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The Corvus Racer 540 is a single-seat,
The Corvus Racer 540 is a single-seat, low wing
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
, high performance aerobatic aircraft produced by Corvus Aircraft Ltd in Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
.
Design and development
The Corvus Racer 540 design was started in 2007 when Corvus Aircraft signed a contract with Red Bull to develop a new airplane forPéter Besenyei
Péter Besenyei (born 1956) is a Hungarian aerobatics pilot and world champion air racer.
Biography
He was born on 8 June 1956 in Körmend, Hungary. He lived near the airport of Budapest and became interested in flying when he was a child. Fro ...
, designed especially for air racing. It was designed by Andras Voloscsuk and the Hungarian University of Aviation. After limited success improving the power output of the existing engine, Besenyei decided to focus on the airframe
The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system.
Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...
to reduce drag and improve aerodynamic efficiency. The development engineering time was more than 15,000 hours over two years, and the result was an airplane that was "very nice, nice to control" although potentially hindered by a heavy engine.
The Corvus Racer 540 first appeared at the Apr 2009 AERO Friedrichshafen
AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance at the exhibition center of Friedrichshafen, Germany right next to Friedrichshafen Airport
Friedrichshaf ...
show in Germany, with initial flight testing in Feb 2010 and its racing debut in June 2010 at the Red Bull Air Race
The World Championship Air Race is a series of air races sanctioned by the World Air Sports Federation (FAI). Originally established in 2003 as the Red Bull Air Race, and created by Red Bull GmbH, the event involves competitors navigating a c ...
in Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the souther ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
during the fourth race out of six in the 2010 Red Bull racing season. Besenyei placed 10th at Windsor, 8th at New York, and 9th at Lausitz all with the Corvus Racer 540. Unfortunately, the 7th and 8th races of the 2010 race series were cancelled and as of April 2012 the series had yet to resume, thus reducing motivation for further development of the design.
Specifications
See also
*List of aerobatic aircraft
An aerobatic aircraft is an aerodyne (a heavier-than-air aircraft) used in aerobatics, both for flight exhibitions and aerobatic competitions.
Most fall into one of two categories, aircraft used for training and by flight demonstration teams, wh ...
References
External links
* {{Red Bull Air Race World Championship aircraft Aerobatic aircraft Racer 540 Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2010 Conventional landing gear