Sadler Piranha
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The Sadler SV-1 Vampire is a single-seat ultralight sport aircraft developed in the United States in the early 1980s.''Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1985–86'', p.677 It is uncharacteristic of ultralight designs in both its layout and its construction. The Vampire is a mid-wing cantilever monoplane of pod-and-boom configuration and
twin boom A twin-boom aircraft is characterised by two longitudinal booms (extended nacelle-like bodies). The booms may contain ancillary items such as fuel tanks and/or provide a supporting structure for other items. Typically, twin tailbooms support ...
s joined by a common
horizontal stabilizer 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 gyroplan ...
. The wings fold for storage and transport, and the undercarriage is of fixed tricycle type. The single engine and pusher propeller are mounted at the rear of the pod that also includes the open cockpit. Construction throughout is of metal. The Vampire won the "Grand Champion Design" Award at the
EAA Fly-in EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, ...
at
Oshkosh, Wisconsin Oshkosh is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, of which it is the county seat. The city had a population of 66,816 in 2020, making it the ninth-largest city in Wisconsin. It is also adjacent to the Town of Oshkosh. History Oshkosh was ...
in August 1982.Sadler Aircraft History
Subsequently, designer William Sadler founded American Microflight (later Sadler Aircraft Company) to produce the aircraft. Series production began in February 1983, and had reached the rate of four per month by 1984. Rights to this sport version were sold to Aero.V Australia based at Illawarra Regional Airport in Albion Park Rail, New South Wales. By the late 1980s, Sadler was offering a militarized version of the design as the Piranha.Taylor 1989, p.942''Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1987–88'', p.677 Equipped with an enclosed cockpit, bullet-resistant fuselage pod made of Kevlar, machine gun mounts in the wing roots, and a hardpoint under each wing for disposable stores, the Piranha is intended to provide ground attack, counter-insurgency, and interdiction missions. Power was originally provided by a converted Volkswagen air-cooled engine, but a converted Chevrolet V-8 automotive engine was eventually fitted.Harvey 1999, p.3 A
UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
version was developed around the same time. Designated the UAV-18-50, it carried a pilot for takeoffs and landings. It never flew without a pilot on board and was never fitted with any armament. In May 2010 it was announced that the company and its one prototype aircraft, some spares and one Jabiru 3300 engine were all for sale for US$50,000. Company vice president David Littlejohn placed the blame for the sale of the company on the economic downturn. "We failed to meet the required pipeline commitments needed to receive second-stage capital from our investors" he explained. Garland Aerospace produced the
Garland Vampire The Garland Vampire is an Australian amateur-built aircraft that is derived from the Sadler Vampire and was produced by Garland Aerospace of Camden, New South Wales. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur const ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
between 2013 and 2016, a series of designs developed from the original Vampire.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 109. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Wedgetail Aircraft of Camden, New South Wales, Australia started manufacturing the SV-2 Vampire in 2018.


Variants

;Prototype 1 :The original prototype. 30' wing, 20 hp Solo single-cylinder 2-stroke engine. ;Vampire :Production version with a 30' wing. American FAR Part 103 legal. Now back in production by Garland Aerospace as the Vampire I ;SV-1 :22' wing. Produced in Australia under license by Skywise Ultraflight with a KFM 107 engine. No longer produced. ;SV-2 :22' wing. Produced in Australia under license by Skywise Ultraflight with a Rotax 447 engine. No longer produced. ;SV-2A :Very similar to the SV-2. Current production rights held by Garland Aerospace Pty Ltd. ;SV-3 :Similar to the SV-2A with an HKS-700E 4-stroke engine. Current Production rights held by Garland Aerospace.com.au. ;UAV18-50/Experimental #001 :Also known as the RPV18-50 and the OPV18-50. Similar to the SV-2 with shorter wings and thicker wing skins. Originally powered by a Rotax 503 engine. Produced for General Atomics for evaluation in the Predator program. Only 1 built. ;A-22 :Shares few components with the SV series. Powered by a V-6 auto conversion. Export version for Turkey; Unknown number built. ;Piranha :Based on the A-22. Powered by a V-8 engine, capable of speeds up to 285 mph. Only 1 built.Harvey 1999, p.7 ;Vampire 2 :2-seat US- LSA compliant version. Original prototype destroyed in post-crash fire, Sept 2008. Introduced at AirVenture 2009. The two-seat LSA version draws heavily upon the Piranha design, including the landing gear,
airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...
and the folding wing system. The LSA version is powered by the Jabiru 3300
four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
powerplant. As of August 2012, the design does not appear on the Federal Aviation Administration's list of approved special light-sport aircraft. Both the original ultralight and the 2-seat LSA version are known as the "Sadler Vampire."Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 74. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X


Specifications (Vampire Ultralight)


Notes


References

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External links

* {{Official website, https://www.wedgetailaircraft.com.au/the-vampire-single-seat/
Sadler Aircraft Corporation website archives

Garland Aerospace website archives
1980s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Twin-boom aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1982