The Dean Delt-Air 250 was an American twin-seat amateur-built,

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (Δ). Although long studied, it did not find significant applications until the Jet Age, when it proved suitabl ...

light aircraft A light aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum gross takeoff weight of or less.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 308. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. Light aircraft are used as utility aircraft c ...

. Designed and built by Herbert Dean of

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

, the aircraft was destroyed on its first flight and Dean was killed.

Design and development

The Delt-Air was a single-engined all-metal light aircraft powered by a

Lycoming O-360 The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between 145 and 225 horsepower (109 to 168 kW), with the basic O-360 produc ...

engine mounted at the rear driving a

pusher propeller In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

. It had a

tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

and rear-hinged canopy for access to the tandem cockpit. Registered ''N6379T'' it was destroyed during its first flight on 8 November 1961 and the designer killed.

Specifications

References

Notes

{{refend 1960s United States civil utility aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Delta-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1961 Pusher aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Tailless delta-wing aircraft