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The Sheffield Skeeter X-1 is an American single-seat lightweight homebuilt aircraft designed and built by Kenneth Sheffield of
Littleton, Colorado.
Designed for
amateur construction only the prototype was built.
Design and development
Kenneth Sheffield set out to design a low-cost, easy-to-build aircraft. He included folding wings, a simple structure and powered it with a
Volkswagen air-cooled engine.
Design was started in 1966 and by April 1970 the Skeeter X-1, registered ''N117'' had flown.
The Skeeter X-1 is a
parasol strut-braced
In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...
monoplane with a welded steel fuselage.
The fuselage is covered in wood and metal in the cockpit area but the aft-structure is uncovered and the pilot sits in an open cockpit.
The two-
spar wings fold for transportation, and they have
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, but no
trim tabs or
flaps.
The wooden tail is strut and wire braced and
fabric covered, and the
landing gear is a fixed
tailwheel type with a steerable tailwheel.
The Skeeter X-1 was designed to me powered by any converted Volkswagen engine from , the prototype had a Volkswagen converted motor-car engine driving a two-bladed fixed pitch tractor propeller designed by Sheffield.
The Skeeter X-1 was registered by the
Federal Aviation Administration in the experimental homebuilt category and the company planned to sell plans and finished propellers to customers but only the prototype appears to have been built.
Specifications
References
Notes
Bibliography
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1970s United States civil utility aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Parasol-wing aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1970