The ScaleWings SW51 Mustang, formerly marketed as the FK-Lightplanes FK51 Mustang, is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

light-sport aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

and

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

that was designed by ScaleWings of Strasswalchen,

and was initially produced by FK-Lightplanes of

Krosno Krosno (in full ''The Royal Free City of Krosno'', pl, Królewskie Wolne Miasto Krosno) is a historical town and Krosno County, county in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in southeastern Poland. The estimated population of the town is 47,140 inha ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, who introduced it publicly at the

AERO Friedrichshafen AERO Friedrichshafen is a trade show dedicated to European general aviation. It is held yearly in April on the shores of Lake Constance at the exhibition center of Friedrichshafen, Germany right next to Friedrichshafen Airport Friedrichshaf ...

show in 2013. After FK-Lightplanes ceased production, the design was built by ScaleWings.Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 51. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. The aircraft was first flown in October 2014 and is supplied as a complete ready-to-fly-aircraft or as a kit for amateur construction. The SW51 is a 70% replica of the

North American P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team ...

fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Design and development

The aircraft features a cantilever

low-wing 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 ...

, a two-seats in

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 ...

enclosed cockpit under a

bubble canopy A bubble canopy is an aircraft canopy constructed without bracing, for the purpose of providing a wider unobstructed field of view to the pilot, often providing 360° all-round visibility. The designs of bubble canopies can drastically vary; so ...

, fixed or retractable

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 ...

and a single engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

. The light-sport version for the US market will have fixed landing gear as that category requires. The design's structure is made from

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

. Its span wing mounts flaps. The Mustang features electro-hydraulic retractable landing gear, hydraulic disc brakes on the main wheels, dual controls and electrically-operated flaps. It also has three-axis

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic signals transmitted by wires, and flight control co ...

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, electrically-adjustable

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 ...

pedals, two internally-mounted

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

fuel tanks and detachable outer wing panels. The design includes two baggage compartments, one in front of the firewall and one behind the cockpit. The manufacturer has made the aircraft as similar to the original as possible, down to the simulated metal finish, rivets and other details. It also includes a 2000 watt sound system that provides a

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

engine sound and a smoke generator for start-up smoke simulation. Unlike the P-51 Mustang, the SW51's

can slide aft and then is hinged to the right for egress. The initial FK-Lightplanes model was a European microlight version. When production passed to ScaleWings they developed new models of the design, including a light-sport model, a homebuilt model that is also available ready-to-fly for the US ''Experimental-Exhibition'' category and a heavier weight ultralight version.

Variants

;FK51 :Initial model produced by FK-Lightplanes for the European microlight category with a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot, passenger and baggage is . The acceptable power range is and the standard engines used are the

Rotax 912S 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, ...

or 912iS and the

turbocharged In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...

Rotax 914 The Rotax 914 is a turbo-charged, four-stroke, four-cylinder, horizontally opposed aircraft engine with air-cooled cylinders and water-cooled cylinder heads. It is designed and built by the Austrian company BRP-Powertrain, owned by Bombardier R ...

powerplant. ;SW51 Ultralight :A proposed model by ScaleWings for when the European microlight category has its gross weight raised to to match the US light-sport rules. It will have a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of . The maximum power will be . ;SW51 S-LSA :A model by ScaleWings for the US light-sport rules, with fixed landing gear and a fixed pitch propeller. It has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of . The maximum power is . ;SW51 Experimental :A model by ScaleWings for US ''Experimental Amateur-built'' or ''Experimental-Exhibition'' rules as a quick-build kit or fully assembled. It has a typical empty weight of , depending on the engine installed and a gross weight of . The maximum power is .

Specifications (FK51 ultralight)

References

External links

*
FK-Lightplanes official website archivesFirst flight video
{{B&F aircraft SW51 SW51 2010s Austrian sport aircraft 2010s Austrian ultralight aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft North American P-51 Mustang replicas Aerobatic aircraft Aircraft first flown in 2014