The 1910 Penkala Biplane also called the Leptir ( en, Butterfly) was the first aircraft to fly in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Design and development

The Leptir was a single engine,

sesquiplane 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 a ...

aircraft with

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

. The open girder

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

provides an unusually long distance to the tail surfaces, compared to modern aircraft. The flat bottom surface of the fuselage was covered, forming a long thin triangular surface intended to provide lift, which was not functional in level flight. The aircraft was tail heavy with a

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Thi ...

at 70 percent of wing chord.

Operational history

The first flight occurred on 22 June 1910 with pilot

Dragutin Novak Dragutin Karlo Novak (16 February 1892 in Zagreb – 31 October 1978, Zagreb) was the first person in what is now Croatia to make a heavier-than-air flight by flying a plane constructed by Slavoljub Eduard Penkala, June 22, 1910. Novak flew in an ...

. The aircraft was crashed several months later.

Variants

;1910 Biplane :Original design ;1910 Leptir II :Modifications to include skids ;2010 CA-10 Replica :Replica aircraft - Powered by

Rotax 912 The Rotax 912 is a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, naturally aspirated, four-stroke aircraft engine with a reduction gearbox. It features liquid-cooled cylinder heads and air-cooled cylinders. Originally equipped with carburetors, late ...

with the center of gravity moved forward for safety.

Specifications (Penkala Biplane)

References

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External links

YouTube Video about the flight of the replica
DEAD LINK Single-engined tractor aircraft Sesquiplanes 1910 in Croatia Aircraft first flown in 1910 Conventional landing gear