Pritchard Rocket Air Ship
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Pritchard Rocket Air Ship
The Pritchard ''Rocket Air Ship'' was an experimental wingless homebuilt aircraft designed by Charles Pritchard of Emporia, Virginia. It was tested, without success, in 1955. Design and development Pritchard, according to contemporary reports, was interested in developing an aircraft capable of "air travel and highway travel". He had previously built a model and studied it for a year before commencing the building of a full-sized craft. His design was a wingless aircraft, with an otherwise conventional configuration. The fuselage was a faceted streamlined body of revolution, with an octagonal cross-section. A number of 6 inch-wide lateral fins extended from the nose towards the tail. A large vertical fin was positioned immediately behind the propeller and above the fuselage. A small pair of anhedral wings, fitted with aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing ...
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Homebuilt Aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenneth: ''Choosing Your Homebuilt - the one you will finish and fly! Second Edition'', pp. 39–52. Butterfield Press, 1993. Peter M Bowers: ''Guide to Homebuilts - Ninth Edition''. TAB Books, Blue Ridge Summit PA, 1984. Overview In the United States, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, homebuilt aircraft may be licensed Experimental under FAA or similar local regulations. With some limitations, the builder(s) of the aircraft must have done it for their own education and recreation rather than for profit. In the U.S., the primary builder can also apply for a repairman's certificate for that airframe. The repairman's certificate allows the holder to perform and sign off on most of the maintenance, repairs, and inspections themsel ...
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Emporia, Virginia
Emporia is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, surrounded by Greensville County, United States. Emporia and a predecessor town have been the county seat of Greensville County since 1791. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,766, making it the third-least populous city in Virginia. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Emporia with surrounding Greensville County for statistical purposes. History Emporia has long been a transportation crossroads. The Meherrin River, like the Nottoway River and the Blackwater River, empties to the southeast into Albemarle Sound. The Town of Hicksford (originally Hicks' Ford) was settled by Captain Robert Hicks (1658-1739)Fort Christanna in the Virginia Colony, where the Fort Road of eastern Virginia crossed the Meherrin River en route to Fort Christanna. The road was a major north-south trail used by native peoples and sometimes called the "Halifax road". Capt. Hicks was an Indian trader who resided i ...
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Dihedral (aeronautics)
In aeronautics, dihedral is the angle between the left and right wings (or tail surfaces) of an aircraft. "Dihedral" is also used to describe the effect of sideslip on the rolling of the aircraft. Dihedral angle is the upward angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft. "Anhedral angle" is the name given to negative dihedral angle, that is, when there is a ''downward'' angle from horizontal of the wings or tailplane of a fixed-wing aircraft. Dihedral angle has a strong influence on dihedral effect, which is named after it. Dihedral effect is the amount of roll moment produced in proportion to the amount of sideslip. Dihedral effect is a critical factor in the stability of an aircraft about the roll axis (the spiral mode). It is also pertinent to the nature of an aircraft's Dutch roll oscillation and to maneuverability about the roll axis. Longitudinal dihedral is a comparatively obscure term related to the pitch axis of an airplane. It ...
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Aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around the aircraft's longitudinal axis), which normally results in a change in flight path due to the tilting of the lift vector. Movement around this axis is called 'rolling' or 'banking'. Considerable controversy exists over credit for the invention of the aileron. The Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss fought a years-long legal battle over the Wright patent of 1906, which described a method of wing-warping to achieve lateral control. The brothers prevailed in several court decisions which found that Curtiss's use of ailerons violated the Wright patent. Ultimately, the First World War compelled the U.S. Government to legislate a legal resolution. A much earlier aileron concept was patented in 1868 by British scientist Matthew Piers Watt Bou ...
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Cessna 140
The Cessna 120, 140, and 140A, are single-engine, two-seat, conventional landing gear (tailwheel), light general aviation aircraft that were first produced in 1946, immediately following the end of World War II. Production ended in 1951, and was succeeded in 1959 by the Cessna 150, a similar two-seat trainer which introduced tricycle gear. Combined production of the 120, 140, and 140A was 7,664 units in five years.Christy, Joe: ''The Complete Guide to the Single-Engine Cessnas - 3rd Edition'', pages 12-17. TAB Books, 1979. Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 22. Werner & Werner Corp Publishing, 1978. Development Cessna 140 The Cessna 140 was originally equipped with a Continental C-85-12 or C-85-12F horizontally opposed, air-cooled, four-cylinder piston engine of . The Continental C-90-12F or C-90-14F of was optional, as was the Lycoming O-235-C1 engine, an aftermarket installation authorized in the type certificate. This model had a metal fuselage and f ...
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Free Flight (model Aircraft)
Free flight is the segment of model aviation involving aircraft with no active external control after launch. Free Flight is the original form of hobby aeromodeling, with the competitive objective being to build and launch a self controlling aircraft that will consistently achieve the longest flight duration over multiple competition rounds, within various class parameters. Description The essence of free-flight is that the aircraft have no need for external control, for instance by radio. Aircraft of this type have been flown for over two centuries. They are designed to be inherently stable in flight; if disturbed by a gust of wind or a thermal current they will return automatically to stable flight. Their stability is achieved by a combination of design and trim, - the relationship between centre of gravity, wing and tailplane incidence and rudder setting. With their much lower wing loading, free-flight aircraft fly much more slowly than the engine-powered radio-controlled ...
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United States Government Role In Civil Aviation
The Air Commerce Act of 1926 created an Aeronautic Branch of the United States Department of Commerce. Its functions included testing and licensing of pilots, certification of aircraft and investigation of accidents. In 1934, the Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce, to reflect the growing importance of commercial flying. It was subsequently divided into two authorities: the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), concerned with air traffic control, and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), concerned with safety regulations and accident investigation. Under the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the CAA's powers were transferred to a new independent body, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In the same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created after the Soviet Union’s launch of the first artificial satellite. The accident investigation powers of the CAB were transferred to the new National Transportation Safety Board in 1967, a ...
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Continental O-190
The Continental O-190 (Company designations C75 and C85) is a series of engines made by Continental Motors beginning in the 1940s. Of flat-four configuration, the engines produced 75 hp (56 kW) or 85 hp (63 kW) respectively.Teledyne Continental Motors: ''Continental Aircraft Engine Operator's Manual'', pages 4-5. Teledyne Continental Motors, FAA Approved December 1980. Continental Form No. X30012 The two variants shared the same bore, stroke and compression ratio. The C85 produced ten extra horsepower by virtue of having a maximum permissible rpm of 2575 versus the 2275 of the C75. The C75 was in production from 1943 to 1952 and the C85 from 1944 to 1970. Variants C75 ;C75-8: ;C75-8: ;C75-8F: ;C75-8FH: ;C75-8FHJ: ;C75-8FJ: ;C75-8J: ;C75-12: ;C75-12F: ;C75-12FH: ;C75-12FHJ: ;C75-12FJ: ;C75-12J: ;C75-12B: ;C75-12BF: ;C75-12BFH: ;C75-15: ;C75-15F: C85 ;C85-8: ;C85-8F: ;C85-8FHJ: ;C85-8FJ: ;C85-8J: ;C85-12: ;C85-12F: ;C85-12FH: ;C85-12FHJ: ;C85-12FJ: ;C85-12J ...
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Flat-four
A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, each pair of opposed pistons moves inwards and outwards at the same time. A boxer-four engine has perfect primary and secondary balance, however, the two cylinder heads means the design is more expensive to produce than an inline-four engine. Boxer-four engines have been used in cars since 1897, especially by Volkswagen and Subaru. They have also occasionally been used in motorcycles and frequently in aircraft. Cessna and Piper use flat four engines from Lycoming and Continental in the most common civil aircraft in the world - the Cessna 172, and Piper Cherokee, while many ultralight and LSA planes use versions of the Rotax 912. Design Most flat-four engines are designed so that each pair of opposing pistons moves inwards and o ...
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Sawyer Skyjacker II
The Sawyer Skyjacker II is an American homebuilt aircraft that was designed and produced by Ralph V. Sawyer of Lancaster, California, in 1974. It first flew on 3 July 1975. The aircraft was intended as a research project and as such only one was built.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 152. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. Design and development The Skyjacker II was designed to explore ultra-low aspect ratio wing designs and in particular the stability, controllability and capability of the configuration. The design was intended to be easily scalable to much larger aircraft. It has no complex curves and was designed to be easy to construct. It features a cantilever mid-wing, a two-seats-in-tandem enclosed cockpit under a glazed canopy, fixed tricycle landing gear with wheel pants and a single engine in pusher configuration. The aircraft is made from sheet aluminum, has an span wing and is powered by a Lycoming IO-360-A1B6D engine. The aircraf ...
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Wainfan Facetmobile
The Wainfan FMX-4 Facetmobile is an American homebuilt aircraft designed by Barnaby Wainfan, a Northrop Grumman aerodynamicist and homebuilt aircraft engineer. While only one Facetmobile prototype was produced, it has become well known due to its unique nature. The aircraft is unusual in that it is a lifting body – the whole aircraft acts as a low aspect ratio wing: a flat, angular lifting shape, unlike traditional aircraft which use distinct lift-generating wings attached to a non-lifting fuselage.Barnaby and Lynn Wainfan's Facetmobile page
accessed October 24, 2006
Also notably the aircraft's shape is formed of a series of 11 flat surfaces, somewhat similar to the body of the