Circa 1982: My Dad's 'Breezy' Feet Following A Piper Cub!

(click pic to enlarge)  Following a Cub on a '70 Knotters' tour back in the early 80's

 With the 75th anniversary of the Piper Cub sitting on our doorstep (and some celebration and mass arrival plans scheduled to take place at Oshkosh in a few weeks) I thought now might be a good time to post this old picture I found of my dad's feet following a Piper Cub over some random hills. It's from a '70 Knotters' low-and-slow adventure trip he went on back in the early to mid 80's with a variety of older vintage aircraft and homebuilts originating out of Fort Wayne... he went on two of them back in those days on the Breezy, but I'm not sure which this is from. My guess it's the trip that went from Indiana to Kitty Hawk NC and back, but I'm just not sure. But just imagine the fun he was having following that Cub pretty closely for an extended time while bouncing along at about 80mph. It's just the kind of thing he absolutely loved to do

 A view like that of your feet was very common for both him and I back in those days. We put a lot of time on that hot rod Breezy, and took hundreds if not thousands of people for a ride on it. It had Stinson 10A wings (with flaps), Aeronca Champ tail surfaces, spring steel landing gear and a Lycoming O-290 125hp engine. It was by far the best looking and best performing Breezy I've ever seen... and it was a pure joy to fly. I miss those days. A lot.

 You can see some pix of the Breezy and even listen to a wild journey to Oshkosh I had on it in this podcast: AirPigz Podcast #4 'Breezy To Oshkosh' 300 Miles, 13 Airports And 2 Days (1982). I really miss those days... or did I already mention that?

Video: Fantasy Of Flight's Gee Bee Z Recently Making Beautiful Music!

 I've been hooked on the Gee Bee Z and the R-1/R-2 1930's era air racers since I was about 3 years old. Seriously. My dad was Gee Bee geek from way back and he had some static models of them, and one used to hang over my bed when I was about 3. Even at that young age I knew there was something very special about a Gee Bee!

 This video from a couple days ago shows the highly accurate Z replica that was built by Jeff Eicher and Kevin Kimball in Florida back in the mid 90's. This aircraft has been part of Kermit Weeks' collection at the Fantasy of Flight Museum for many years now... and Kermit might be thinking about flying the airplane once again. They prepped the airplane for an engine run and made this sweet little video about it. I'm really glad they did that!

 Just looking at this airplane is enough to make your heart beat fast and streak glorious thoughts of Golden Age of Air Racing through your mind, but it's almost too much to handle when you get to hear that awesome Pratt & Whitney R-985 makes beautiful music too. And if you're wondering if this is the exact aircraft used in the making of my favorite Disney film The Rocketeer, it isn't. This one is built to be very accurate to the original. The one used in the Rocketeer was built by Bill Turner way back in 1978, and it was slightly modified with a little more wing and a slightly longer fuselage to make it easier to fly. It's on display these days at the Museum of Flight.

 So take a few minutes now and enjoy the amazing sights and sounds of the awesome and beautiful Gee Bee Z : )

 
Video screenshot: Fantasy of Flight crew pushing the Gee Bee Z out for the engine run
 

Screenshot: Gee Bee Z engine start up... blue smoke and beautiful sounds!
 

Screenshot: the 450hp P&W R-985 purring right along - maybe flying again soon?

HD Video! Sean Tucker Onboard Cam: Takeoff To Touchdown At Manassas 2012

 I never get tired of seeing a great onboard video of a great aerobatic pilot on a day with great weather, do you? I sure hope you don't cuz if you do there's something very wrong with your avgeekery. This video is from May 12th at the Manassas Wings-Wheels & Warriors Airshow and the camera is mounted in front and above the windshield (unlike the amazing Chicago 2010 video mounted inside the cockpit) - you get a little engine and wind noise here but no audio of Sean. 

 It looks like the weather was beautiful that day and Sean and the Oracle Challenger III didn't miss a beat. The video is the entire routine from takeoff to touchdown, so if you don't have 13 minutes to invest in this video, skip up to 2:30 for smoke-on and enjoy the ride. I especially like the rolling tail slide (torque roll if you're not old school like me) that starts at 6:20, and also the very high angle of attack ride around the super tight loop that starts at 7:50 - it's so cool to see the smoke indicate that insane angle of attack on the way around that loop. You can thank the 400hp under the hood and that big fan up front to pull off a maneuver like that!

 The whole video is an awesome and wild ride, I highly encourage you to take it all in... especially if getting to an airshow somewhere this weekend isn't in your plans. You can feel like you went to one just by watching this 13 minute video!

(to watch in HD: hit play and then pause - then look for the 'gear' icon in the lower 
right of the video window & select 1080p... click 'fullscreen' and enjoy!)

Video screenshot of Sean Tucker in the Oracle Challenger III at Manassas 2012

First Customer-Built Onex Flies... Let The Revolution Begin!

Bill Fisher and his 'first customer-built Onex': first flight was yesterday! (photo: Sonex)

 Thursday May 10th 2012 was a big day for the little single seat VW powered freedom machine known as the Onex... the first customer-built airplane made its first flight! I think this is the start of a quiet revolution for the homebuilt aircraft world. The Onex from Sonex Aircraft represents the most affordable, practical and desirable combination of design and function that I've ever seen in a homebuilt aircraft. I'm sure there are those out there who don't agree or aren't attracted to the Onex, but I believe that this little airplane offers more fun and realistic ability to reach completion for the average pilot than anything else that's ever been available. Learn more about the Onex kit at the Sonex website. 

 Congrats to Bill Fisher from Jackson Tennessee for making the first flight on the first customer-built Onex! From these pictures (from the Sonex website) it sure looks like he's done a great job putting the little cutie together... and if you know anything about me, you know I couldn't be happier that the first one done is a taildragger!

The affordable single seat sports car of the air - Onex from Sonex. (photo:Sonex)

 As you can see from the video below from the first flight (which really just shows a nice fly by), the VW engine has finally found the perfect home in the sky. The performance with the AeroVee engine is excellent... and the affordability and low operating costs only make it all the more attractive.

 Plus, the roomy cockpit, the folding wings, and the simplified kit, which includes more pre-formed parts and matched-hole assembly, means that there's very little compromise in the Onex package. I stand by my assessment that the Onex is the closest thing to the homebuilt grand slam that we've ever seen. I think you can expect to see these little machines popping up all over the place! If I wasn't still struggling just to survive financially, you can be sure there'd be one of these in progress out in my garage : )

The roomy cockpit of Bill Fisher's 'first customer-built' Onex kit  (photo: Sonex)

Synergy Aircraft Prototype Construction Update - March 2012

The fascinating and radical design of John McGinnis' Synergy  (photo: facebook)

 The prototype 5-seat Synergy aircraft is making some great progress as can be seen in the recent posting of 92 new images on John's facebook page. John, along with members of his family and a grass-roots team are having the experience-of-a-lifetime knocking down challenges and watching the airframe take shape as a result of their hard work.

 Synergy breaks new ground on several levels, including the very unique box wing/tail design, high efficiency pusher configuration (advanced design compared to typical pushers), advanced technology propeller design, use of V-4 turbo-diesel engine (DeltaHawk), and overall high attention to laminar flow.

 Projects like this are always extremely difficult to pin down when they will reach completion, but the good news is that they're making serious progress and are hitting important targets along the way. Keep watch of the resources at the links below for updates on the project:

SynergyAircraft.com

John McGinnis facebook page

Synergy Aircraft facebook page

see also: 'Synergy' Aircraft Revealed, Prepares To Lead A Revolution

Front seat and glare shield in the 5-seat Synergy prototype  (photo: facebook)

Aft fuselage, DeltaHawk engine, and awesome prop detail  (photo: facebook)

The photo album shows many parts being constructed in detail  (photo: facebook)

Caption Contest #69 Winner - Mower Power To Ya!

 The well-seasoned captioner known as 'Tailgear' comes thru with the winning string of words this time around - congrats! And may the power of a tasty bacon sandwich at OSH12 be with you : )

 You can find a little more info on this homebuilt Chinese Tri-Motor at this EAA post from a year ago. I didn't see any additional info on the ultimate success of the effort. Hopefully this flying machine(?) has been put on permanent display in the National Chinese Museum of Really Great Attempts That Should Never Be Tried Again (!)

Another Biplane Racer At Reno 1970: Bill Warwick's Hot Canary

(click to enlarge)  Bill Warwick's Hot Canary biplane racer on the ramp at Reno 1970

 Not long ago I posted some pix that my dad took of the all metal biplane racer Sorceress at the Reno Air Races in 1970 , and today it's a pic of another one-of-a-kind biplane racer, the Hot Canary. I wish I had more pix of this little cutie... we probably did have at one time but we lost several boxes of old aviation photos 30 years ago. Ugh. Oh well, at least I still have this one pic of the biplane racer that I picked as my fave. Sorceress was very cool, and even as a 9 year old kid I knew it represented something quite fantastic, but the Hot Canary did a better job of mixing an edgy racer with cartoon whimsy. As a kid, I liked that. I was also drawn to its simplicity. There weren't a lot of curves, but from a design point of view, it still looked very cool. I liked the Hot Canary so much I even built an RC model of it back in the late 80's. That model was a great flyer at both ends of the speed range.

 Anyway, the early 70's were an exciting time for specialty biplane racers. There was Sorceress, Hot Canary, Sundancer, and this sweet Ford powered concept. I sure wish we'd seen this idea really take hold as there's no end to the cool ideas for fast little airplanes with two wings. I guess it's easy to wonder why would we ever build any biplane racers in the first place when there's every reason to believe that they'd never be as fast as a monoplane racer. But if you're gonna ask that question, you might as well wonder why we build racers at all. Racing is really all about passion and competition. And airplanes with two wings have being stirring up passion in the human being for about a hundred years now!

 So, the Hot Canary. It was designed and built by Bill Warwick in the late 60's. According to an article from 1998 in EAA's Sport Aviation: Bill Warwick was an aviation professional who was employed by Northrop Aircraft for 36 years and ultimately retired as manager of the company's engineering test lab. During the course of that career, he was involved in many of Northrop's highly secret black projects, including the Stealth Bomber, but on his own time he was the quintessential EAA member and homebuilder. It's always interesting to see aerospace guys who still have their heart in the simple, small homebuilt aircraft! Also of interest, the very first Thorp T-18 was built by Bill in the early 60's. The Hot Canary was Bill's attempt to get in on this idea of creating one-of-a-kind biplane racers.

 Bill qualified in both 1970 and 1971 at Reno with speeds over 170 mph (on a 125 hp Lycoming O-290) which meant it was a contender right from the start. The airplane never won at Reno tho as it's always a challenge to have everything come together at the right time to wind up crossing the line first. I don't have info on whether the Hot Canary raced after 1971, but at some point in time, Bill donated the airplane to the EAA museum. In fact, it used to hang from the ceiling right inside the main entrance of the fabulous Oshkosh facility. The original Red Devils Pitts Specials were right over your head in the entrance and the Hot Canary was tucked off to the side. Now that the Eagles Aerobatic Team aircraft hang in the entrance, the little yellow racer has been moved. It's no longer on display in the museum, but now it's over on the EAA grounds above the offices in the in the FAA Building. Hopefully there will be a day when it gets back into the museum.

 Lastly, I'm beginning to collect photos (there aren't all that many) and info on all four of these unique and extreme bipes with hopes of putting together a very detailed post sometime in the future. I think they represent a fascinating and almost completely forgotten part of American aviation... and I'm gonna do what I can to keep their memory alive.

Video Proof: Chickens CAN Fly! (Awesome Italian Homebuilt)

 I've got a couple suggestions for you when watching this first-flight video of a fascinating homebuilt that appears to be from Italy. First, turn down the volume - the music gets old really fast. Second, after watching the takeoff, feel free to jump ahead to about the 4:00 mark to watch the perfect landing, unless you like watching small aircraft fly around way off in the distance. And third, feel free to be impressed by how well this oversized chicken flies!

 It's mostly the paint and the high thrust line that makes this aircraft unique, but I really like the unusual panoramic windshield that wraps around the whole front of the fuselage. It's comic book 1930's retro made real, and I love it. Actually, I kinda love the whole chicken theme! You can see a coop full of pix over at this facebook page and I'm pretty sure more info will surface soon on this wild flying chicken : )

See more pix of the amazing flying chicken over at this facebook page

Sorceress: Radical Sport Biplane Racer At Reno 1970

(click pic to enlarge)  The very radical Sorceress biplane racer at Reno in 1970

(3 pix) 

I've been quiet about the Reno Air Races since shortly after the tragic crash of Jimmy Leeward in The Galloping Ghost that took his life and the lives of 10 people in the stands, along with injuring many more. Time has the ability to settle much of the shock of an event like this, but obviously there are many people for which this tragedy will forever define the rest of their life. For all of us though, regardless of how much time passes, it just seems like the kind of occurrence that we will never be able to make any sense out of. This is the reality of much of life... things happen that we would never dream of, and pain and confusion are the result. But if there's one thing that seems to be clear, even in the face of tragedy, it's that life goes on.

 It's with this idea in mind that I'm sharing these pictures from Reno in 1970 of one of the most unique aircraft ever to show up to the races. There's a long and very rich history since the races began in 1964, and it feels like looking back is one of the best ways to look to the future.

 Sorceress arrived at Reno to shake up the Sport Biplane Class, but according to the amazing race history book Racing Planes & Air Races 1968-1971 (by Kinert), Sorceress did fly, but the lack of time on the aircraft put it in the position of a fill-in and was only allowed to finish in last place. I was fortunate to be at these races in 1970 as a 9 year old, and my dad took these pictures as we were able to see Sorceress up close. I knew it was a big deal even as a kid to see this game changing racer, but I don't have any memory of how the races turned out. I'm so thankful to have this book (and the previous edition that covers the years 1909-1967) to be able to re-experience some of the history that I witnessed from 1967 to 1970. These two books are highly recommended.

(click pic to enlarge)  Sorceress: All metal, negative stagger, and inverted gull  lower wing

Click to read more ...

The Electric, Amphibious Lazair... Pilot Report By Elliot Seguin

Elliot Seguin flying Dale Kramer's amazing electric and amphibious Lazair ultralight

(11 pix)

Elliot Seguin works at Scaled Composites, has experience racing at Reno with his Wasabi Air Racing Cassutt, and he loves to fly... this extensive pilot report is posted here on Airpigz with his permisssion. The electric Lazair is a recent update to the design by Dale Kramer, the original designer of this very popular late 70's ultralight aircraft.

For more details on the electric Lazair project, check out this 
extensive forum thread by Dale Kramer (KiloOne) at RCgroups.com

PILOT REPORT:

 We had an amazing opportunity recently to fly arguably the most operational electric airplane out there. Dale Kramer is a master builder of all kinds of interesting projects. His shop was extensive and impressive.  He designed the Lazair in the 70’s during the boom in the ultra-light industry.  Over the next several years the factory he set up sold 1200 of the airplane to enthusiasts from all over the world. Dale became interested in other types of flying (heavy lift airships, competition soaring) and separated himself from the Lazair.

 But recently the electric aircraft boom has inspired Dale to dust off his Lazair. The resulting set of experiments resulted in a new chapter for the design and perhaps for general aviation. Dale’s final iteration included hanging two Joby electric motors from the Lazair’s nacelles replacing the two JPX two strokes he had flown behind for years.  When he put this new configuration on floats he had the first electric seaplane, a terribly practical electric airplane, and one heck of a beach toy.

 I called Dale after seeing the airplane at Oshkosh. I was hoping to learn more about the switch to electric and where he thought electrics could go. When he responded with an invitation to visit his home in western NY and “find out for myself” it was just a matter of buying the tickets. In the three days we spent with Dale and Carmen on Keuka Lake the Electric Lazair was flown almost twelve hours total by six different pilots in many different atmospheric and water conditions. We walked away with a much better understanding of this new way to propel aircraft and with big smiles on our faces.

 Could electric power plants change full size aviation the way they did r/c? The shift to electric from glow power in RC aircraft has drastically improved accessibility, ease of maintenance, and in general relieved the boundaries of entry to that sport. Before electrics even the most experienced RC pilot might spend ten minutes getting his glow engine to start on his model, and he would most certainly smell like glow fuel when he was done.  With modern electric models an operator no longer has to spend all that time and energy dealing with the powerplant. I wondered if that would be the case with electric man carrying airplanes.

Click to read more ...