Aviation & Car tech: Reviews, How to's, Products, Shows, Design & Manufacturing, photography, video, Home built aircraft, UAV / RC, General Aviation, Car fix & mod
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.
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.
As mentioned above the RC options are plentiful, one of the few scale kits I had was a Carl Goldberg Ultimate Biplane
Here was my UB in the back, While I still have the air frame I think this may be the only photo I have of it together.
The Osprey 2 is a 2 place side by side sea plane featuring wood construction and was created by the same designer (George Pereira) of the GP-4 (see previous Aircraft of the month article)
This aircraft first flew in 1973 with over 500 examples built
I won a Seamaster 40 ARF at an auction back in the mid 2000’s not a bad performer but a higher power motor like a 60 or a modern electric setup is really needed for best performance.
As a side note the Anderson Kingfisher is also a similar homebuilt to the Osprey however not as many have been completed. I did a article on the Kingfisher in march 2020
The One Design was created to make a high performance acrobatic aircraft on a low budget. It was designed to get the most out of a O-360 Lycoming motor. The Wiki page has a brief overview of the aircraft at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihn_DR-107_One_Design
YouTube has a bunch of videos on this aircraft, here are a few
This video has a real good 3D cad overview of the structure
Back in the early 2000’s I got to do Acrobatic Training in a Super Decathlon at KPRC Prescott AZ. This aircraft is one of the best entries into Acrobatics & Tail Wheels, gaining more confidence and capability as a pilot.
The Decathlon started Production in 1972 and is a derivative of a Citabria.
Prices range from 50 to over 200K depending on year, condition etc.
There are some RC Options available. Great Planes made a 64″ kit that you may be able to find on eBay or a large hobby shop like Graves in Orlando FL. Outerzone has the plans for it at:
The GP-4 is one of those aircraft you see at an airshow that really makes you pay attention. Being around Experimental Aircraft since the early 90’s the common impression from the “general public” is something that is crude, slapped together and unsafe. The GP-4 is a dramatic example of refinement for something that is plans built, with a Aerodynamic shape, style and finish that puts production aircraft at 4X the cost to shame.
From what I have found there are no available Plans, Kits or Downloads for the GP-4, however with modern tech like 3d scanning iPhones, Powerful Cad Software and 3D printers it would not be too difficult to create a RC version of this impressive Aircraft.
I recently got to see a very interesting documentary on moving the H4 Spruce Goose from California to Oregon on YouTube. I got to see this unique aircraft at the Evergreen Aviation Museum just outside of Portland Oregon, on a few days off from a company trip in 2014. https://www.evergreenmuseum.org/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Aviation_%26_Space_Museum. If your into historic aircraft this Museum is one of the best in the country with the Smithsonian NASM in Washington DC, USAF Museum in Dayton Ohio & the EAA Museum in Oshkosh Wisconsin as peers and is well with the drive alone from any of the surrounding states.
When you see it in person its difficult to get the whole aircraft in one shot with out a wide angle lense
Much of the structure is actually laminated wood with grain direction for optimized strength and is a pre curser to modern composite aircraft structures. They have a few displays of some details of the construction methods along with a scale model of the aircraft under construction.
An ominous shot from a rear quarter view with a ME-262 and a FW-190 showing what this war bird would have been up against if it would have been operational in the war.
My personal thoughts on the aircraft with the context of seeing the 2004 movie the aviator and a few documentaries on Hughes is its a mix of a technology path finder paving the way to large aircraft structures and systems while being a tragedy for Hughes personal aviation career. He was never the same after this project.
Aircraft like his racer and XF-11 had fairly quick development times however the H4 flew 2 years after the end of the war it was supposed to support. Because the project was under a government contract with government funding it Aircraft like the Grumman albatross and Martin Mars Evolutionary and nature compared to the revolutionary H4. However this difference was not taken into account for the oversight, visibility and pressure.
This aircraft serves as a cautionary tale for any company or individual taking on a “huge leap task” with out proper technology development and stepping stones setup at the beginning. Crawl, walk, run marathon or sprint. This is hubris that has effected my self and have seen first hand at companies I’ve worked for.
The Aircam was developed in the mind 90’s by Phil Lockwood for the National Geographic Society for photography & research in the rain forest of the Congo
The twin engine’s mounted close together coupled with its slower flying speeds adds extra margin for getting into areas that may be considered too risky for more conventional manned photo aircraft. The view out the front is very UN-restricted and bubble canopies are available for flying in rain / snow.
And for a good aerial photography alternate to the GoPro that has served me well is the EK7000 by Akaso, It has a remote control wrist strap & blue tooth connectivity that helps with remote mounting on an aircraft (wing tip, tail, under the fuselage)
The Reliant is one of my favorite vintage planes, its also one of the few vintage aircraft I got some decent flight hours in.
In the 90’s and early 2000’s the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon had aircraft rides in a few aircraft, one of them N1942A was owned & flown by a very nice man named Larry who sadly passed away a few years ago. He Knew I was a pilot and once the aircraft was off the ground I got to fly it around Oregon’s scenic coast line on trips my family made to Oregon every 2 to 3 years.
Flight characteristics are quite easy going with well balanced controls.
One of the best attributes of the Reliant is its “realistic” cockpit, cabin and useful load. It’s a common sad joke in the US that many general aviation aircraft when you divide useful load by seat plus small cabin sizes you end up having to be 5′ tall and 100 lbs per person. Not with the Reliant there is plenty of room and capacity to spare.
Here are some mint condition Reliants I saw at Oshkosh 06
One of the most unique Propeller driven aircraft of WW2 I think is the De Havilland Mosquito. While most of the aircraft where classified into fighters or bombers, the Mosquito has an in between status with out the typical draw backs of combined use aircraft.
One of the other unique features of the Mosquito is it’s built out of wood. Despite being seen as an inferior material, performance numbers for top speed where in the same ball park at over 400 mph & a service ceiling of 37,000′. This aircraft also served all the way up to 1963 well into the jet age.
With 8 forward facing machine gun’s right in the nose this aircraft packs a serious punch.
For the RC readers there are some options:
Outerzone has a great free RCM Plan from 1978, this model has a 67″ span and would likely make a good electric model, preserving the streamlined cowlings.
This aircraft of the month is the Edgley Optica a Observation aircraft designed to be a low cost alternative to Helicopters. It was developed and manufactured in England in the 70’s. 22 Aircraft where built
The 8 Hour endurance at Loiter speed is impressive. The center mounted Ducted fan is something usually only seen on models.
Outerzone does not currently have any options for the Optica but there is a UK web site where you can buy plans for a 2M wing span version with .60 glow power:
Gould Aero 