The Nike PUL 9 is an Argentine
experimental tailless aircraft powered by a
Rotax 447 engine.
Design and development
The PUL 9 had its origins in Argentina, the home of the German flying wing pioneer
Reimar Horten
Walter Horten (born 13 November 1913 in Bonn; died 9 December 1998 in Baden-Baden, Germany) and Reimar Horten (born 12 March 1915 in Bonn; died 14 March 1994 in Villa General Belgrano, Argentina), sometimes credited as the Horten Brothers, were G ...
since 1948. In late 1989 a collaboration between Horten and Siegfried Panek produced a design for a single seat, single pusher engine
tailless aircraft. The name was an acronym of Panek UltraLight, with 9 the span in metres. Construction began near
Frankfurt, Germany in January 1990 but was transferred to the
Italian company
Nike Aeronautica in the spring. The PUL 9 first flew on 22 June 1990.
It had 30° of
sweep on the leading edges of its thick (thickness/
chord
Chord may refer to:
* Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously
** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning
* Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve
* Chord ( ...
ratio 20%), symmetric
aerofoil, wings, built using
carbon fibre and
Kevlar with
glassfibre
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
for the spars. The wingtips were rounded, with
washout.
Elevons controlled both pitch and roll; there was no vertical stabilizing surface, rudder or separate tailplane.
Like some of Horten's tailless gliders, the
I.Ae. 34 Clen Antú
The I.Ae. 34 Clen Antú, sometimes known as the Horten XVa after its designer Reimar Horten, was a two-seat tailless Glider (sailplane), glider built in Argentina. Two single-seat variants competed unsuccessfully in the 1952 World Gliding Champio ...
for example, the PUL 9 had a well defined, though short, fuselage or pod. This was a deep steel tube structure starting about mid-chord and extending well behind the trailing edge, with a single seat open cockpit at the front and a 42 hp (31 kW)
Rotax 447 two cylinder two-stroke engine in pusher mode behind. The main wheels of the PUL 9's
fixed tricycle undercarriage were also mounted on the steel frame, with the nosewheel attached near the leading edge. The undercarriage used rubber cord
shock absorbers
A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...
and
drum brakes.
The PUL 9 is reported to have flown several times and handled well. By the end of 1991 attention had turned to a two-seat version, the
Nike PUL 10.
Specifications
See also
References
{{Portal bar, Italy, Companies, Aviation
1990s Argentine experimental aircraft
1990s Italian experimental aircraft
Tailless aircraft
Motor gliders
Aircraft first flown in 1990