The Steen Skybolt is an American

homebuilt Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or ...

aerobatic biplane. Designed by teacher Lamar Steen as a high school engineering project, the prototype first flew in October 1970.Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12'', page 121. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485XTacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: ''World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16'', page 128. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. Steen Skybolt I ps-Lightroom-1

Design and development

The aircraft has a classic structure consisting of a welded tube

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 ...

and wooden wings, all fabric covered. It is a tandem open-cockpit two-seat biplane and is stressed for normal aerobatics. The cockpits are frequently constructed as a single tandem cabin with an enclosing bubble canopy. Some aerobatic competition aircraft are built as single seaters with the front cockpit closed off. The Original Steen Hale Wallace Skybolt named Yellow Bird

The Original Steen Hale Wallace Skybolt named Yellow Bird

The original Skybolt had a Lycoming HO-360-B1B engine, but powerplants of can be installed.Simpson, 2001 p.521

Operational history

The Skybolt has become popular as an amateur-built sporting biplane, with over 400 aircraft having been completed from construction plans sold in over 29 countries. A Skybolt won the Reserve Grand Champion Custom Built for 1979 at the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Sixteen examples were registered in the United Kingdom in January 2009.

Variants

;Skybolt (S) :The standard Skybolt as originally released for home-building ;Skybolt (D) :A revised structure and capability to have engines from fitted. ;Skybolt (R) :A radial engined derivative, with revised fuselage plus the improved structure of the (D), fitted with either a

Vedeneyev M14P The Vedeneyev M14P is a Russian nine-cylinder, four-stroke, air-cooled, petrol-powered radial engine. Producing , its design dates from the 1940s (Kotelnikov 2005), and is itself a development of the Ivchenko AI-14 engine. The engine has been ...

or a Vedeneyev M14PF nine-cylinder radial. ;Skybolt 300 :A derivative of the Skybolt fitted with a engine. ;Super Skybolt :A two seater version created by John Shipler by amalgamating a Pitts S-2 with a Skybolt, the prototype of which is named ''Storm Warning''. ; Starfire Firebolt :A development of the Skybolt with a

Lycoming IO-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O- ...

powerplant that gives a cruise speed of and an initial climb rate of 4,000 ft/min (20 m/s).Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 257. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Specifications (Skybolt (D))

Notes

References

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External links

*{{Official website, http://www.steenaero.com 1970s United States civil utility aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aerobatic aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1970