- Joined
- Jan 12, 2017
- Messages
- 570
Unlikely, for various reasons, that this concept will appeal to many, not the least of which would be the mishmashing of various aviation design eras, but for me it pulls together nicely several themes.
I can imagine a Rotec 2800 powered light sport with:
--spiral wound, fabric covered, geodetic fuselage, essentially circular in cross section, aspiring (but of course not achieving) to be as graceful as a Deperdussin monocoque
--linear dimensions roughly corresponding to a Fly Baby
--mid-wing extending each side from the center of the round forward fuselage
--rigid, fixed Fly Baby-style landing gear, to the axle of which attach the flying wires (like many of the early racers)
--landing wires attach above the fuselage to a simplified assembly (as compared to a Morane-Saulnier N or Fokker Eindecker), like on a Buhl Pup
--Bowers' Fly Baby wings (ideally with 1" spars and thicker drag/anti-drag wires)
--one pit (because we want to interrupt the geodetic weave as little as possible), but extended a bit aft so that an "observer" can be seated, back-to-back against the pilot in front
Advantages of this hodgepodge design:
--spiral wound geodetic suits a radial such as the Rotec beautifully (less true for a Verner with that awkward need for a low oil tank)
--mid-wing minimizes required fairing to the (MOL) circular fuselage (as recognized by Thalman). Parasols also do this, but require more complicated strut arrangements
--pillar bracing of flying wires allows for mid-wings without massive spars (which would probably need to pass through the fuselage), and also solve the potential nose-over risk of low and mid-wing tandems
--rigid, axle-mounted flying wires avoid the need for an excessively deep, "poudre pidgeon" (nod to Flitzerpilot) fuselage (which would complicate a spiral-wound geodetic structure because the narrowing nose obstructs removal of an internal jig)
I can imagine a Rotec 2800 powered light sport with:
--spiral wound, fabric covered, geodetic fuselage, essentially circular in cross section, aspiring (but of course not achieving) to be as graceful as a Deperdussin monocoque
--linear dimensions roughly corresponding to a Fly Baby
--mid-wing extending each side from the center of the round forward fuselage
--rigid, fixed Fly Baby-style landing gear, to the axle of which attach the flying wires (like many of the early racers)
--landing wires attach above the fuselage to a simplified assembly (as compared to a Morane-Saulnier N or Fokker Eindecker), like on a Buhl Pup
--Bowers' Fly Baby wings (ideally with 1" spars and thicker drag/anti-drag wires)
--one pit (because we want to interrupt the geodetic weave as little as possible), but extended a bit aft so that an "observer" can be seated, back-to-back against the pilot in front
Advantages of this hodgepodge design:
--spiral wound geodetic suits a radial such as the Rotec beautifully (less true for a Verner with that awkward need for a low oil tank)
--mid-wing minimizes required fairing to the (MOL) circular fuselage (as recognized by Thalman). Parasols also do this, but require more complicated strut arrangements
--pillar bracing of flying wires allows for mid-wings without massive spars (which would probably need to pass through the fuselage), and also solve the potential nose-over risk of low and mid-wing tandems
--rigid, axle-mounted flying wires avoid the need for an excessively deep, "poudre pidgeon" (nod to Flitzerpilot) fuselage (which would complicate a spiral-wound geodetic structure because the narrowing nose obstructs removal of an internal jig)
