The Chrislea Super Ace is a 1940s

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

four-seat light aircraft built by Chrislea Aircraft Limited.

History

The Super Ace was developed from the earlier Chrislea C.H.3 Series 1 Ace, a high-wing four seat cabin

monoplane 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 con ...

with a tricycle undercarriage and two

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

s. The Ace had an unusual 'steering wheel' control arrangement which eliminated the conventional rudder bar. The wheel was mounted on a universal joint; turning it applied aileron, moving it vertically applied elevator and sideways the rudder. It originally flew with a single vertical tail but was soon modified with twin fins. The lone C.H.3 Series 1 Ace first flew in September 1946. Soon after the company moved to Exeter, the first production aircraft, the C.H.3 Series 2 Super Ace flew in February 1948. This model was powered by a de Havilland Gipsy Major 10 inline piston engine. Wing and tailplane were now metal structures, the span was increased by 2 ft compared with the Ace, and the fins were smaller and rounder. The control system of the first Super Ace was not well received and, as a result, that aircraft and all other Series 3 machines had a rudder bar. Construction was initiated on a production run of 32 aircraft, but only 18 Super Aces were completed and flown. Only 3 of these stayed in the UK; the rest were either immediately exported (12), exported after time in the UK (2) or worked abroad under British registration in the Near East (1). Super Aces flew in

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( Switzerland),

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(

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( Japan, British Malaya,

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(

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) and

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( Australia,

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The final variant, taken from the Super Ace production run, was the C.H.3 Series 4 Skyjeep, first flown in August 1949. The Skyjeep had a

tailwheel landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

, a conventional control stick instead of the wheel and removable top decking on the rear

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

. A fuselage stretch of 8.5 in improved the legroom and, combined with the accessible rear fuselage, provided a more flexible internal space. It was powered by a 155 hp Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 engine. In all, three Skyjeeps were built and sold in

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and Australia. The Australian machine flew there with a 200 hp

de Havilland Gipsy Six The de Havilland Gipsy Six is a British six-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted inline piston engine developed by the de Havilland Engine Company for aircraft use in the 1930s. It was based on the cylinders of the four-cylinder Gipsy Major and ...

engine for a time, but has since been refitted with the Cirrus and is now flying in the UK. Sales of the two types were disappointing and 11 of the 32 planned were either not completed (6) or built but not flown (5). These were scrapped in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

when the company assets were bought by C.E. Harper Aircraft Limited.

Variants

;C.H.3 Series 1 Ace: four-seat high-wing monoplane with tricycle undercarriage powered by a

Lycoming O-290 Lycoming may refer to the following, most of which are at least partly in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States: Geography * Lycoming, New York, a hamlet * Lycoming County, Pennsylvania * Lycoming Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania * L ...

engine, one built. ;C.H.3 Series 2 Super Ace: de Havilland Gipsy Major 10 powered. Greater span, rudder bar provided. 18 flown. ;C.H.3 Series 3 Skyjeep: Military A.O.P. and ambulance aircraft, essentially similar to the series 4. ;C.H.3 Series 4 Skyjeep: conventional controls and tailwheel, 155 hp Blackburn Cirrus Major 3 powered. 3 flown.

Survivors

Recently there have been two flying Super Aces in the UK, ''G-AKVF'' and ''G-AKUW'', plus a Skyjeep (''G-AKVR'').There is also a recently restored Super Ace ZK-ASI in Ashburton Aviation Museum, New Zealand Note:To use the URL select advanced search and enter Chrislea in Aircraft Type or Name, selecting "unregistered aircraft" to view all registered examples

Specifications (C.H.3 Series 4)

chrislea ch3 superace series2 g-akuw arp

References

External links

Super Ace controls
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