AIRCRAFT
ARCHIVE FAMOUS RACING AND AEROBATIC PLANES DH88 SCHNEIDER TROPHY RACERS
A DETAILED COLLECTION OF
ORIGINAL SCALE AIRCRAFT DRAWINGS
AN ARGUS SOFTBOUND BOOK in
ENGLISH
DeHAVILLAND 88 COMET - The de
Havilland DH.88 Comet is a British two-seat, twin-engined aircraft built by the
de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was developed specifically to participate in
the 1934 England-Australia MacRobertson Air Race from the United Kingdom to
Australia. Development of the Comet was
seen as both a prestige project and an entry into the use of modern techniques.
It was designed around the specific requirements of the race. Despite being
made of wood, it was the first British aircraft to incorporate in one airframe
all the elements of the modern high speed aircraft - stressed-skin
construction, cantilever monoplane flying surfaces, retractable undercarriage,
landing flaps, variable-pitch propellers and an enclosed cockpit. Three Comets
were produced for the race, all for private owners at the discounted price of
£5,000 per aircraft. The aircraft underwent a rapid development cycle,
performing its maiden flight only six weeks prior to the race. Comet G-ACSS
Grosvenor House emerged as the winner. Another two Comets were built after the
race. The Comet established many aviation records, both during the race and in
its aftermath, as well as participating in further races. Several examples were
bought and evaluated by national governments, typically as mail planes. Two
Comets, G-ACSS and G-ACSP, survived into preservation, while a number of
full-scale replicas have also been constructed.
GLOSTER VI SCHNEIDER TROPHY
FLOATPLANE RACER - The Gloster VI was a racing seaplane developed as a
contestant for the 1929 Schneider Trophy by the Gloster Aircraft Company. The aircraft was known as the Golden Arrow,
partly in reference to its colour, the distinctive three-lobed cowling of the
'broad-arrow' Napier Lion engine, but also to another contemporary Lion-powered
record-breaker, Henry Segrave's Golden Arrow land speed record car.
PERCIVAL E3H MEW GULL - The Percival Mew Gull was
a British racing aircraft of the 1930s. It was a small, single-engine,
single-seat, low-wing monoplane of wooden construction, normally powered by a
six-cylinder de Havilland Gipsy Six piston engine. During its racing career it
set many records and was considered a significant, efficient design, one that
eventually reached a top speed of 265 mph (425 km/h) on a modest 205 hp (153
kW) in its final 1939 form. A modern-day observer has characterised the Mew
Gull as "the Holy Grail of British air racing".During the second half
of the 1930s, Mew Gulls were dominant in air-racing in the UK and consistently
recorded the fastest times until the outbreak of war stopped all civilian
flying in late 1939.
ROLLASON BETA - The Rollason
Beta was a British midget racing monoplane developed from a competition to
build a Formula One air racer in the 1960s in England. The Beta was first flown
on 21 April 1967. The aircraft were successful air-racers in England during the
late 1960s and early 1970s.
SUPERMARINE S5 SCHNEIDER - The
Supermarine S.5 was a 1920s British single-engined single-seat racing seaplane
built by Supermarine. Designed specifically for the Schneider Trophy
competition, the S.5 was the progenitor of a line of racing aircraft that
ultimately led to the Supermarine Spitfire.
The Supermarine S.5 was designed by Reginald Mitchell for the 1927
Schneider Trophy. Following the earlier loss of the S.4 before the 1925
Schneider Trophy event Mitchell designed a new monoplane racer. Unlike the
S.4's all-wood structure, the S.5 was of mixed construction with the
semi-monocoque fuselage, including the engine cowlings, mainly duralumin; the
wire-braced wings had spruce spars and spruce-ply ribs and a plywood skin. The
horizontal tail surfaces were made of wood. Wing surface radiators made up of
corrugated copper sheets replaced the Lamblin type radiators of the S.4.: oil
was cooled by corrugated steel radiators on either side of the fuselage. The
entire fuel load was carried in the starboard float , which was eight inches
(20cm) further from the aircraft's centreline than the port float.[1] Three
aircraft were built, one with a direct drive 900 hp (671 kW) Napier Lion VIIA
engine, and the other two with a geared 875 hp (652 kW) Napier Lion VIIB engine
BERNARD V2 - The Bernard SIMB V.2 was
a single-seat, single-engine French monoplane, built in the mid-1920s. It was
originally designed for racing but was adapted for a successful attempt on the
world absolute speed record.
CAUDRON 460 - The Caudron C.450
and C.460 were French racing aircraft built to participate in the Coupe Deutsch
de la Meurthe race of 1934. Developed
from the Caudron C.362 flown in the previous year's race, a single C.450 and
three C.460s were built for the 1934 event. All were powered by a supercharged
Renault 456 six-cylinder inverted air-cooled engine driving a Ratier
two-position variable-pitch propeller. The airframe was primarily built from
spruce and birch plywood, with steel and alloy engine bearers and magnesium
cowling and fuel tanks. The wings were fitted with split flaps and the angle of
incidence of the tailplane could be varied while in flight. The principal
difference between the types was that the C.450 had a fixed spatted
undercarriage, while the C.460 had a retractable undercarriage.] This
difference resulted in structural differences, the retractable undercarriage
necessitating a two-spar wing for the C.460 in contrast to the single-spar wing
used by the C.450. For the 1936 Coupe de la Meurthe competition Caudron built
two examples of a development of the C.460, the C.461. This was slightly
larger, 8.185 metres (26 ft 10 in) long with a wingspan of 6.75 metres (22 ft 2
in) and weighing 661 kilograms (1,457 lb) empty and had a radically redesigned
cockpit, the top being flush with the top of the fuselage and forward vision
being limited to what could be seen through glazed-over semi-circular channels
set into either side of the fuselage.
MACCHI CASTOLDI MC72 - The Macchi M.C. 72 is an
experimental seaplane designed and built by the Italian aircraft company Macchi
Aeronautica. The M.C. 72 held the world speed record for all aircraft for five
years. In 1933 and 1934 it set world speed records for piston engine-powered
seaplanes; the latter still stands. The
Macchi M.C. 72 was one of a series of seaplanes developed by Macchi
Aeronautica. In the 1920s, Macchi focused on speed and on winning the Schneider
Trophy. In 1922 the company hired aircraft designer Mario Castoldi to design
high-speed aircraft. In 1926 the company
won the trophy with the M.39, which attained a top speed of 396 km/h (246 mph).
Further aircraft, the M.52, M.52R and the M.67, were designed and built but
victory in the Schneider races kept eluding the Italians. Castoldi then
designed the M.C. 72, a single-seater aircraft with two floats powered by a
modified FIAT AS.6 supercharged V24 engine, generating around 1,900-2,300 kW
(2,500-3,100 hp). driving contra-rotating propellers . The forward part of the M.C. 72's fuselage is
constructed of metal; aft of the cockpit it is of wood, with a wood skin over a
structure of bulkheads and longerons attached to the front section with four
bolts. The nose enclosed an oil tank with its outside wall exposed to the
airstream. The wing was all metal, with flat tubular water radiators faired
into the wings. The twin floats had three radiators on the outer surfaces, the
forward radiator for water and the centre and rear radiators for oil cooling.
The float struts also had water radiators and another radiator was fitted
during hot conditions under the fuselage running from cockpit to tail. The M.C.
72 was built in 1931 for what turned out to be the final Schneider Trophy race,
but due to engine problems was unable to compete. Instead of halting development, Macchi
continued work on the M.C. 72. Benito Mussolini personally took an interest in
seeing development of the M.C. 72 continue and directed state funds to the
company.
AIRMARK CASSUTT
CHESTER JEEP - The Chester Jeep
aka the Chester Special #1 was an air racer built by Art Chester for the 1932
National Air Races. The aircraft once held the world's speed record for
aircraft at 237 mph (381 km/h). The
Chester Jeep was named after "Eugene the Jeep" from the Popeye comics
of the time. Chester created a compact airframe in order to maximize speed from
a small engine. Art Chester later designed the nose and cowling of the P-51
fighter for North American Aviation. The Jeep was a mid-wing taildragger racer
using a Menasco engine. The wings were supported with small struts. The Jeep
was modified with a new prop, spinner and less sharp angles for the 1934
National Air Races. The aircraft's wings were removed and reinstalled for
trailering to air events. In 1947 the aircraft was retrofitted
("butchered" by some) with an 85 hp (63 kW) engine to meet the power
requirement for the Goodyear races
CURTISS CR1 NAVY RACER - The
Curtiss CR was a racing aircraft designed for the United States Navy in 1921 by
Curtiss. It was a conventional single-seater biplane with a monocoque fuselage
and staggered single-bay wings of equal span braced with N-struts. Two
essentially similar landplane versions were built as the CR-1 and CR-2, which
were both eventually converted to seaplanes as the CR-3 in 1923 and CR-4 in
1924. A refined version was developed for the US Army Air Service under the
designation R-6. These latter two aircraft featured refined aerodynamics
included surface-mounted radiators.
FOLKERTS JUPITER - The Folkerts
SK-3 a.k.a. "Jupiter, Pride of Lemont" was the third in a series of
air racers developed by Clayton Folkerts.
The SK-3 was built for mechanic Rudy A. Kling from Lemont, Illinois as
his personal racing aircraft. Kling assisted in the construction of the
aircraft. The Folkerts SK-2 was the basis for the aircraft, with a slight
upscaling in size with a larger Menasco C6-S engine. The SK-3 was a midwinged conventional
aircraft with retractable landing gear. The fuselage was long and slender. The
thin wings used spruce spars, plywood covering, and incorporated split flaps. The
fuselage was welded steel tubing with aircraft fabric covering, built in two
parts that were bolted together. The manual retractable landing gear used a
single lever, rather than earlier crank systems. There were two 11 U.S. gallons
(42 L; 9.2 imp gal) forward fuel tanks, a 27 U.S. gallons (100 L; 22 imp gal)
main, and an auxiliary of 12 U.S. gallons (45 L; 10.0 imp gal) mounted behind
the cockpit. The Menasco C6-S was modified by Kling to produce 400 hp (298 kW)
at 3300 rpm, versus the standard 250 hp (186 kW) output.
GRANVILLE GEE BEE RACER R1 - The
Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster was a special-purpose racing aircraft made by
Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts at the now-abandoned
Springfield Airport. Gee Bee stands for Granville Brothers. The 1932 R-1 and its sister plane, the R-2,
were the successors of the previous year's Thompson Trophy-winning Model
Z. Assistant Chief Engineer Howell
"Pete" Miller and Zantford "Granny" Granville spent three
days of wind tunnel testing at NYU with aeronautical engineering professor
Alexander Klemin. Granville reasoned that a teardrop-shaped fuselage would have
lower drag than a straight-tapered one, so the fuselage was wider than the
engine at its widest point (at the wing attachment point[s], within the length
of the wing chord). The cockpit was located very far aft, just in front of the
vertical stabilizer, in order to give the racing pilot better vision while
making crowded pylon turns.
MACE SHARK
STAMPE SV4 - The Stampe et
Vertongen SV.4 (also known incorrectly as the Stampe SV.4 or just Stampe) is a
Belgian two-seat trainer/tourer biplane designed and built by Stampe et
Vertongen. The aircraft was also built under licence in France and French
Algeria. The SV.4 was designed as a
biplane tourer/training aircraft in the early 1930s, by Stampe et Vertongen in
Antwerp. The first model was the SV.4A, an advanced aerobatic trainer, followed
by the SV.4B with redesigned wings and the 130 hp/97 kW de Havilland Gipsy
Major engine. Only 35 aircraft were
built before the company was closed during the Second World War. After the war
the successor company Stampe et Renard built a further 65 aircraft between 1948
and 1955 as trainers for the Belgian Air Force.
A licensed SV.4C version was built in France by SNCAN (Société Nationale
de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord), and in Algeria by Atelier Industriel
de l'Aéronautique d'Alger, the two firms completing a combined total of 940
aircraft. The postwar SV.4Cs were widely used by French military units as a
primary trainer. Many also served in aero clubs in France, numbers of which
were later sold second hand to the United Kingdom and other countries. The
Rothmans Aerobatic Team flew SV.4C aircraft from 1970 to 1973
ZEPPELIN 50Z
BUCKER Bu31 JUNGMANN - The
Bücker Bü 131 Jungmann (freshman, young man) is a German 1930s basic training
aircraft which was used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. After serving in the Kaiserliche Marine in
World War I, Carl Bücker moved to Sweden where he became managing director of
Svenska Aero AB (Not to be confused with Svenska Aeroplan AB, SAAB). He later
returned to Germany with Anders J Andersson, a young designer from SAAB. Bücker
Flugzeugbau GmbH was founded in Berlin-Johannisthal,[2] in 1932, with the first
aircraft to see production being the Bü 131 Jungmann.While it was Bücker
Flugzeugbau's first production type,[2] the Bü 131A was the last biplane built
in Germany. It had two open cockpits in tandem and fixed landing gear. The
fuselage was steel tube, covered in fabric and metal,[2] the wings wood and
fabric It first flew on the 80 hp (60
kW) Hirth HM60R. In 1936, it was followed by the Bü 131B, with a 105 hp (78 kW)
Hirth 504A-2. Most wartime production for the Luftwaffe was by Aero in Prague.
HIRTH WAGNER ACROSTAR - The
Hirth Hi 27 Acrostar was designed by Arnold Wagner to win aerobatic
competitions, in part by having handling independent of orientation, upright or
inverted. A single engine, single seat low-wing monoplane, it was built in West
Germany by Wolf Hirth GmbH in the early 1970s, and dominated Championships for
a brief period. The Hirth Hi 27 Acrostar
is a competition aerobatic aircraft designed by the Swiss aerobatic champion,
Arnold Wagner. Wagner and three others, two of them German ex-champions,
sponsored the construction. The Wolf Hirth team was led by Prof. Richard Eppler
of the Stuttgart Technische Hochschule, starting work in the Summer of 1969.
The first flight of what was known as the Acrostar Mk II was on 16 April 1970.
The Acrostar is a conventionally arranged low wing single engine aircraft. The
wing is straight tapered, the leading edge slightly swept and the trailing edge
unswept. The aerofoil section, designed by Eppler, is quite thick with a
thickness-to-chord ratio of 20%. It is a symmetric section and mounted at zero
incidence. There is also zero dihedral. Full span control surfaces are fitted,
flaps inboard and proportionally moving ailerons outboard. The ailerons are
balanced not by the usual horn or hinge line extensions but by small surfaces
which project beyond the wingtips. Unusually, both ailerons and flaps are
coupled to the elevator position; this camber changing control system, together
with the highly symmetric wing, produces the same control characteristics for normal
and inverted manoeuvres. The basic idea in this arrangement was to keep the
centerline of the fuselage horizontal in both normal and inverted horizontal
flight. The result, beside this, is good controllability in low speed ballistic
flight, around zero G. Another unusual
control feature, allowing for independent trimming in pitch and yaw, are the
independent trim tabs on the flaps. The plywood covered wing is built around a
single glass fibre spar using foam reinforced ribs. Aft of the engine, the fuselage
is a wooden semi-monocoque. The single seat cockpit is enclosed with a rearward
sliding canopy. The fin and balanced rudder are straight tapered and square
tipped, as is the rearward set horizontal tail. The prototype had elevator trim
tabs but these were removed in favour of the flap trims noted above. Extra fin
area is provided by a long strake on the lower fuselage, extending aft to the
tailwheel. The Acrostar is powered by a 220 hp (165 kW) Franklin 6A-350-C1 six
cylinder horizontally opposed piston engine. This is mounted in a steel frame
which is integral with the fixed cantilever main undercarriage and its
optionally streamlined, tapering legs and faired wheels. This arrangement
places the main landing gear further forward than usual, providing a drag
moment to oppose that of the fin in vertical flight.[2] The tailwheel is
steerable
BEDE BD8 - The Bede BD-8 was an
aerobatics aircraft developed in the United States in the mid-1970s. It was a
low-wing, single-seat monoplane of conventional configuration, albeit very
short-coupled, and of all-metal construction. The single prototype was under
construction by Jim Bede when his company, Bede Aircraft, faced bankruptcy in
1977. The incomplete BD-8 was purchased by Mike Huffman, who completed its
construction in 1980. It first flew on May 14, 1980.
PITTS SPECIAL S1S S1C - The
Pitts Special (company designations S-1 and S-2) is a series of light aerobatic
biplanes designed by Curtis Pitts. It has accumulated many competition wins
since its first flight in 1944. The Pitts biplanes dominated world aerobatic
competition in the 1960s and 1970s and, even today, remain potent competition
aircraft in the lower categories. Curtis Pitts began the design of a
single-seat aerobatic biplane in 19431944.[3] The design has been refined
continuously since the prototype first flew in September 1944; however, the
current Pitts S-2 still remains quite close to the original in concept and in
design. Several of the aircraft that Curtis Pitts built had a picture of a
skunk on them and were called "Stinkers". After she bought it,
aerobatic performer Betty Skelton called the second aircraft that Curtis built,
"Little Stinker". The prototype S-2, which was the first two-seat
Pitts, was "Big Stinker", the prototype Model 11 (later called
S-1-11B) was "Super Stinker", and the prototype Model 12 was the
"Macho Stinker".In 1962 Curtis Pitts set up Pitts Enterprises to sell
plans of the S-1C to homebuilders.
SUKHOI Su26 AKROBAT - The Sukhoi
Su-26 is a single-seater aerobatic aircraft from the former Soviet Union,
powered by a single radial reciprocating engine. The Su-26 has mid-mounted
straight wings and fixed landing gear, the main gear mounted on a solid
titanium arc. The Su-26 made its first
flight in June 1984, the original four having a two-bladed propeller. The
production switched to the Su-26M, with refined tail surfaces and a German-made
MTV-9 3-blade composite propeller. Further refinements were made, and the model
won both the men's and women's team prizes at the 1986 World Aerobatics
Championships. The modified Su-26M3 with the new M9F 320 kW (430 hp) engine
dominated the 2003 and 2005 Aerobatic World Championships as well as the 2004
European Championships. The Su-26 has
fully metric instruments, except for the altimeter.
YAK 18 / 18PM - The Yakovlev
Yak-18 (Russian: Яковлев Як-18; NATO reporting name Max) is a tandem two-seat
military primary trainer aircraft manufactured in the Soviet Union. Originally
powered by one 119 kW (160 hp) Shvetsov M-11FR-1 radial piston engine, it
entered service in 1946. It was also produced in China as the Nanchang CJ-5. A member of the second generation of Russian
aircraft designers, and best known for fighter designs, Alexander Sergeyevich
Yakovlev always retained a light aircraft design section. In May 1945, Yakovlev
initiated design of the Yak-18 two-seat primary trainer. He designed it to
replace the earlier Yakovlev UT-2 and Yakovlev Yak-5 in service with the Soviet
Air Forces and DOSAAF (Voluntary Society for Collaboration with the Army, Air
Force and Navy, which sponsored aero clubs throughout the USSR). In 1944, an
advanced version of the UT-2 had been built with many of the features of the
new Yak-18. The new aircraft flew a year later, powered by a 119 kW (160 hp)
Shvetsov M-11 five-cylinder radial engine and featuring pneumatically operated
retractable main landing gear and a fixed tailwheel. It entered service as a
trainer later that year and was built by Yakovlev up until 1956. Examples were
exported to China in kit form beginning in 1950. The Chinese began producing
license built copies in 1954 with the designation CJ-5. The Yak-18's greatest claim to fame is its
use as a night bomber by the North Korean Air Force during the Korean War. The
aircraft were modified with bomb racks on the wing center section and flew over
UN troop locations at night to drop bombs and harass UN forces. The single most
successful attack of the North Korean aviation during the war was the
destruction of a fuel dump with nearly 5.5 million US gallons (21 million L;
4.6 million imp gal) of fuel in the Inchon area in June 1953 by four or five
Yak-18s.[1] The five-cylinder engine reminded many of the US troops of the
sound made by early gasoline powered washing machines, earning them the name:
"Washing Machine Charlie". The name "Bed Check Charlie" was
also used for these night intruders. The Yak-18s, along with Polikarpov Po-2s,
became quite a nuisance until US night fighters began shooting them down. One
nightfighter crashed shooting down a Bed Check Charlie and another nightfighter
rammed its target. Other claims to fame
for the Yak-18 are an international speed record for its class in 1951 as well
as being the aircraft used for initial flight training by Yuri Gagarin (1st
human in space) and Ken Rowe (No Kum-Sok, who defected from North Korea with a
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 jet fighter during the Korean War). Later, as the need
for conventional landing gear trainers abated, Yakovlev re-designed the Yak-18
with retractable tricycle landing gear and an Ivchenko AI-14RF radial engine of
224 kW (300 hp); this was designated the Yak-18A. The design proved
exceptionally easy to build and maintain.
There are an estimated 40 original Yak-18s in existence worldwide. Five
are currently flyable in the US, three are flyable in Europe, and the Chinese
Air Force has one flyable with several other airframes in storage.
Approximately four other aircraft worldwide are currently[date missing] being
restored for flight. Many are found in major aviation museums worldwide
including the National Air and Space Museum in the USA. The Nanchang CJ-6,
produced in China, is sometimes quoted as a variant but is a completely
different aircraft designed in China by Bushi Cheng and built by Nanchang Aircraft
Company.