Baker Supercat – Aircraft of the Month

November 11, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The Supercat is an Ultralight from the mid 80’s powered by a 50 hp Rotax 503. It’s similar to a Mini-MAX and Volksplane,

The EAA has quite a few sport aviation articles on the aircraft, more info at:

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/r—s/supercat

While I don’t believe I’ve seen one of these in person at the airport or air show the Outerzone article caught my eye.

There is a 54″ span version from the May 1988 issue of RCM

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=6445

Meyers 200 – Aircraft of the Month

October 4, 2022October 13, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The Meyers 200 was introduced in the mid 50’s with clean lines and good performance. this 4 seat-er is powered by a Continental IO-470 to 520 engine(s) and cruse at 180 knots. The aircraft where hand built with minimal use of tooling resulting in lower production numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meyers_200

Even with the low production numbers there are still a few that show up at large airshows like Airventure or Sun-N-Fun.

Like previous aircraft articles on this site (Sea Bee & BD-5) the Meyers is also a Bond Plane staring with Sean Connery in you only live twice:

Here are a few photos I took at Airventure and Sun-N-Fun in the 2000’s

Like a PA-28 the only door is on the right side.

The Unique aft section of the cabin is quite the work of art considering its all made out of metal.

Every now and then you may even see one for sale (this one was from Airventure 03′)

Here are a few YouTube Videos:

The aircraft was even adapted into a turboprop version in the late 60’s called the Interceptor 400. a good write up on this aircraft can be found at: http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepInterceptor400.html

Outerzone currently does not have any plans for a RC version of the Meyers 200 and any RC models I could find would be one-off’s. Of course with modern smart phones having 3D scanning capability and if someone wanted to get a good 3D cad model going of the aircraft it would be a prime candidate for a 3D printed electric version.

Avid Magnum – Aircraft of the Month

September 16, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The Avid Magnum was one of the main E-AB aircraft I was interested in as a teenager, in the 1990’s. I started going to Airventure in Oshkosh in 1992 and have attended quite a few times since then. I got to go for quite a few demo flights in the prototype (in the picture above) at Airventure, with floats at the sea plane base, in Denver CO and at there factory in Idaho.

The Experimental – Armature built option is really what caught my attention due to the access ability and not dealing with the extremely expensive upkeep on a certified aircraft that is decades old with who knows what real history behind it. The one problem with the E-AB category is the bulk of the options are setup for people 5’6″, 120 Lbs operating at sea level, good for them, not for me. The Magnum was sized for people bigger than me, only 2 seats and a lycoming O-360 engine designed and operated in the northern rocky mountain state of Idaho (high density altitude). A common feature of all Avid designs is wings that could fold back so the aircraft could be put on a trailer or kept in less space at an airport.

Dean Wilson was the designer and was influential on many of the construction methods and features that are also common on the Kitfox and Just Aircraft series. However unlike these 2 companies the Avid company was sold moving the factory to a highly unpopulated area of Montana, this closed for good in 2003. Its really a shame because Avid had such good aircraft. There is some info about company restarts but being a regular attender of airshows this looks to be parts support and not full new kits.

There is not too much info online any more about the aircraft but I see an avid of some model every now and then at a local airport or airshow. here are a few articles I found on it:
http://www.ultralightnews.com/reviews/eaa/mayfeat.htm
https://www.skytamer.com/Avid_Magnum.html
https://www.kitplanes.com/advert/2019-avid-magnum/
http://avidfoxflyers.com/index.php?/topic/5789-some-good-fun/

I’m un-able to find any RC options of this aircraft, the closest thing would be the freedom fox collaboration between flite test and Trent Palmer (ref previous post)

https://store.flitetest.com/flite-test-freedom-fox-v2-pnp/

BD-4 – Aircraft of the Month

August 19, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The Bede BD-4 was designed by Jim Bede in the late 60’s with a first flight in 1968.

I actually got to attend a few of his aircraft design workshops at Oshkosh in the early 2000’s

The design features all metal construction with some innovative construction methods such as a un-braced tubular spar and a truss fuselage sheet-ed in aluminum.

The main Engine choice is a O-360, despite it’s humble looks the cruse speed is in the 170 knot range that is 50 – 60 knots faster than a PA-28 or C-172 that use the same base engine.

Kits are still available through the Jim Bede web site: https://www.jimbede.com/bd-4c.html

The EAA page for the BD-4 has a bunch more info including the sport aviation magazine article year / months for anyone who is interested: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/00—c/bd-4

Fred Reese designer of the RC Cloud Dancer series along with several other RC models made a 51″ plan in 1975:

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=3387

Jeffair Barracuda – Aircraft of the Month

July 21, 2022 / Spencer Gould

Geoffrey Siers was a former RAF pilot and engineer for Boeing developed the Barracuda in the 1970’s.
Its all wood construction and Geoffrey was inspired by de Havilland Mosquito
For those with an EAA membership you can check out all the sport aviation articles online for this aircraft. here is the EAA page on the Barracuda: https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans/00—c/barracuda
According to the EAA web page plans and kits are no longer available but existing projects may be on Barnstormers (www.barnstormers.com), Trade-A-Plane (www.trade-a-plane.com)
Not too many videos on YouTube for it due to the development fan fair being decades ago and not too many are built.

There is a small FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1108372082521169/

Sun-n-Fun in Lakeland has had one on display for decades now:

When I was in EAA chapter 99 (Vero Beach Fl / 04 – 08′) one of the chapter
members Ernie was building one, here is a few under construction photos from
him:

I could not find any RC options on outerzone but with a good amount of photos of it on the Internet Cad’ding one up would not take too long for someone with the right skills.

RFB Fantrainer – Aircraft of the Month

June 11, 2022June 11, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The RFB Fantrainer was Developed and manufactured by German aircraft company Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH (RFB) in the late 70’s early 80’s. 50 of them where built and used by Luftwaffe and the Thai Airforce.

The aircraft is actually turbine powered with a Allison 250 C30 turboshaft, 480 kW (650 shp) motor driving a ducted fan.

The aircraft’s purpose was to give the much needed training to new military pilots so they could transition into high performance aircraft like the F4 Phantom and F-104 Star fighter.

I first learned about the aircraft buying a RC model of one from a hobby shop in the mid 90’s made by hobby dynamics.

The Fan Trainer is a popular RC model as well.

Outerzone has 2 plans for the Fan trainer including the one from Hobby Dynamics that I had.

Both would be well suited to modern electric power.

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=1339

https://outerzone.co.uk/plan_details.asp?ID=13719

Symmetry – Aircraft of the Month

May 21, 2022May 21, 2022 / Spencer Gould

The Symmetry is a one off Aircraft designed by Cory Bird who works for Scaled Composites. I got to see it in person at Airventure 06′. It’s very impressive to see the fit and finish of the aircraft. Reading up on the aircraft history Cory built the aircraft for personal use and not turn it into a kit or plans. Kind of like movies that are a one off with out sequels / prequels / remakes makes for a unique in memorable experience. Pictures above and below are ones I took at the show.

Airshow ID card with some of the details

It’s actually a 2 seat aircraft, his wife has gone on many flights with him.

A very Clean T tail with counter balances reminiscent of a P-51 mustang.

The Tail wheel is retractable to but the main gear is fixed.

Inlet and exhaust details

Considering its debut from the Early 2000’s I was not able to find any flight videos of it on YouTube.

There are quite a few article’s about the aircraft however:

https://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/threads/cory-birds-symmetry-details.6092/

The Tiny, Perfect Little Flying Machine

https://community.foundry.com/discuss/topic/12829/cory-bird-s-symmetry-the-perfect-airplane?mode=Post&postID=124909

http://iflyblog.com/cory-birds-symmetry-an-airplane-as-art/

http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.textpost&id=b264770c-1dbe-4478-9261-381bef719c27

There are no RC aircraft I can find but it would be a prime candidate for a 3D printed electric powered aircraft.

The Eclipson Model D2 is similar to the Symmetry

https://www.eclipson-airplanes.com/model-d

A-10 Warthog – Aircraft of the Month

April 8, 2022 / Spencer Gould

With the recent War in Ukraine I was thinking about how the A-10 is still a very relevant and highly effective weapon system. While I’ve worked on several military aircraft the engineering behind the A-10 has always impressed me more than anything I got a chance to work on. It was born from bloody lessons learned in the Vietnam. The design was driven by the needs of the solders on the ground, the aircrews and maintainers. A lot can be learned from this mindset when it comes to military hardware design.

The first flight was in 1972 and it entered service in 1977, the production run was only 8 years with over 700 built.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II

There is quite a few videos on YouTube about the aircraft here are a few:

Of course the A-10 has quite the attitude, here some classic memes:

The A-10 is also a popular R/C model with many brands, sizes and power available:

E-Flite has 2 options, a 30mm EDF and a 64mm EDF

For starters how about a 30mm dummy round as a conversation starter, ender or just general pilot cave decoration

Lets not forget some proper air show attire:

Revell has a very detailed 1:48 Scale A-10 with over 160 parts:

#AD

Ultimate Biplane – Aircraft of the Month

March 2, 2022March 2, 2022 / Spencer Gould

This Aircraft of the Month is the Ultimate Biplane, while its not too common to see one of its 4 variants at the local airport, it likely has the highest count of different RC options of any aircraft Ive seen short of WWII War Birds. Type in “Ultimate Biplane” into google or YouTube and most of what you will is RC aircraft.

3 of the variants are on power and the related increased structure required (100, 200 & 300hp) along with a 2 seat option of the 300 hp version.

The aircraft first flew in 1985 and is offered as a kit. To my surprise its not listed on EAA’s homebuilt aircraft listing online. https://www.eaa.org/eaa/aircraft-building/kits-and-plans

Controlling interest and plans are available through the http://www.ultimatebiplane.com/index.html web site.

I think its one of the sharpest looking biplanes out there (beyond my favorite the SNS7 Hyperbipe) and its totally baffling on why this aircraft is not more popular with the IAC crowd that’s dominated with Pitts, Extras & Decathlons.

There are not too many videos of the actual aircraft but here are a few I was able to find.