Garfly

But you'd have to walk miles to find something more ungainly.

Yes, what a pity the 4-place Victa never had the support it needed to go into production. It surely would have given the C172 and the PA28 a run for their money back then ... at least in this market, and maybe beyond. VH-MVR was the prototype and today is owned and flown by Des Heffernan out of Frogs Hollow near Bega, NSW. Des also has a (2-place) Airtourer in his shed - and his own strip - at nearby Buckajo.

IMG_0936.m4v Hint: A one-off.

Oh, yeah ... the "Not enough runway!" scene. (I'm pretty sure that's John Howard saluting Max at 3:07)

Meanwhile, the Aerovan's gorgeous sibling, the M.52 was, for all its supersonic sexiness, finally, none the luckier in love.

Anyway, we do know that the Miles Aerovan was something of a grandma to the Short Skyvan. (This is a 7 minute silent film from 1945) Not to forget this distant French cousin: From Wiki: "In 1958, Short was approached by F.G. Miles Ltd (successor company to Miles Aircraft) which was seeking backing to produce a development of the H.D.M.106 Caravan design with a high aspect ratio wing similar to that of the Hurel-Dubois HD.31. Short acquired the design and data gathered from trials of the Mi

What ever happened to the Duke ... ?

Any pics SP?

At a sprightly 48 Kts she'd be quicker than walking (most of the time ;- ) Anyway, they only made 20 before closing up shop. Too bad.

It's a CONFUSING world. Thank goodness for Doctor Wiki: "It was developed from the Bennett Airtruck designed in New Zealand by Luigi Pellarini. It has a 1 tonne capacity hopper and is able to ferry two passengers as a topdresser. Other versions can be used as cargo, ambulance or aerial survey aircraft, and carry one passenger in the top deck and four in the lower deck. The Airtruk is also sometimes known as the Airtruck. Because the name "Airtruck" was registered by the New Zealand companies Bennett Aviation Ltd and Waitomo Aircraft Ltd, for their PL-11, Transavia

One is the PL11 and the other the PL12. Same designer, Luigi Pellarini. The story is covered in the little documentary.

It's best left unsaid; just what went on in those dark wartime hangars.

Speaking of the unprepossessing ...

But are they as good as barn-doors?

I'd like to know what happened to the rest of those Harvard parts. What a waste! Anyway, this turned out to be a more successful ZK workhorse:

Tuh! ... and they call the Skyranger ugly!! (Okay, with a bit of justification, but hey, they laughed at the 2CV too!)

Ha, ha ... all those insects in our brave new Class G must be buried under that stratus layer in the old G, way down at ... umm, minus 4000'

The video is a bit of a stir but still, boffins do seem genuinely fascinated by their flat plates and some of the RC crowd do use 'em precisely to save time in the build /re-build. In any case, I suppose the vid serves as a reminder that our favourite NACA profile is basically a refined barn-door and not the magical sine qua non of flight that our aeronautical upbringing suggested it was. (Did someone say Bernoulli?) http://brennen.caltech.edu/fluidbook/externalflows/lift/flatplateairfoil.pdf https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/21391/what-is-the-per

Auto translate subtitles are available if you click through to watch on YouTube.