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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 0066.PDF
60 FLIGHT International, 10 January 1961 Solar Challenger flies free NEW records for duration and height are claimed for Solar Challenger, now entirely solar-powered (see Flight, November 29, 1980). On December 5 Janice Brown flew over the Arizona desert for lfar 32min, reaching an altitude of 4,000ft. The following day she flew 18 miles between Tucson and Phoenix before heavy rain forced her to land after two hours. Built by Gossamer Albatross designer Paul MacCready, Solar Chal lenger has flown more than 50 times on free power derived from 15,000 solar cells fixed to the wing and tail- plane. When facing the Sun, the cells provide up to 2-7 h.p. of electric power to turn a large variable-pitch tractor propeller at 300 r.p.m. The aircraft has now been returned to Los Angeles for minor modifica tions in preparation for a possible London-Paris flight next June. Round-the-world balloon flights SOME time in the next twoi months, balloonist Max Anderson hopes to launch from Egypt in an attempt to fly around the world. The trans atlantic and trans-North American pioneer appears to be' some three months ahead of British balloon designer-pilot Don Cameron who1 ex pects to rise above Hong Kong dur ing May at the beginning of a similar flight (see Flight for June 28, 1980). Ben Abruzzo, co-pilot to Anderson in the first transatlantic crossing in August 1978, plans to fly across the Pacific in a less ambitious project. Anderson will attempt his journey using a 200,000ft3 helium balloon from which will be slung an unpres- surised gondola. More details will appear in a forthcoming issue. A little-known Jim Rede design is the Bede BD-8, small, fast and aerobatic After the collapse of bede Airctaft, Oklahoma homebuilder Mike Huffman bought one of the partly built prototypes and is now developing it following a first flight last summer. With a 180 h.p. Lycoming and max weight of (,300/b the BD-8 climbs at oyer 2,000ft/min and has a max level speed approaching I80kt Southern Cross replica DONATIONS worth $A75,000 (£37,500) have been made towards the construction of a replica of the Southern Cross, the aircraft in which Sir Charles KingsfordrSmith and Charles Ulm made many record- breaking flights between 1928 and 1930. The Southern Cross Trust has received $A37,500 each from Wool- worths and Winfield (Rothmans of Pall Mall [Australia]). The Australian Government has already given $A130',000' to the project, and Wool- worths and Winfield have both pledged additional amounts to be given at the time of the first flight, hopefully in July 1981. The original Southern Cross made the first east-west trans-Pacific flight in June 1928, the first flight across the Tasman Sea in September that year, a record Australia-Britain flight in Junei 1928 and the first east-west London-New York flight in June 1930. This aircraft is preserved today and on display at Brisbane Airport. Bob Ellicott, Australian Minister for Home Affairs and Environment, accepted the cheques from Wool- worths and Winfield on behalf of the Trust at a recent presentation and acknowledged the partnership be tween government and private business in: re-creating such an impor tant era in Australia's history of transport. He said the replica will hopefully be flown to many places in Australia to give as many people as possible the chance to see and fly in the aircraft. Private IFtLDUKTu" Official organ of the Royal Aero Club Upside down for 4hr SOME record-breaking pilots like to see how far they can fly, others want to climb as high as possible, and others as fast as possible, but practic ally all of them do one thing in common—fly the right way up. Now an American pilot has set a world record by flying upside down for over 4hr, breaking his own previous record of 214hr. Texan disc jockey Hal McClain flew a modified Taylorcraft BG12D inverted over Houston Inter national Raceway for 4hr 9min, rais ing $5,000 for a muscular dystrophy charity in the process. McClain has previously achieved other unorthodox feats. He flew over 1,500 consecutive inside loops in 1973 and 180 outside loops in 1978. Blenheim IV and Lysander for restoration A CANADIAN-built Blenheim IV and Lysander have been shipped to the UK for restoration by Hampshire enthusiast Peter Dimond. There are no remaining British-built Blenheims, and Canadian-built specimens were known as Bolingbrokes. Airframes of both the Lysander and Blenheim are basically sound, and there is only superficial damage to the fuselages. There are no instruments or wiring. Both aircraft were discovered in a farmer's field and were then dis mantled and loaded into 40ft con tainers for shipment by Thomas Meadows, the London-based freight forwarder. The new owner hopes to have the restorations completed in time for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain in 1990. Briefings. Swedish Piper dealer Nyge Aero, based at Nykoping, has taken over marketing of the Saab-Scania Safari, civil version of the MFI 17. Some 250 of these have now been sold to seven countries. Aerospatiale's Rallye TobagO' is mak ing a demonstration tour of Australia, wh^re certification is expected early in 1981. With a price of A$46,000 (£23,000) it compares well with other light aircraft available locally. > 4 > J J
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