|
|
Post by kiwi on Dec 13, 2006 18:29:07 GMT 12
Back in the late 1970's I visited Ardmore and in some of the out buildings there were a number of what appeared to me to be Fox Moth fuselages , there may have been four or five and in various buildings there were several Bede home builds , I have not noticed this number of either type appearing in the skies overhead so whats the story ?
|
|
|
|
Post by Bruce on Dec 13, 2006 18:43:08 GMT 12
The Bedes were one of those designs that was supposed to revolutionise the homebuilt aircraft movement, but didnt quite get there. most of the exmaples in NZ have had problems associated with powerplants, the original Suzuki units being unsuitable, and only in recent times have examples actually flown here in NZ, powered by Hirth engines. The long prop shafts have also proved troublesome for amateur builders, and a number of projects have lapsed as enthusiasm dropped below that needed to overcome such difficulties. Pacific Aerospace was at one stage planning limited factory construction of BD-5s and one of the staff, alan Thoresen, acquired a number of partially built airframes linked in some way with this enterprise (these may have been the airframes you saw at Ardmore). Some of these were recently sold on TradeMe, so we may yet get a few more flying. Currently two BD-5s are airworthy in NZ, one at Ardmore and one at New Plymouth. They are not entirely suitable to NZ conditions as thier tiny wheels and limited prop clearance limit the airfields suitable to operate from.
|
|
|
|
Post by Peter Lewis on Dec 13, 2006 19:45:32 GMT 12
Myles Robertson (of Moth Minor fame) was into building Fox Moth fuselages. One was acquired by Stan Smith, who gave it to MoTAT in return for the remains of APT which he is restoring long term. Another went to Mandeville, where the c/n plate from AEK was attached . . .
|
|
|
|
Post by Dave Homewood on Dec 13, 2006 20:11:03 GMT 12
So that Fox Moth on display in Motat is a fake? I never knew that. It looks strangely nice in its orange, red and black colours.
One of the BD-5's that Pacific Aerospace had dabbled with in the 1970's ended up with Pat Monk, their chief designer. He had it stored in the rafters of his garage for ages, and he even offered it to my Dad once as he wanted to get shot of the thing. Eventually he found someone else to give it away to. I'm not sure who.
In a 1970's Wings magazine I acquired recently a news report stated the engine problems, and that the designer was trialling a Zenoah engine to see if it would be better. My parents used to be NZ agents for Zenoah and they apparently only make tiny engines, for model boats, model planes and the likes of leaf blowers and chainsaws. I fear that was not successful either!
|
|
