Smith Mini-Plane Amateur Built C-GADB 04

The Smith DSA-1 Miniplane ("Darn Small Aeroplane",Montgomery 1992, p.12 "Darned Small Airplane",Davisson 1970 or "Damn Small Airplane""Canadian Fly-in") is a single-seat, single-engine sport aircraft designed in the United States in the 1950s and marketed for home building.Taylor 1989, p.826

Design

The Miniplane is a conventional single-bay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span braced with N-struts and wires.Markowski 1980, p.351 The Miniplane design has fixed undercarriage with a steerable tailwheel and although designed with an open cockpit, many have been fitted with canopies. The fuselage and the tail fin are of a conventional truss design constructed of welded steel tube and covered in fabric,Plane & Pilot 1978, p.153 and the wing spars and ribs are made from

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

and also fabric-covered. A variant has been built with an all-metal wing construction. Engines used by builders are generally the 65-hp (48-kW)

Continental A65 The Continental O-170 engine is the collective military designation for a family of small aircraft engines, known under the company designation of A50, A65, A75 and A80. The line was designed and built by Continental Motors commencing in the 194 ...

, 85-hp (63-kW)

Continental C85 The Continental O-190 (Company designations C75 and C85) is a series of engines made by Continental Motors beginning in the 1940s. Of flat-four configuration, the engines produced 75 hp (56 kW) or 85 hp (63 kW) respectively. ...

or the

Lycoming O-235 The Lycoming O-235 is a family of four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston aircraft engines that produce , derived from the earlier O-233 engine.Textron Lycoming: ''Operator's Manual, Textron Lycoming Aircraft Engines, Series O-23 ...

of 100 hp to 125 hp (75 kW to 93 kW).

Development

Designer Frank Smith died of a heart attack shortly after completing the prototype. His wife, Dorothy, and son, Donald continued to market the plans into the 1970s and Donald worked on a two-seat version, the Miniplane +1. In the late 1990s Sky Classic Aircraft of

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

was developing an improved version of the Miniplane designated as the Smith Sport Miniplane. This model featured more cockpit room for larger pilots, a new

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 re-drawn plans to aid construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 358. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. In 2010, Sky Classic Aircraft of Des Moines, Iowa marketed plans for another updated version of the Miniplane, the Miniplane 2000."WE Love Biplanes" The Miniplane 2000 incorporates several modifications to the original design, including a slightly longer and wider fuselage to accommodate larger pilots,Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 125. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. adding bracing struts to reinforce the horizontal stabilizer, and changing the airfoil section and angles of incidence of the wings.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 118. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X

Operational history

In August 1959, Tom Messick flew a Miniplane on a 4,200-mile (6,700-km) round trip to attend 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, ...

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

and was awarded a trophy for flying the longest distance to the event. The prototype DSA-1 is preserved at the

EAA AirVenture Museum The EAA Aviation Museum, formerly the EAA AirVenture Museum (or Air Adventure Museum), is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historic and experimental aircraft as well as antiques, classics, and warbirds. The museum is lo ...

. Originally lent to the museum by Dorothy and Donald Smith in 1973, Donald donated the aircraft in 1988 in memory of his mother.

Variants

;DSA-1 Miniplane :original single-seat version by Frank Smith ;Miniplane +1 :two-seat version by Donald Smith ;Miniplane 2000 :updated version by Sky Classic Aircraft ;Sport Miniplane :updated version from the late 1990s by Sky Classic Aircraft, with more cockpit room for larger pilots, a new airfoil and re-drawn plans.

Specifications (DSA-1 prototype)

Notes

References

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External links

Elmer Carlson's account of the first flight of N671EC

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1950s United States sport aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1956