The SGP M-222 Flamingo was an Austrian twin engine, four seat light aircraft, developed with a series of prototypes into the early 1960s. There was no series production.

Design and development

In the 1950s Simmering-Graz-Pauker A.G. (SGP) was a large manufacturing concern but the M-222 Flamingo was their first aircraft. It was a conventional twin engine

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, smaller than many but seating four in two rows. The wings of the Flamingo had a

laminar flow In fluid dynamics, laminar flow is characterized by fluid particles following smooth paths in layers, with each layer moving smoothly past the adjacent layers with little or no mixing. At low velocities, the fluid tends to flow without lateral mi ...

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

and were made entirely of wood. The first prototype was powered by 150 hp (112 kW)

Lycoming O-320 The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. They are commonly used on light aircraft such as the Cessna 172 and Piper Cherokee. Different variants ...

flat-four A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...

engines but later aircraft had 200 hp (150 kW)

Lycoming IO-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 producing ...

flat-fours. These were conventionally mounted ahead of the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

in long cowlings with their

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

shafts, driving two-blade airscrews, centred above the wing upper surface. There were fuel tanks in the thin wings, with more fuel in

wing tip A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft. Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...

tanks A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...

. Unusually, the Flamingo was fitted with both flaps and airbrakes. The flaps were of the camber changing type, to increase lift at low speed; they were split into three sections on each wing and slid rearwards and downwards on concealed rails. The airbrakes were wing mounted spoilers for losing speed. Like the wings the

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third ed ...

was all-wood; the

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

was set low on the

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 ...

. The Flamingo's fuselage had a welded steel tube structure, skinned forward with light alloy and aft with laminated plastic. Its two rows of seats were enclosed under a three part

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 a ...

which merged at the rear into the raised fuselage. There was a wide door on either side for cabin access and a separate baggage space behind the seats. It had a retractable

tricycle undercarriage 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 ge ...

with the mainwheels, fitted with brakes, behind the engines. The nosewheel was steerable. The undercarriage, like the flaps and airbrakes, were

hydraulically Hydraulics (from Greek language, Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is th ...

powered. The first prototype flew for the first time on 15 May 1959 but was lost in a fatal crash during single engine tests on 2 August 1959. Development work continued on a second aircraft which first flew in 1960 and a third followed in 1962. The fourth aircraft, now renamed the Simmering-Graz-Pauker SGP.222 was intended as a production prototype and demonstrator and appeared at the 1964

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

show, though it turned out to be the last of the line. It incorporated several changes in response to the lengthy development trials. The wing

s had breaker strips added and there were new fillets in this edge at the root and on the outboard side of the engine cowlings. The

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s were

mass balance In physics, a mass balance, also called a material balance, is an application of conservation of mass to the analysis of physical systems. By accounting for material entering and leaving a system, mass flows can be identified which might have bee ...

d and fitted with ground adjustable

trim tab Trim tabs are small surfaces connected to the trailing edge of a larger control surface on a boat or aircraft, used to control the trim of the controls, i.e. to counteract hydro- or aerodynamic forces and stabilise the boat or aircraft in a pa ...

s, and the upper hinge gaps sealed with

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

. The most obvious external changes were to the

where the horizontal tail now had positive dihedral and the previously rounded vertical tail had been enlarged and given severe straight taper, assisted by a

ventral Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Th ...

fin 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 ...

to improve low speed handling. Both

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 ...

and the

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 aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

had trim tabs. One independent report of this fourth aircraft's handling found it well behaved, stable but responsive with a docile stall and brisk climb. It received its Austrian and FAA Type Certificates early in 1964. After US certification the designation SGP.222VS (VS being German for US) was briefly used but this was later changed to SGP.222A. At the end of 1964 the programme was terminated and the three surviving examples scrapped.

Specifications (second prototype)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title= Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1962-63, last= Taylor , first= John W R , year=1962, publisher= Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd, location= London, page=12 {{cite magazine , date=28 May 1964, title= In the air - Simmering-Graz-Pauker SGP.222, magazine=

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

, volume=85 , issue=2881 , pages=893–4 , url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%201637.html {{cite web , url=http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=31976, title=First prototype crash report , accessdate=16 September 2012 {{cite web , url=http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/VanTilborg/8669.htm, title=SGP.222 , accessdate=18 September 2012 http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/VanTilborg/8669.htm 1950s Austrian aircraft