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Dean Wilson~Aircraft designer

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C5Engineer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2009
Messages
78
Location
Fairfield CA
I've only been around this forum for a week or so and I've seen Dean's name mentioned twice so I thought I would do this thread. I was very fortunate to grow up hanging out at the EAA hangar as a kid where Dean is a member. I've been attracted to the Avid design for as long as I could remember. It took me till I was 25 to finally own one and another 4 years to finally fly it. Dean actually did the firewall forward on my airplane after I pulled the NSI soob and went back to a 582. Unfortunately I jumped ship from the area as soon as I graduated high school by joining the Air Force so I didn't get to learn as much from those guys as I wish I could have. I now live a long ways away but whenever I am home I always try to make time to go and see him and see what he is up to in his workshop.

Dean's design of the Avid revolutionized the ultralight industry in the early 80's and for anyone wondering the Avid came BEFORE the Kitfox which was a direct copy in the early days. Since then many designs have spawned and been successful from the same basic design. Kitfox, Highlander, Skyraider, Rans, Ridgerunner just to name a few.

Here's a few pictures from a couple of years ago when he was helping to build a 1909 Curtis Pusher from scratch. Him and another fellow had almost 4 years of non stop work into this thing and with the Continental it flew amazing.

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Some of his accomplishments

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A celebrity shot in my eyes!

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Another project he recently finished. It's a scaled down Flying Cloud clipper. I wish I could of gotten some close up shots. The cockpit and woodwork of this thing were absolutely amazing!!

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Amazing woodwork

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Last time I talked to him, he was building an Avid type airplane only with long skinny all wood wings and a 40hp engine. He is one talented guy with a set of tools in his hands!!

Also for those that may have missed it Dean was inducted into the EAA Hall of Fame in 2010.

Dean Wilson
EAA Homebuilders Hall of Fame
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In 1953, Dean Wilson purchased his first aircraft, a 1937 40-hp Model A Taylorcraft. The next year, he built and flew a hang glider from plans in a 1913 Popular Mechanics article called “How to Build a Glider for $10.” Dean’s homebuilt airplane experiences started when he converted 1934 UMF Waco into a spray plane. He went on to design and put into production a type-certificated biplane sprayer, the Eagle ag plane.
In the 1970s, Dean bought and restored 43 different aircraft. In 1983, he designed and put into production the Avid Flyer kit airplane, and later built the twin-engine Explorer and the single-engine Private Explorer, which went into production in Canada.
This year, with the help of local EAA Chapter 328 members, he is building a replica of a 1909 Herring Curtiss Pusher.
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