The Beck-Mahoney ''Sorceress'' was a racing staggerwing
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
originally designed by the father and son team of Lee and Seldon Mahoney with later improvements accomplished by pilot Don Beck.
The aircraft is notable as being the first biplane to exceed on a race pylon course and also held the distinction of being the most successful racing biplane in history,
[Records page from Society of Air Racing Historians](_blank)
[Image and information from Airliners.net](_blank)
/ref> until Tom Aberle's ''Phantom'', which has won eight Reno Gold championships since its introduction in 2004.National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
after its last race, where it is currently housed in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...
in Chantilly, Virginia
Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an 18th-century p ...
.
Image:Beck-Mahoney_Sorceress_Front_View.jpg,
Image:Beck-Mahoney_Sorceress_front_three_quarter_view.jpg,
Design
A reverse-stagger biplane, ''Sorceress'' represents the state of the art at the time of its design, and remains one of the great design classics of air-racing within the United States.
Lee Mahoney, the designer, had experience in 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 ...
construction with composite material
A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...
s, metal-to-composite bonding technologies, and computational fluid dynamics
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...
, applying his experience to design ''Sorceress'', and achieve success with several noteworthy design features, including:-
* Use of engine exhaust air flow forms a Coandă effect
The Coandă effect ( or ) is the tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to a convex surface. ''Merriam-Webster'' describes it as "the tendency of a jet of fluid emerging from an orifice to follow an adjacent flat or curved surface and to ent ...
-bonded laminar flow over the fuselage, increasing rudder efficiency by several orders of magnitude. Mahoney had originally designed the fuselage so that a fin would not be necessary - the fuselage would have ended with a rudder, but his partners however preferred a more conventional treatment, giving ''Sorceress'' one of the smallest conventional fins of any racing biplane to date.
*The aerofoil sections of the wings are designed as mirror image 'vanes' of symmetrical section - they interfere with each other's flow in a manner which provides very high efficiency in turns, where as one vane-set/wing begins to lose efficiency, the other gains more, allowing for extremely high lift in turns with minimal loss of velocity
*''Sorceress'' gains a great deal from composite bonding, with one of the first airframes to demonstrate almost perfect streamlining combined with very great strength;the wing interplane struts are for show only, ''Sorceress'' being capable of flight without them, but racing rules require them.
Controversy
''Sorceress'' was designed within the rules of the ARPA Biplane class of 1965 and conformed to them without deviation, however, by 1972 competitors lobbied successfully to have ''Sorceress'' banned from competition.
Items of contention included:
*The original configuration used a limited model of the Teledyne Continental O-360, a commonplace engine, but oil sump configuration and the use of electronic ignition failed scrutiny checks.
*The original undercarriage suffered collapse on several occasions and the ''Sorceress'' team were instructed to improve the undercarriage with stronger struts and larger wheels.
*The wing area of the original wings was deemed excessive and had to be reduced. The lower wing outboard of the interplane struts was removed and swash-plates fitted to the tips.
Lee Mahoney took a lot of these criticisms, rule changes and comments personally, speaking about his experiences in an interview with 'Air Progress' magazine.
Notwithstanding the negative early experiences, ''Sorceress'' retains her claim to being the most technologically advanced biplane of any sort ever constructed, and her racing history subsequent to the controversy has gone on to proved the faith and skill of her designer, backers, and pilots.
Results and records
''Sorceress'' placed in the following Reno Air Races, racing as #89:[Race results from the Reno Air Racing Association](_blank)
*1970: Biplane Consolation, 7th place, , pilot: Lee Mahoney (crossed the finish line first, but automatically moved to last as it was racing as a fill-in).
*1971: Biplane Gold, 2nd place, , pilot: Paul Deschamps
*1972: Biplane Gold, 1st place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1973: Biplane Gold, 2nd place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1974: Biplane Gold, 2nd place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1975: Biplane Gold, 1st place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1976: Biplane Gold, 1st place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1980: Biplane Gold, 8th place, , pilot: Don Beck (crossed finish first, disqualified for illegal passing)
*1982: Biplane Gold, 3rd place, , pilot: Don Beck
*1983: Biplane Gold, 2nd place, , pilot: Don Beck
''Sorceress'' set a number of speed records in the Sport Biplane Class, including:
Specifications
References
* Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971–72''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd., 1971. .
External links
{{commons category, Beck-Mahoney Sorceress
Beck-Mahoney ''Sorceress'' Specifications from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum official website
Sorceress
1970s United States sport aircraft
Sorceress
Biplanes with negative stagger
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Individual aircraft in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution
Aircraft first flown in 1970