustainer motor is not designed for takeoff so why do they quote takeoff distance & climb rate?

The original Mitchell Wing was a hang glider. They flew well with weight shift pitch control & tip rudders similar to this. They were around in the late 70s and early 80s.

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

Yes he (was) keen and enthusiastic when I met  him and how he's making out is something i'd like to know. Regardless of how some (in the upper echelons) wish to regard his efforts he HAS BEEN a significant contributor to the movement.. Bagging rather than aiding innovators is the "way" the system works in Oz. We have a long history of it. (to our significant detriment) Nev

It was disappointing that Garry was much maligned by some. He produced a design that is exceptionally strong and with a performance envelope as good as and often better than many plastic fantastics even today and that was 11 years ago. I was at his factory a number of times when people would call in & he would stop and show them around and discuss anything they asked about. When things got very busy he had some young people come in for work experience and in the case of the Sierra that hit the Ferris Wheel there were a few issues of holes being drilled in the wrong place etc. That may have been from inexperienced staff and the bits were not replaced so got picked up by ATSB and blown out of all proportion even though they had nothing to do with the incident. Scapegoats are always needed in public situations and they found one. So Garry lost his Factory licence, his Instructor rating and what was left of his faith in the system.

The Ferris wheel aircraft was rebuilt and flew again well. It was eventually sold at a significant discounted price due to the history, nothing else.

That incident cost Australia one of its most innovative aircraft designers and manufacturers. Garrys first love was Gliding and he is now in one of the best parts of the world to continue this. I am not sure how the structural failure event has changed anything as I have heard nothing since.

No he didn't. Read the link in OTs post (if you can stomach it)

Garry was not good at documentation but he is a gifted (self taught) aeronautical engineer. His build manual was virtually unintelligible but he was always there to provide answers and advice on the phone. He'd had plans professionally drawn so that is what I used. The kit was mostly lots of aluminium extrusions, rolls of sheet, a few fibreglass bits straight out of the mould & nuts, bolts, rivets etc. 

He relocated back to his home town Blenheim in NZ & has a hangar at Omaka aerodrome. He had a major structural failure in the motor glider he built at around 11,000 feet & 1 wing folded over the canopy trapping him and his 11 year old niece and jamming the throttle to full power. I believe it was at idle at the time of the incident. He was unable to reach the handle of the ballistic parachute and the aircraft descended nose up at full power on to a scree slope where it eventually stopped and they both escaped without injury.

19-3116 is still current on the RA-Aus register so is flying somewhere.

One of the best of its time and still is today but without modern avionics & electronics.

The best looking military jet of its time.

The Bantam was designed and built by Max Clear who had his own airfield at Te Kowhai near Hamiltion in NZ. Max was an amazing aviator and I lived not far away and used to watch him doing very good aerobatics in the Pitts he built in the 70s from my veranda on warm Summer evenings. At the peak of production his company Micro Aviation was shipping quite a few to South Africa each month & he had various people helping to build them. I got to fly a few and they were delightful. All of the Bantams I flew were 2 stroke Rotax powered.

Sadly Max died of cancer in 2011 and his family were not interested in the business or aviation. The business sold but at the time in 2012 the airfield did not. There were 6 hangars there at the time. Total production before Max's death was 354 Bantams. The airfield was eventually sold to a private consortium and they hold flying events and country fairs etc there. I flew  the C172 and Archer in many times & there was always a great welcome, cup of tea & a yarn.

It had a pretty poor safety record. The Germans lost 292 of them in accidents so it earned it's nickname of "The Widowmaker" as 116 pilots were killed.

I didn't know much about the B36 & reading the Wiki stuff highlights how huge it is. Crews gave it a slogan of "six turning, four burning" but after numerous engine fires they humorously changed it to  into "two turning, two burning, two smoking, two choking and two more unaccounted for". It used 145 octane Avgas which fouled plugs quickly but a change was a huge job with 336 plugs required. Each engine had a 380 litre oil tank. I didn't find out the fuel capacity or consumption but it must have been massive.

The best heavy bomber of WW2 that flew almost exclusively at night. Slightly better performance & range than the B17 it had a considerably lower ceiling but more than double the bomb load capacity & was the only bomber capable of carrying the huge Tallboy or earthquake bomb. They even planned for Lancasters to drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan due to problems with the B29 but US prestige finally won the day with urgent modifications to the B29. Just as well too as the Lancaster would have struggled to escape the blast having to fly so much lower.

It ended up being a pretty good aircraft with 1 major limitation which was its bomb load capacity. The Mosquito could carry almost as much. But with the American war machines ability to mass produce these they were able to replace them faster than they lost them. The B29 resolved that right at the end of the war which was just as well for American prestige as the only other aircraft capable of dropping the Atomic bomb was the Avro Lancaster.

There is a photo of the fuselage of the first one received in 2004 on the Avspecs website & it is almost unrecognisable. I imagine they just removed all the fittings & completely built a brand new airframe & wings. The photos they have of the new wings and fuselage show impeccable workmanship which is reflected in the videos of the finished product.

There is another Mossie that has recently been found in a shed in Mapua near Nelson. The old bloke, John Smith died 6 months ago and he was an avid collector of old military aircraft. He had a P51, Tiger Moth, Vampire, 2 x P40s as well as multiple bits of many different aircraft. The Mossie looks in pretty good nick & is going to be restored and displayed at Omaka as far as I know. It looks like it would easily be able to be restored to flying condition though. Details are HERE

That article says that resorcinol glue was introduced in 1943 so from the 1940 models till 1943 they were probably using casein glue. Casein is the protein in cows milk and would have been readily available. Apparently it fell out of favour as it was susceptible to  attack by bacteria so they would have been pleased to get resorcinol, a good long lasting glue that was water and UV resistant

Coachwood, "Light and easily worked". Sounds ideal for aircraft building. Strength would be the other must have especially for the framework. AFAIK there are about 30 left world wide and only 4 in flying condition, 3 of which were immaculately restored by Avspecs at Ardmore NZ for American Billionaires. I guess they had no problem sourcing Canadian Birchwood.