Turner T-40
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Turner T-40 also marketed as the TEDDE Turner T-40 is a wooden, single-seat,
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 Eugene L. "Gene" Turner, first flying on 3 April 1961 (his birthday).


Design and development

The T-40 was designed to be a simple to build, all wood aircraft with folding wings. The prototype was modified several times from a single-seat aircraft to a two-place. It also was modified with 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 ...
and for one flight only, canard control surfaces. The T-40 has
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 ...
. The canopy on the original T-40 single seat version was modeled using the NACA X-2 canopy as a guide. The majority of the wood used for structural components is
Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...
. The wing and fuselage skins are
plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...
. The fuel tank is made of fiberglass. For control an all flying tail is used with anti-servo tabs. The dual spar,
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 ...
wings can be folded for storage.


Operational history

The prototype T-40, named "Ophelia Bumps", won the 1961 EAA Outstanding Design Award, second place in the 1962 EAA Design Competition, the Lockheed-Marietta Georgia Award for Outstanding Workmanship, the EAA Outstanding Canopy Design Trophy The prototype is now on display at the
Saxon Aerospace Museum The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
in Boron, California.


Variants

;Turner T-40 :Original version ;Turner T-40A :A two seat variant with
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 ...
. ;Turner T-40B :A two seat variant with tricycle landing gear.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 159. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977. ;Super" Turner T-40AS :Bubble canopy 125hp ;Turner T-77 :T-40 with bubble canopy and swept tail.


Specifications (T-40)


References

{{reflist, 30em Homebuilt aircraft