Early Composite homebuilts - was Need help please

Gene Sheehan is alive and well

wrote in message
oups.com...
Gene Sheehan is alive and well


In what context?

And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.

I'm guessing VariViggen.

Jim

And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 09:48:49 -0800, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

I'm guessing VariViggen.

Jim

And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.




I may be wrong, but I think the original Viggen was wood frame and
plywood. Some of the European powered sailplanes might be first.

Ed Sullivan

Jim sez:

I'm guessing VariViggen.

Alex, the question is "What do you call a vegetarian who eats no eggs or dairy
and builds small airplanes?" They're kinda thin and pale, but at the sight of
rivets or a whiff of solder flux, their cheeks pink right up...

Ed Sullivan wrote...

Some of the European powered sailplanes might be first.

How many Europeans does it take to power a sailplane? g

It wasn't ex-am, but when was the Windecker Eagle
certified? ISTR it was pre-EZ, but I'm not sure.

Dave 'wayback' Hyde

Ed Sullivan wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 09:48:49 -0800, "RST Engineering"
wrote:


I'm guessing VariViggen.

Jim


And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.




I may be wrong, but I think the original Viggen was wood frame and
plywood. Some of the European powered sailplanes might be first.

Ed Sullivan

You are right Ed. I was at Oshkosh the first year Burt flew it there. It
was an impressive airplane in the early 70s.

Jerry

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 11:41:02 -0500, " jls" wrote:

In what context?

And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.

As you say, "context". My vote is on the Jupiter J-1. 1959. Won at Rockford
for "Outstanding new design." Several layers of fiberglass were laid-up on a
flat sheet, then glued to a wing as the skin.

The Rand KR1 appeared at Oshkosh in 1972. Like the Jupiter, though, it's
primary structure was wood.

Varieze made its debut in June '75.

Ron Wanttaja

First composite sailplanes were Libelle (1964), Phoebus (1964)
First composite homebuilt Vari-Eze (1975 from memory) (ignoring Jupiter and
KR-1 which we really wooden)
First Certificated composite aircraft Windecker Eagle (Circa 1967).

Even composites are not new anymore .... 41 years since the first composite
gliders appeared. Of course the materials have come a long way in this time.

"richard riley" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 06:59:58 GMT, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

:On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 11:41:02 -0500, " jls" wrote:
:
:In what context?
:
:And what is the earliest powered composite homebuilt aircraft? I'm
:thinking it's a Rutan Eze, but maybe there's something older.
:
:As you say, "context". My vote is on the Jupiter J-1. 1959. Won at
Rockford
:for "Outstanding new design." Several layers of fiberglass were laid-up
on a
:flat sheet, then glued to a wing as the skin.
:
:The Rand KR1 appeared at Oshkosh in 1972. Like the Jupiter, though, it's
rimary structure was wood.
:
:Varieze made its debut in June '75.

The Dyke Delta belongs somewhere in the mix. Steel tube frame,
fiberglass skins. Mid 1960's. Ron Scott's "Old Ironsides" is
similar, but I'm not sure when it rolled out.

"......... :-))" wrote in message
u...
First composite sailplanes were Libelle (1964), Phoebus (1964)
First composite homebuilt Vari-Eze (1975 from memory) (ignoring Jupiter
and
KR-1 which we really wooden)
First Certificated composite aircraft Windecker Eagle (Circa 1967).

Well, not quite. There was the Glasflugel BS-1, the first production
composite sailplane, first built in 1962

http://www.sailplanedirectory.com/glasflugel.htm

which was preceded by the Akaflieg (technical high school) Stuttgart FS-24
Phoenix, built in 1958 and already having a l/d (glide ratio) of 38:1. This
was truly a composite homebuilt, but not powered as was requested by this
thread. For an overview of composite sailplane design history see

http://www.raeng.org.uk/news/publica...Darlington.pdf

These were beautiful aircraft, not crude in any way, that led the way to the
fantastic sailplanes we have today. In many ways it has been sad to see the
homebuilding movement in this country continue again and again to reinvent
the wheel WRT composite structure when the German sailplane manufacturers
had it pretty well figured out by the mid '60s. Most of those early
Libelles and other composite sailplanes are still flying.
-Bob Korves