The Junqua Ibis RJ03 is a wooden

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. The original use of the term in English was in ''tandem harness'', which is used for two ...

seat pusher canard light aircraft, designed in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

in the early 1990s for building at home. Eleven have flown and others remain under construction.

Design and development

The first canard aircraft designed and built by Roger Junqua was the one-off Volucelle RJ02, first flown by the designer's son Jean-Claude in 1985. This, the first modern French canard, was used as a development vehicle to refine the final Ibis design. The Ibis first flew in 1991 and retains much in common with the Volucelle both in general layout and in some detail, though it has a more powerful Volkswagen engine. It is designed to be homebuilt from plans, not from a kit; its structure is entirely constructed from spruce or similar wood, covered with

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

and

Gaboon ''Aucoumea klaineana'' (angouma, gaboon, or okoumé) is a tree in the family Burseraceae, native to equatorial west Africa in Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, and Río Muni. It is a large hardwood tree growing to tall, rarely larger, with ...

mahogany plywood. The Ibis is a single engine pusher canard, with swept mainplanes carrying swept endplate

fins A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

and

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

s. These rear wings have constant chord, so all the plywood

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi- ...

are identical for ease of construction, and are built around a constant cross section box spar. They are then filled with styrodur foam before the plywood skin is applied. There is no dihedral or washout. Full span

flaperons A flaperon (a portmanteau of flap and aileron) on an aircraft's wing is a type of control surface that combines the functions of both flaps and ailerons. Some smaller kitplanes have flaperons for reasons of simplicity of manufacture, while ...

provide roll control. The vertical surfaces are made in a similar way and extend both above and below the wing, incorporating rudders for yaw control. The canard fore wing is again similarly made but is unswept; it has constant chord with rounded tips and has no dihedral or washout. It carries slotted

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

for pitch control. The fuselage of the Ibis is built around four wooden longerons and plywood covered, with single curvature sides and bottom. Pilot and passenger are seated in tandem under a long, single-piece, Junqua-supplied

canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...

, with the rear seat at the leading edge root of the mainplane; there is storage space behind the passenger's seat. The pusher engine is close to the trailing edge, driving a two blade propeller. A variety of ungeared flat four engines in the 45-60 kW (60-80 hp) can be used; Ibis have flown with Volkswagen 1835 and 1870 cc,

Limbach L2000 The Limbach L2000 is a series of German piston aero-engines designed and built by Limbach Flugmotoren. They are four-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled horizontally opposed, piston engines with a power output of . Variants ;L2000 DA :Certified ...

and

Jabiru 2200 The Jabiru 2200 is a lightweight naturally aspirated, pushrod four-stroke, flat four, air-cooled aircraft engine produced by Jabiru Aircraft. Design and development The conventional direct-drive engine is fitted with an alternator, silencers, ...

motors. The Ibis has a fixed tricycle undercarriage with mainwheels, which may be spatted, mounted from the fuselage on laminated plywood legs. The nosewheel has a rocker type rubber shock absorber and is steerable via the rudder pedals.

Operational history

Eleven Ibis had been built and flown by 2012, eight in France and one each in the Netherlands, Slovenia and the USA. 41 others remain under construction worldwide, six of which appear on the French civil aircraft register.

Variants

;Junqua Volucelle RJ-02 :A proof of concept and development vehicle for the Junqua Ibis RJ-03. Very similar in layout and construction to the Ibis, differing primarily in power-plant. ;Junqua Ibis RJ-03 :The home-built aircraft developed from the Volucelle RJ-02, fitted with a

Volkswagen air-cooled engine The Volkswagen air-cooled engine is an air-cooled, gasoline-fuelled, boxer engine with four horizontally opposed cast-iron cylinders, cast aluminum alloy cylinder heads and pistons, magnesium-alloy crankcase, and forged steel crankshaft and ...

or an

Specifications (60 hp Volkswagen engine)

References

External links

{{commons category, Junqua Ibis RJ03
Official website (archived)PH-ISI building site
1990s French sport aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Canard aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1991