By:      Norm Goyer

The Grumman XF5 Skyrocket was flawed from the very first prototype.

Grumman certainly built some outstanding aircraft including the F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, TBF Avenger, F7F Tigercat, F8F Bearcat, F9F Panther and on and on. But, their early aircraft, with the exception of the pre-war twin engine Widgeon and Goose, certainly would not have won any beauty awards. One of their first aircraft was the Grumman biplane Duck with the single float designed as part of the fuselage. Their early biplanes were short, stubby and pot bellied. Pilots loved them but aviation purists looked the other way. But none could compare to the ugliest airplane of them all, the Grumman twin-engine XF5F Skyrocket. Instead of christening it with a bottle of Champaign they hit it with an ugly stick. There is an old saying, if looks great it will fly great, and the Skyrocket proved this saying to be very accurate. The model designation tells us that the plane was designed after the Wildcat and probably during the same time the Hellcat F6F was on the boards.

My research book, Planes of the US Navy, tells us that the Grumman XF5F Skyrocket was a prototype of a twin-engine shipboard fighter interceptor.  The  Navy ordered one prototype airplane in June of 1938 designated as the XF5F-1. The aircraft had an unique appearance in that the forward part of the fuselage did not extend forward of the wing. Provisions were included in the prototype for two 23 mm  Madsen cannon. Contemporary British twin engine fighters were armed with four 20, canon

Grumman revised the Skyrocket into the XP-50. This one was designed for land operation. It too was not accepted.

The aircraft flew for the first time in April of 1940. Engine cooling problems arose in the initial flights, resulting in modification to the oil cooling ducts. Further modifications were made to the prototype including reduction in the height of the cockpit canopy, revising the armament installation to four 0.5  machine guns in place of the cannon, redesign of the engine nacelles, adding spinners to the propellers, and extending the fuselage forward of the wing. These changes were completed in July of 1941. Additional changes were needed after further flight tests which were not completed until  January  of 1942. In the meantime, Grumman began work on a more advanced twin-engine shipboard fighter, the XF7F-1, and further testing with the XF5F-1 supported the development of the newer design. The prototype continued to be used in various tests, although plagued by various landing gear problems, until it was struck from the list of active aircraft after it made a belly landing in December of 1944.

During testing of the shipboard XF5F Grumman engineers had modified another version to serve as a land based fighter with the Marine Corp in mind. This version was called the Grumman XP-50. The XP-50 was entered in a USAAC contest for a twin-engine heavy interceptor aircraft. The Army Air Corps placed an order for a prototype in November of 1939 designating it XP-50, but it lost the competition to the XP-49 a revised version of the Lockheed P-38. The XP-49 had experimental Continental inverted V engines which proved to be unsuitable for the aircraft. The Allisons in the P-38 were far superior.

A three-view of the XP-50 shows the unusual aircraft which was dropped when the F7F Tigercat became available.

The Grumman XP-50-was entered into competition alongside proposals from Bell, Brewster, Curtiss, Lockheed, and Vought. The XP-50 design was similar to that of the XF5F-1 with modifications to the fuselage nose to house the nose-wheel of the tricycle landing gear and provisions for self-sealing fuel tanks and pilot armor. The planned armament was two 20 mm cannon and two .50 in machine guns. During testing, the XP-50 prototype was lost, falling victim to a turbo-supercharger explosion that destroyed the aircraft. The test pilot Robert Hall bailed out while the XP-50 plunged into Smithtown Bay in Long Island Sound.

Based upon experience with the XF5F-1 and the XP-50, Grumman had begun work on a more advanced fighter, designated model G-51, the future Tigercat F7F. Thus, the USAAC decided to replace the XP-50 with the newer design. Consideration was given to combining the Air Corps and Navy requirements into a common design, but the weight and performance penalties inherent in conflicting requirements were considered great enough that separate designs would be needed. Since the Navy considered Grumman one of its major production sources and that producing two different model aircraft by Grumman would impede manufacture of aircraft types the U.S. Navy needed, it was decided that development of the XF7F-1 would continue. The Army Air Force version was dropped.

The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the result of lessons learned with both the Skyrocket and the XP-50. The Navy finally had the twin engine fighter it wanted.

This beauty and beast aerial fable did have a happy ending with the two ugly ducklings growing up into the beautiful Grumman F7F Tigercat resplendent in its blue black Navy colors, still true to the fable.

Specifications Grumman XF5F-1

• Crew: 1
• Length: 28 ft 9 in
• Wingspan: 42 ft
• Height: 11 ft 4 in
• Wing area: 303.5 ft²
• Empty weight: 8,107 lb
• Loaded weight: 10,138 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 10,900 lb
• Engines:  Twin Wright XR-1820-40/42 Cyclone nine cylinder radial engines, 1,200 hp each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 383 mph at sea level
• Range: 1,200 mi
• Service ceiling: 33,000 ft
• Rate of climb: 4,000 ft/min

Armament

• 4 × 0.5 in  machine guns
• 4 × 165 lb  bombs

Hanna Reitsch demonstrated the Fw.61 in a crowded indoor sports arena.

One of the very first practical helicopters was built in Germany in the early 1930s  by Professor Henrich Focke. Focke first experimented with rotary wing development with his licensed copy of the Cierva Autogyro. He had previously built versions of the Cierva C.19 and C.20, which were  autogyros. While working with these aircraft, Professor Focke realized that they were incapable of many maneuvers. He knew the answer was in the development of a true helicopter. Working with engineer Gerd Achgelis, they started the design for their Fw.61 helicopter in 1932. A free-flying model, built in 1934 and propelled by a small two-stroke engine, brought the promise of success. Today, the model can be seen in the Deutsches Museum in Munich. I checked my favorite source for German aircraft, “Hitler’s Luftwaffe”, and discovered further information about the world’s first helicopter.

Hanna Reitsch was one of the best pilots Germany had in World War II. She excelled as a test pilot. Her mother thought she was beautiful.

“During early February of 1935, Focke received an order for the building of a prototype, which was designated the Fw 61, however Focke referred to it as the F 61. Roluf  Lucht, of the technical office of the RLM, extended the order for a second aircraft on  December 19, 1935. The airframe was based on that of a well-tried training aircraft, the Focke-Wulf Fw 44 Stieglitz.

A single, radial engine drove twin rotors, set on outriggers to the left and right of the fuselage. The counter-rotation of the two rotors solved the problem of torque-reaction. The small horizontal-axis propeller directly driven by the engine was purely to provide the necessary airflow to cool the engine during low speed or hovering flight- it provided negligible forward thrust.

The Fw. 61 used the fuselage from an existing fixed wing aircraft and converted it to a twin boom helicopter.

Only two aircraft were produced. The first prototype, the V 1 D-EBVU, had its first free flight on  June 29, 1936 with Ewald Rohlfs at the controls. By spring 1937, the second prototype, V 2 D-EKRA, was completed and flown for its first flight. On  May 10, 1937, it accomplished its first autorotation landing with the engine turned off.

In February 1938, the Fw 61 demonstration flown  by Hanna Reitsch was indeed held indoors at the Deutschlandhalle sports stadium in Berlin, Germany. The Fw 61 subsequently set several records for altitude, speed and flight duration culminating, in June 1938, with an altitude record of 11,243 ft and a straight line flight record of 143 miles.

The Germans were very proud of the first successful helicopter and issued a stamp in its honor.

Neither of these machines appear to have survived World War II, however a replica is on display at the Helicopter museum in Bückeburg, Germany.

• Crew: 1
• Length: 23 ft 11.04 in
• Rotor diameter: 2 × 23 ft
• Height: 8 ft 7.92 in
• Empty weight: 1,803 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 2,094 lb
• Engine: BMW Bramo 314 E 7-cylinder radial, 160 hp

Performance

• Maximum speed: 122 km/h 76 mph
• Cruise speed: 49 kn, 56 mph
• Range: 124 nmi, 143 miles
• Service ceiling: 11,243 ft
• Rate of climb: 690 ft/min

The Quicksilver is the grand daddy of the ultralight movement. The Mk II has conventional controls and is a great flying aircraft. Hundreds were sold around the world.

I know that anyone who really wants to fly can attain his or her goals by creative pursuance of current aviation practices and policies. You need to know what you don’t need to learn to fly, that’s right, what you want and what you need are two widely separated variables. For example you do not need glass cockpits or expensive navigation systems to enjoy flying, in fact, too much technology detracts from the joy of flying. One way is to join a local club at your nearest FBO, savings, about 10% by buying blocks of time. Partnerships and cooperative ownership, hard to determine if any money is saved because your share of the airplane is not available to you when you want it; a whole lot of cooperation is needed in shared ownership, yet, with the right mix of owners  these cooperatives do enable one to own a more expensive aircraft. However, I cannot recommend this for anyone learning to fly. Much too complicated.

The Avid Flyer is one of a series of ultralights which were and still are very popular. It is a very good flying aircraft.

My all time favorite way to get into the air is still with a form of alternate aviation. A few years ago I wrote a book called Air Sports for McGraw Hill on the various types of flying, many didn’t even involve an aircraft. I have flown every type of an aircraft from a single place ultralight to a B-52, and they are all fun to fly. If you’re pissed at anyone a B-52 will vent your anger in a big hurry. I found that I did have some preferences and some downright dislikes, such as powered parachutes. But, let’s start at the beginning. An aircraft is an aircraft and a balloon is a balloon. A helicopter is a rotary wing and a gyro copter is a non powered rotary wing which gets its lift by air passing from the bottom to the top. Balloons are referred to as lighter than air while a parachute is a form of a wing in which the air is gathered in the envelop which slows down the descent. rectangular chutes are a form of a wing and produce some lift as they descend again slowing down the descent as well as allowing the chutist to maneuver the envelope. These are not of any use when it comes to learning to fly, but they do get you into the air, briefly.

The RV S-12 is an excellent kit to build an LSA legal homebuilt. The RV is highly regarded as a two place sport aircraft.

Now my favorite; conventional controlled ultralights. Some of the early ULs used shifting weight to control flight much like a hang glider does, ignore these. Some early Quick Silvers had spoilers on the wing controlled by the rudder pedals and the rudder and nose gear was controlled by the stick, left or right. If there are any of those still around avoid them. Later versions of the Quick Silver had conventional controls and were very good flying aircraft.  Nothing is ever perfect and any flying time you log in an Part 103 UL is non logable for flying time. Why? The FAA does not recognize ULs as aircraft but as airborne vehicles. But, in fact you will be getting some of the best flying experiences ever. Flying time logged in the newer LSA (light sport aircraft) is legal and logable however. There has been many changes in the rules for Ultralight Part 103 flying especially with two place training aircraft. Don’t attempt to do this by yourself. Find a club or a group and start participating on weekends with them.

There are some very nice ultralights around that are small aircraft with sailcloth wings and aluminum frames, some are even all aluminum. Engines, now that is the problem. Here are some thoughts on UL engines. Don’t even attempt to overhaul a single or twin cylinder two stroke Rotax which has been in storage. You should replace it with a modern four stroke engine of almost equal weight and horsepower. There are literally thousands of ultralights stored in hangars around the country. Replace the covering, simple on an ultralight, as they are sailcloth, no dope required. Replace the engine or have a firm such s Lockwood in Florida overhaul the four- stroke engine. Don’t fool around with a two-stroke.

This LSA is one of the top selling brands in the world. the Flight Design CT-2K is ready to fly, great way to learn to fly, and for sport flying for years to come.

The best way to get into aviation with a certified homebuilt or an LSA kit is by hooking up with an EAA Chapter in your area. I suggest you build or restore an aircraft that is LSA legal. Club members will help you get started. Modern kits such as those offered by RV are excellent and easy to build. Don’t give up your dream of learning to fly, search it out. All the info you need is right on your computer. Go to Google and type in: Ultralights, EAA Chapters, Homebuilt LSA aircraft. Experimental Aircraft, Building your own aircraft and all the info you need will be right in front of you. You can also look online for used LSA aircraft; they are starting to hit the market now at greatly reduced prices. Don’t give up, go for it. NG

The Polish fighter was used during the invasion of Poland by the Germans. It was not successful.

Over the years there has been some very interesting gull wing airplanes and some unusual ones. But, why a gull wing? Let’s look at some of the most well known and some rare gull wing aircraft. My first association with a gull wing aircraft was a model airplane I built of the prewar 1930s Polish Fighter the PZL P1 gull wing monoplane.  A large number of my 5th grade class were Polish and I instantly became their hero for building “one of their airplanes.” When the newspaper or Movietone News showed a Polish Fighter downing a Stuka  (very rare occurrence) the house exploded. My Polish friends were fanatics. I built it because the gull wing added to the dihedral effect and lowered the center of gravity which made the rubber band model fly better. Years later my late friend Harry Apoian built a quarter size Polish Figher on floats and told everyone that it had participated in the battle of Warsaw Harbor. That was Harry.

The Curtiss XP-10 was built to give better visibility to the pilots of biplanes whose view was restricted by the upper wing.

The gull wing profile was chosen for both the Polish Fighter and the Curtiss XP-10 for the simple reason that by raising the wing with a middle gull section the visibility both forward and upwards was greatly increased for the pilot. I have built many Stinson Reliants with gull wings and everyone was an exceptional flyer. But the interesting part is that the Stinson Gullwing is the most widely known is not a gull wing at all. The shape of the wing is the result of a highly tapered main spar which greatly reduces the height of the airfoil where it attaches to the cabin, this was the reason for the change in spar size. The result was that the wing had a gull wing look and was an instant hit with buyers of large five passenger business aircraft. I have flown many Stinson Reliants over the years and it is a fine flying aircraft, slow but comfortable. During WWII Stinson built large numbers of the V-77 for England who used the big gull wing for executive transport. These were repurchased after the war and converted by Stinson back to SR-10s from their V-77 configuration.

One of my favorite biplane manufacturers has always been Curtiss. This firm knew what a biplane was supposed to look like, they had some real sexy biplanes making the Grumman and Boeing versions look like flying fire plugs. The XP-10 was first flown in June of 1929. it was supposed to be a great improvement over their regular Hawks by providing improved visibility down and up for the pilot. The aircraft had the very powerful Curtiss V-1370 600 hp engine. The plane proved to be a bit faster than a stock Hawk but not fast enough to warrant the extra work needed in fabricating the gull portion of the wing. The XP-10 was scrapped, what a shame. Once again the designers trying to save a little work for themselves installed the poor performing wing surface radiators which didn’t work properly before.

The World War II Vought Corsair was the most famous gull wing fighter.

Vought Corsair and Junkers in Germany used the gull wing with great success on the Stuka dive bomber and /Corsair Navy and Marine fighter. Both used the gull as a method of raising the propeller without the use of overlong landing gear legs. The Stuka also had a huge bomb slung beneath the engine and used a fixed gear. Corsair had retracts but suffered from shock absorber problems until new struts were redesigned.

Yes, Mother Nature already figured out that gull wings were indeed a great asset to good flying qualites, aviation engineers simply borrowed the master’s design.

Curtiss XP-10

General characteristics Curtiss XP-10

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 24 ft 6 in
• Wingspan: 33 ft
• Height: 10 ft 10 in
• Wing area: 238 ft²
• Empty weight: approx. 2,900 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 3,400 lb
• Engine:× V-1570 Conqueror water-cooled 12-cylinder vee, 600 hp

Performance

• Maximum speed: 150 knots 173 mph
• Cruise speed: 113 knots, 130 mph
• Range: 195 mi 170 NM
• Service ceiling: 19,610 ft
• Rate of climb: 1,940 ft/min

The Hawker Hurricane shot down over 60% of the enemy planes during the Battle of Britain.

England depended on a series of Hawker biplane fighters between the wars; some models fought into World War II as well. In fact  biplane Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers  were heavily involved in the sinking of the Bismark. Fairey and Hawker biplanes were the backbone of England’s air defenses when WWII broke out in Europe. Modern fighters were needed and Supermarine responded with the Spitfire, inspired by the Supermarine Schneider Cup Racer which won the event. Hawker switched from biplanes to a fabric and metal covered low wing fighter which was a delight to fly. This was the famous Hawker Hurricane. Pilots loved the Hurricane and with it managed to shoot down over 60% of the German planes lost in the Battle of Britain. The Spitfire had a retractable landing gear which was very narrow and set at an angle, it also retracted outward into the wing. The Hurricane had a wing spar mounted landing gear which retracted inward. This configuration gave it a wide stance which made the aircraft far easier to land. The RAF pilots appreciated this. The Hurricane is considered one of England’s best fighter planes along with the Spitfire and the other two Hawkers, the Typhoon and the Tempest. These very unconventional fighters had an even more unconventional engine, a Napier Sabre “H” style engine of various horsepower. The later versions were the most powerful of World War II.

The Hawker Typhoon excelled at low-level interception, it was very fast and maneuverable.

The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. While the Typhoon was designed to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, and a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, several design problems were encountered, and the Typhoon never completely satisfied this requirement. “Nicknamed the Tiffy in RAF slang, the Typhoon’s service introduction in mid-1941 was also plagued with problems, and for several months the aircraft faced a doubtful future. However, in 1941 the Luftwaffe brought the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 into service: the Typhoon was the only fighter in the RAF inventory capable of catching the Fw 190 at low altitudes and, as a result, secured a new role as a low-altitude interceptor. Through the support of pilots such as Roland Beamont the Typhoon also established itself in roles such as night-time intruder and a long-range fighter. From late 1942 the Typhoon was equipped with bombs; from late 1943 ground attack rockets were added to the Typhoon’s armory. Using these two weapons, the Typhoon became one of the Second World War’s most successful ground-attack aircraft”

The Tempest had a more powerful Sabre engine, four bladed prop and longer nose. It was the most feared aircraft of the German Fw.190 pilots.

But Hawker designer Sidney Camm was not satisfied with the Typhoon’s performance and redesigned it to make it an even better low level interceptor, the Hawker Tempest was born. This model had a longer nose to fit the more powerful Napier Sabre engines installed and an all metal wing with a different airfoil similar to the laminar flow used by North American on the Mustang. The wing was changed once again to make it wider to help contain the four canon and munitions mounted in the wing. The fuel tanks were also changed.  In service Tempests also carried two specially designed, streamlined, drop-tanks of 45 gal giving a maximum of 360 gal  and an operational radius of 500 mi.

The last Hawker with a recip engine was the end of the war Sea Fury which had a huge radial engine. It is a current Reno Race favorite.

Another important feature of the new wing was Camm’s proposal that radiators for the new Napier Sabre IV engine were to be fitted into the leading edge of the wing inboard of the landing gear. This eliminated the distinctive “chin” radiator associated with the Typhoon and improved aerodynamics. A further improvement of the Tempest wing over that of the Typhoon was the exceptional, flush riveted surface finish, essential on a high performance laminar flow airfoil. Fortunately for the pilots the new wing and airfoil, and the four-bladed propeller unit, eliminated the high frequency vibrations that had plagued the Typhoon.

The redesigned main landing gear legs were longer and had a wider track 16 ft to improve stability at the high landing speed of 110 mph, and to allow tip clearance for a new de Havilland four-blade, 14 ft diameter propeller.

Tempests also scored a number of kills against the new German jets, including the Messerschmitt Me 262. Hubert Lange, a Me 262 pilot, said: “the Messerschmitt Me 262′s most dangerous opponent was the British Hawker Tempest — extremely fast at low altitudes, highly-maneuverable and heavily-armed.” The Tempest eventually became the Hawker Sea Fury which is still earning its keep racing at Reno.

Specifications for Tempest Mk 5

• Crew: One
• Length: 33 ft 8 in
• Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in
• Height: 16 ft 1 in tail down
• Wing area: 302 ft²
• Empty weight: 9,250 lb
• Loaded weight: 11,400 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 13,640 lb
• Engtine: Napier Sabre IIA or IIB or IIC liquid-cooled H-24 sleeve-valve engine, 2,180 hp
•  Propellers: Four-bladed Rotol or de Havilland propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 432 mph Sabre IIA at 18,400 ft, Sabre IIB 435 mph at 19,000 ft
• Range: 740 mi
  1,530 mi  with 90 gal  drop tanks
• Service ceiling: 36,500 ft
• Rate of climb: 4,700 ft/min
• Wing loading: 37.75 lb/ft²
• Power/mass: 0.21 hp/lb

Armament

• 4 × 20 mm (.79 in) Mark II Hispano cannons, 200 rpg
• 2 × 500 lb or 1,000 lb bombs
• 8 × 3 in (76.2 mm) RP-3 rockets (post-Second World War)

I have a quarter size Fly Baby hanging in my computer room. t is considered one of the best homebuilts ever designed for fun, inexpensive flying. It is of wood construction.

Okay, guys and gals, here is a single place low wing which you probably can buy and fly for under $7000. No kidding, these are great little planes designed by the master homebuilder Pete Bowers who honed his wood working skills by building model airplanes. Santa brought me plans for a Fly Baby in  1964 and they cost $35.00. What a great little airplane. I know I had one, I never did build one but bought one ready to fly with only 10 hours on it for peanuts in 1975 at Compton Airport in SoCal. I flew in with a Decathlon and one of my ex Air Force F-4 Phantom jocks to ferry it the 100 miles back home. That purchase started a chain of events which endeared the little yellow Fly Baby to a large number of USAF and German Luftwaffe pilots stationed at George AFB in Victorville, California. I can best describe it as a low wing Piper Cub that even flew like one. In fact, the Fly Baby used a gas tank and cowl from a J-3 covering the Continental C-65 or C-85 hp engine. The one I bought had a 65-hp Continental and it was fun to fly.

The late Bill Turner, who built all of the replica racers at Flabob Airport, started with this Fly Baby with a hatch to look like Miss Los Angeles the racing aircraft.

Because it was a homebuilt, it could not be rented out so I used it as an attraction to the AF pilots who rented our other aircraft. It needed no key and was hangared in our main hangar under the B-26 On Mark which was also stored there. The Fly Baby won all the marbles at Oshkosh in 1962 as being the best roadable homebuilt design. The wings folded in under 15 minutes and it could be towed on its own wheels to the airport after storing in a standard garage. I had a few cards printed on yellow stock with the pilot’s name on it. The mechanics would roll out the Fly Baby after being shown the card. The F-4 Phantom pilots loved the Fly Baby and I could see why. It was everything their big jet fighters were not. Over the several years I owned the Fly Baby, I repainted the fuselage blue and added stripes to the tail so it looked more like an early AF training aircraft. Did I mention that even the landing gear legs were  cut out of 12 ply birch plywood using Cub low pressure tires? The differences, the Cub had  bungee cord shock absorbers, the Fly Baby depended on smooth landings, If you bounced it, all bets were off. It didn’t even need an air speed indicator, although it had all needed instruments. At 60 mph indicated the dual flying wires would vibrate at about a two inch variation, with a low hum. That indicated 60 mph. Although it touched down more like 45 mph you came over the threshold at 55 to 60 mph. It was a pretty draggy airplane so once you raised the nose to flare it, speed dropped rapidly and it finally squatted down for a nice three pointer.

Lewis Mason went all out on his Fly Baby. He turned it into a WWI look alike Junkers complete with machine guns and canopy. The Fly Baby is a fun airplane.

Bowers also designed an upper wing for the Fly Baby so you could also have a Fly Baby Bipe and he also had plans for a set of wood floats. Biplane Fly Babys with floats were a very popular item. If you find one for sale, have an expert check out the wood for moisture damage. You can’t get checked out in it so cross your fingers toes and eyes and jump in and enjoy flying the way old folks did back in the 1960s, you will not lose a dime on a fly Baby, they are forever saleable for the young at heart. I recently saw one at Oshkosh with tandem seats and an Australian radial engine. Now that was a neat Fly Baby. Now I am going to take my eyes off the computer screen and look at the ceiling of my computer room. Voila, a quarter scale Fly Baby is hanging over my head and has been for about 20 years. It has the paint scheme of Bower’s award winning aircraft in 1962. Love those Fly Babys.

Designer Pete Bowers also produced plans for an upper wing so his Fly Baby could be converted at will from a monoplane to a biplane. He also had plans for a floats.

Specifications

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 18.83 ft
• Wingspan: 28.0 ft
• Wing area: 120 ft²
• Empty weight: 605 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 924 lb
• Engine: Continental C-85 flat-four engine, 85 hp
• Performance
• Maximum speed: 120 mph
• Cruise speed: 110 mph
• Stall speed: 45 mph
• Range: 300 mi at 8,000 ft
• Rate of climb: 1100 ft/min
• Wing loading: 7.7 lb/ft²

There were many different types of the AA-1 built by various companies, all make excellent fun flyers.

The Yankee AA-1 is one of the most economical two passenger certified aircraft available on the used market. It not only makes a great puddle jumper Sunday flier, it is easy to maintain and great fun to fly. Many are used as personal commuters for short flights to work or to fun places for recreation. It is also one of the most popular aircraft to modify for one’s personal taste. The Yankee featured this week is owned and flown by John Hazlett, of Zephyrhills, Florida. John purchased his AA-1 a few years ago and modified it by removing the 115 hp Lycoming and installing a 140 hp Lycoming to increase the performance. Other pilots have installed a Lycoming 150 and even a 180 hp.. It is restricted to a never exceed speed of 195 mph. When first introduced, it had the reputation of being accident prone. Investigation revealed some sobering facts. The plane was originally designed as a home built by Jim Bede as the BD-1. It was never intended as a primary trainer, it was an economical, easy-to-build sport aircraft which was fast and fun to fly. But…..money conscious flight schools purchased them for primary flight trainers, which they were not designed for, Accidents happened when students attempted to fly them at speeds they were used to in Cessna 150 or Piper Cruisers. The high approach speeds of  theYankee was responsible for many accidents. Then it was discovered that if a spin were entered and progressed past three turns the Yankee could not be recovered. This is not the behavior for a primary trainer. The FAA placarded the Yankee against any spinning.

It is almost impossible to distinguish the various models. Each company usually placed a decal on the fuselage.

The history of the AA-1 goes back its first flight on July 11, 1963 and featured folding wings for trailering and ease of storage. Bede formed a company, Bede Aviation Corporation, based in Cleveland Ohio, to produce the aircraft, but the BD-1 never entered production as a certified aircraft. At that time the FAA was hesitant to certify a light aircraft with folding wings. American’s engineers reworked the wing to a non-folding design, making certification much easier. Other changes included adding extended wing tips to improve rate-of-climb, an anti-servo tab on the elevator along with a centering spring system to increase longitudinal stability and stall strips to improve handling during a stall. The company designated the redesigned aircraft the AA-1 Yankee Clipper. The AA-1 was certified under FAR Part 23 on August 29, 1967 with the first production AA-1 flying on May 30, 1968. The first 1969 models were delivered in the fall of 1968 at a base price of  only $6495, notably lower than competitive aircraft types cost at that time. American Aviation built 459 examples of the AA-1 Yankee Clipper between 1969 and 1971 at their factory in Cleveland, Ohio. You can see why flight schools purchased them.

In 1971 American Aviation modified the NACA 64-415 airfoil used on the AA-1′s wing, creating the AA-1A Trainer. The recontoured leading edge produced softer stall characteristics and permitted lower approach speeds. While this did tame the AA-1′s sharp stall, it also reduced the cruise speed compared to the original AA-1 by 10 mph. First flight was on March 25, 1970 and 470 AA-1As were built in 1971-72. Then Grumman bought American Aviation in 1971, renaming it Grumman American Aviation and beginning in late 1972 sold the 1973 model year design as the Grumman American AA-1B Trainer for school use. The variant designed for the personal-use market was called the TR-2 and it featured a standard radio and trim package. The AA-1B was produced until 1976. 680 AA-1Bs were produced. All the AA-1s, AA-1As and AA-1Bs were powered by the Lycoming O-235-C2C low-compression engine designed for 80/87 avgas and which produced 108 hp.

John Hazlett keeps his AA-1 hangared at the Zephyrhills airport in Central Florida.

The Grumman light aircraft line was then acquired by Gulfstream Aerospace in 1977. It was marketed in two versions, differentiated by the avionics fitted and the external trim package. The Lynx was targeted at private owners while the T-Cat was the flying school trainer. These names were chosen to position the aircraft in the Gulfstream American line which, at that time featured the Cheetah, Tiger and the twin engine Cougar.

The various two-place AA-1s produced over the years make excellent low-cost personal aircraft which are ideal for simple fun flying. They do require slightly more skill to fly  correctly and safely. John Hazlett’s AA-,1 with a Lycoming 140, is an excellent modification because a 140 hp Lycoming is less expensive to purchase.

• Crew: one pilot
• Capacity: one passenger
• Length: 19.24 ft
• Wingspan: 24.46 ft
• Height: 6.80 ft
• Wing area: 98 ft²
• Empty weight: 1,018 lb
• Max takeoff weight: 1,500 lb
• Engine:  Lycoming O-235-C2C flat-four engine, 108 hp

Performance

• Never exceed speed: 195 mph
• Maximum speed: 138 mph
• Cruise speed: 125 mph
• Stall speed: 60 mph
• Range: 488 mi at 8,000 ft
• Service ceiling: 13,750 ft
• Rate of climb: 765 ft/min
• Wing loading: 14.9 lb/ft²

This scene was taken at a CPT flight school which had PT-19s for primary training.

Thanks Wikipedia for the facts about  CPT and V-5 Learn to Fly government programs. NG

This week’s Under the Radar Column revisited the various GI Bill flying programs from 1944 to 2011. These were and are basically pay back gestures for our nation’s military. They varied in success, but all provided money to many veterans to learn to fly. The GI Bill programs were after-the-fact gestures, but there were several others which taught civilians to fly in order to benefit the military not the veterans.

This photo of a large group of CPT graduates was taken during their swearing in to the Army Air Corp. Joining the USAAF was part of the contract.

Rumblings of war were beginning to be felt during the mid 1930s and by 1938 there was little doubt that the world would eventually be caught up in the wings of war and America was sadly lacking in the wings and  also the men to fly the wings. In the years immediately preceding World War II, several European countries, including Italy and Nazi Germany, began training thousands of young people to become pilots. These were strictly civilian in nature but were government-sponsored programs.. Actually there were nothing more than military flight training academies. Aviation history books tell it this way.

The CPT units flew a wide variety of aircraft including the Meyers OTW Kinner powered biplane.

“America took notice and in October 1938 Gen Arnold brought in the top three aviation school representatives to request they establish an unfunded startup of CPTP (Civilian Pilot Training Programs) schools at their own risk. These were Oliver Parks of Parks Air College, C.C. Mosley of the Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute, and Theopholis Lee of the Boeing School of Aeronautics; all agreed to start work. The CAA headed by Robert Hinckley, created the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 which contained language authorizing and funding a trial program for what would evolve into the CPTP. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveiled the program on December 27, 1938, announcing at a White House press conference that he had signed off on a proposal to provide a needed boost to general aviation by providing pilot training to 20,000 college students a year.”

“Following the precedent established by the Europeans, the CPTP was established as a civilian program but its potential for national defense was undisguised. The program started in 1939 with two laws passed by Congress in April and June, with the government paying for a 72-hour ground school course followed by 35 to 50 hours of flight instruction at facilities located near eleven colleges and universities. It was an unqualified success and provided a grand vision for its supporters—to greatly expand the nation’s civilian pilot population by training thousands of college students to fly.” Many of my older friends enrolled in this program and eventually became military pilots. I remember my late friend Jimmy Raymond from Northampton, Massachusetts, my home town, learning to fly in the CPT at Barnes Airport in Westfield and eventually ended up flying B-17s in Europe.

The US Navy V-5 program had its own insignia. Cadets wore a variety of uniforms including white, dark blue and marine green. Graduates ended up as Ensigns with wings of gold.

Meanwhile the US Navy was in need of pilots as the attrition rate in the South Pacific was very high. It was apparent that the Navy and Marines could need a large pool of potential pilots. I was a senior at Northampton High School in the fall of 1943 when the school was visited by Naval officers outlining the program. Four of the 1944 class members passed the test, including me. This was how the officers explained the V-5 program. “The Navy opened the V-5 program to eligible high school seniors and graduates with a knack for aviation and love for flying. Initially, they established four phases for cadets to go through before allowing them to enter into full-time service. The first phase fit the involved pre-flight routines and stressed physical fitness and ground training. The next two phases included primary and intermediate flight training at a Naval Reserve Air Base (NRAB) and Navy Air Station (NAS) after which the cadet earned his wings. The final phase, operational training, allowed the new pilots to take part in combat tactics and training in their designated aircraft. However, as the need for manpower increased and uncertain when the war would end, two training programs, NFPS (Naval Flight Preparatory School) and the CAA-WTS (Civil Aeronautics Administration-War Training Service), were designed to fit between the initial enlistment and pre-flight stages to further instruction. I graduated from high school on a Thursday night and was on my way to the V-5 program at Dartmouth College on Saturday morning. Taking that opportunity was one of the smartest decisions I have ever made.

I believe that we will never see such opportunities ever again. The number of pilots needed by the military is going to diminish due to changes in hardware, drones. But the need for pilots to fly the drones will greatly increase, looks like a good future is in store for remote control pilots and technicians to support the aircraft and the extensive electronic equipment.

In Sept of 1921, the French Nieuport 31 held the World's Speed Record of 205 mph.

While doing research for an article on the history of air racing I stumbled on a wide variety of interesting tidbits regarding the very large international air racing scene during the early 1920s. The battle of aviation speed records was very intense. France had always been winning speed records, climb to altitude and straight line races. Several French aviation companies subsidized by France, were building some very advanced aircraft for the sole purpose of winning air races and boosting the French aviation industry. The story was very different in America.

The United States flying a Curtiss R-6 beat out the French with a speed of 232 mph in March of 1923.

Just as there is intense competition between the Army and Navy in all sports categories,  the competition was never stronger than the US Army Air Force vs. the Navy. Caught in the middle was the Curtiss Aircraft company of Hammondsport, New York. Curtiss designers and the corporate bosses loved racing aircraft and excelled at building them. But, the US Congress wasn’t too thrilled in investing taxpayer’s money into building racing aircraft. So, Curtiss knowing how the cows ate the cabbage didn’t design racing planes they designed new fighter planes that could fly real fast with huge engines and tiny airframes, just ignore the huge racing numbers on the side of the aircraft. It was unfortunate that it was Curtiss racers competing for the Army and Curtiss racers with different numbers competing for the Navy, and they were both winning. This competition went so far that during the Schneider Cub Trophy Races the US Army was racing seaplanes and the US Navy was racing landplanes in the Pulitzer Trophy  Race. Famous military pilots were involved such as the likes of Jimmy Doolittle and Al Williams. The racing plane of choice was the Curtiss R-6 and the Curtiss R2C-1. The new R2C had the top wing attached to the top of the fuselage while the R-6 the top wing was raised above the fuselage with struts. Both of these aircraft took turns winning the overall speed record and really upsetting France who for years was the country with the fastest aircraft, not the USA, but France.

In 1923 two Curtiss R2C on floats came in first and second in the Schneider Cup races. Jimmy Doolittle is show here with his winning Curtiss racing seaplane.

While we had the Curtiss company’s racing fleet, France had the well established Nieuport Company who was no slouch in the racing plane design business. France’s winning streak started with the streamlined Deperdussin winning three different speed records in 1913 at 126 mph. Then racing took a hiatus so the world could indulge in WWI, you know the war to end all wars. In October of 1920,  France won it again with a speed of 192 mph in a SPAD. In December,  their Nieuport 29V a tweaked military fighter broke it again at 196 mph. France was on a roll until 1921 when Curtiss and their R-6 racers started cleaning their clock with their tiny biplane racers.

By the end of 1923, France won it back with a speed of 233 mph in a beautiful streamlined Nieuport Delage Sesquiplane. Curtiss bounced back in March of 1923 with a speed of 236 mph. By then the Navy had their cleaned up Curtiss R2C-1 which broke the record again at a sizzling 266 mph.

France won the world's speed record of 278 mph in December of 1924 with this SIMB V.2 very modern racing aircraft. This plane and France held the speed record for the next three years.

One thing that the US Army, Navy and Curtiss all learned that you never count a Frenchman out when it comes to beautiful ladies or aircraft racing. SIMB, Bernard Hubert designed a truly modern racing aircraft in 1924. Gone were the multiple wings and struts, gone were the drag inducing wing struts, fittings and bracing cables. this was a true cantilever aircraft. This modern looking racing aircraft brought the speed record back to France at a winning speed of 278 mph. This outstanding racing aircraft held this speed record for France for three years. It was the very last time that the proud country of France ever held any more aircraft speed records.

Specifications Curtiss R2C-1

• Crew: One pilot
• Length: 19 ft 9 in
• Wingspan: 22 ft 0 in
• Empty weight: 1,692 lb
• Gross weight: 2,112 lb
• Engine:  Curtiss D-12, 507 hp

Performance

• Maximum speed: 267 mph
• Range: 173 miles
• Service ceiling: 31,800 ft
• Rate of climb: 2,380 ft/min

The most famous Travel Air Model R Mystery was Texaco Number 13 now residing in a museum.

The Travel Air Model R was designed and built by employees of the Travel Air Company, mostly on their own time. When the company finally agreed to finance the remaining work an all out effort was put forth to finish the aircraft in time for air show racing season to begin. They found a location to complete the aircraft but kept it out of the news by covering windows and having a complete news blackout. This caused the reporters writing about new aircraft to nickname it the “Mystery Ship” because nobody, except the employees, knew anything about it. Mystery Ship stuck even though the aircraft did have an official name, Travel Air Model R for Rawdon the main designer of the aircraft. Sound familiar, it was the same Rawdon who designed the Rawdon primary trainer of WWII, not many were manufactured, and for his famous Rawdon hatch which the Fairchild PT-19 series used on certain models such as the PT-26 and the Canadian PT-19 for cold weather operation.

The Travel Air Mystery Ship was designed by Herb Rawdon a Beechcraft engineer.

The prototype Model R had a modified Chevrolet straight six cylinder installed inverted. One of these Chevrolair engine powered Mystery Ships was the one purchased by Pancho Barnes who converted it to a Wright radial engine. This 300 to 400 hp engine was responsible for Barnes winning a race and beating out Amelia Earhart. This Wright powered Model R had the right combination to win and many were built. Most were sold to Hollywood pilots and to corporations such as Texaco for advertising purposes. The Mystery ship was a regular at the 1930s air races. It was an excellent aircraft.

Jimmy Doolittle is shown with his winning Laird Super Solution (solution for beating the Mystery Ship)

Up until the Mystery Ships appeared, this event had been dominated by the Army and Navy. The thousands of spectators expected a real battle between the Army’s P&W R-1340-3 Wasp powered Curtis Xp-3A Biplane and the Navy’s Curtis D-12 powered F6C-6 Hawk Biplane. Not many thought that the little black and red low wing monoplane could bring down the best of the mighty biplanes of Uncle Sam’s Army and Navy.  When the starter’s flag was dropped, the little monoplane was off and running beating the wheel pants off the mighty military hardware.  Doug Davis  was the pilot and rapidly took the lead twice only to cut a pylon which required him to circle the pylon before he could continue to race. But Doug once again got cut off and had to circle the pylon twice. He still overtook the other airplanes and easily won the race at an average speed of 194.9 mph. This speed was over 8.06 mph faster than the Army and 41.52 mph faster than the US Navy Team. Race officials computed this to mean that Doug Davis had to fly at 235 mph on the straight-aways faster than any other aircraft had ever flown in the United States. The Mystery Ship was out of the closet and into the winner’s circle.

Doug Davis’s crushing defeat against the military biplanes was a defining moment in aviation history. The event caused the military to get rid of their World War I style aircraft and to start ordering state-of-the-art aircraft. This was probably air racing’s greatest contribution to society. With World War II just over the horizon, and because of the Travel Air Mystery ships success most aviation historians say that the Golden Age of Air Racing Started September 2,1929 at the Cleveland Ohio National Air Races. The Travel Air Mystery Ship was built by Travel Air Incorporated,  whose president was Walter Beech, who loved air racing. The Model R was designed by Herb Rawdon and Walter Burnham. The aircraft utilized a fixed landing gear and was one of the first low wing monoplanes. With its advanced enclosed cowling and a 400 plus horsepower Wright J6-9(R-975)radial engine, it was able to set speed records in excess of 235 mph.

Travel Air built five Model R,s as they were called. The most famous was Frank Hawk’s “NR1313″(Texaco No.13).Hawks set numerous city-to-city speed records and was constantly in the news in the early 1930′s. This aircraft is on display in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Specifications:

• Crew: One pilot
• Length: 20 ft, 2 in ft in
• Wingspan: 27 ft, 8 in/29 ft, 2 in ft in
• Height: 7 ft, 9 in ft in
• Gross weight: 1,940 lb lb
• Engine:  Wright J-6-9, 300/400/425 hp

Performance

• Maximum speed: 235 mph