The Culp Special is an American
aerobatic
Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...
homebuilt aircraft designed and produced by
Culp's Specialties of
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
. The aircraft is supplied as a kit or in the form of plans for amateur construction.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 144. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
Design and development
The Culp Special is intended to resemble an aircraft of the 1930s. It features a
wire and
strut-braced
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
layout, a two-seats-in-
tandem open cockpit with dual windshields, fixed
conventional landing gear with
wheel pants, and a single engine in
tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made from welded steel tubing and wood, all covered in
doped aircraft fabric. Its span wing has a wing area of . The standard engine used is the
Russian
Vedeneyev M14P nine cylinder, air-cooled,
four stroke radial engine.
The Culp Special has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passengers, and baggage is .
The manufacturer estimates the construction time from the supplied kit as 2500 hours.
Operational history
By 1998 the company reported that one aircraft was flying.
In December 2016, three examples were
registered in the United States with the
Federal Aviation Administration and one in
Canada with
Transport Canada.
Specifications (Culp Special)
See also
*
List of aerobatic aircraft
References
External links
*
Official gallery of Culp Special photos{{Aerobatics
Special
1990s United States sport aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Biplanes
Aerobatic aircraft