Low Power Tow Plane for Antique Glider

[mjacob]

Has any one heard of using a Champs, Cubs, Luscombs or Cessna 120/140
for tow operations for antique gliders like a franklin. I am in search
of a tow plane that can fly at 50 miles per hour or less.

[TIM WARD]

"mjacob" > wrote in message
om...
> Has any one heard of using a Champs, Cubs, Luscombs or Cessna 120/140
> for tow operations for antique gliders like a franklin. I am in search
> of a tow plane that can fly at 50 miles per hour or less.

You might try one of the hang glider flight parks. The Dragonflies and
trikes will fly very slowly. I'm not sure of the legality of an ultralight
towing a registered aircraft, but they should go as slow as you need.

Tim Ward

[Stefan]

A neighbour club uses a Husky to tow a Grunau Baby, I think with flaps
extended. They say that's on the edge.

Stefan

[Phil Walsh]

I've towed a Primary with a Rallye 180T. I was flying the Rallye at an
indicated 45 knots. The Primary pilot told me that it was too slow! It turns
out that the Rallye's ASI over reads at low airspeeds. The true airspeed was
nearer 35 knots! With full flaps and the leading edge slats out, the Rallye was
reasonably easy to control. With the extreme nose up attitude, forward
visibility was non-existant. Needs to be done on a reasonably cool day to avoid
overheating.

[George Vranek]

Nearly ideal towing machines for antique gliders are Touring Motor Gliders
as Falks, Dimonas and similar. They are able to fly slow, makes less noise
and uses less fuel.
George

"mjacob" > wrote in message
om...
> Has any one heard of using a Champs, Cubs, Luscombs or Cessna 120/140
> for tow operations for antique gliders like a franklin. I am in search
> of a tow plane that can fly at 50 miles per hour or less.

[Doug Taylor]

I have recently been doing some towing behind a J-3 cub with a 90 hp.
motor. Works great and he can fly about 40 knots. He does have a
little concern about overheating but we haven't had any trouble. He
said he could only climb about 1500' pulling a Ka-7 before temps got
too high.

My experience flying a Cessna 140 is that it wouldn't be able to fly
any slower than more common towplanes.

[Neal Pfeiffer]

Look at the Vintage Sailplane Association website for info and addresses

http://www.vintagesailplane.org/

Jan Scott tows vintage gliders with his motor Falke off his grass strip.

Bob Gaines has a variety of old gliders, including a 1939 Kirby Kite and
a Schleicher Ka-3 which are both on skids.

David Schuur is familiar with the vintage gliders at Lawrenceville, IL,
including a couple of Grunau Babies.

Any of these gentlemen should be able to help you.

Good Luck,

Neal Pfeiffer

mjacob wrote:
> Has any one heard of using a Champs, Cubs, Luscombs or Cessna 120/140
> for tow operations for antique gliders like a franklin. I am in search
> of a tow plane that can fly at 50 miles per hour or less.

[Ian Johnston]

On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 10:09:53 UTC, Robert Ehrlich
> wrote:

: mjacob wrote:
: >
: > Has any one heard of using a Champs, Cubs, Luscombs or Cessna 120/140
: > for tow operations for antique gliders like a franklin. I am in search
: > of a tow plane that can fly at 50 miles per hour or less.
:
: Some Fieseler Storch were used in France after WWII for that purpose,
: Morane even continued to build some ones. I saw one of them in 1996
: on our field, but it would probably hard to find one of them in the US.

What about an Avro 504?

Yours helpfully,

Ian