Skyhook TR.2

The Skyhook Sailwings TR2 Mk.I/Cutlass CD is a side-by-side two-seat twin-engined flex-wing aircraft with weight-shift control. Rogallo wing with keel pocket. Pilot suspended below wing in trike unit, using bar to control pitch and yaw/roll by altering relative positions of trike unit and wing. Wing braced from above by kingpost and cables, from below by cables, fixed cross-tube construction with 30% double-surface not enclosing cross-tube; pre-formed ribs. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation; no suspension on any wheels. Push-right go-left nosewheel steering independent from yaw control. Brake on nosewheel. Aluminium-tube trike unit, with-out pod. Engines mounted below wing driving pusher propellers. Trike unit and wing use aluminium tube to British HT30TF specification, bright polished and sleeved at stress points. Wing rigged with plastic-coated stainless-steel wires; wing material is Bainbridge Dacron.

At the beginning of 1981, Len Gabriels was seeking an engine powerful enough to turn his TR1 Mk.I trike unit into a two seater. He was not satisfied with the reliability of any of the larger engines then available, so he decided instead to build a power pack using two of the 210cc Solo engines.

Rather than use two engines to drive one large propeller, he doubled up the drive system as well, creating a power pack with two contra-rotating propellers driven from concentric shafts, each by its own engine an reduction drive. The safety attractions of such duplication are obvious, as the aircraft can at least maintain height after an engine failure.

The rest of the trike unit needed little alteration beyond the inclusion of a dual seat and a nosewheel brake. Allied to the Cutlass CD wing, the TR2 proved itself to be a viable training machine, but was dropped from production at the end of 1982 in favour of the TR2 Mk.II.

The Skyhook Sailwings TR2 Mk.I (Single Seat Special)/Cutlass CD is a single-seat twin-engined flex-wing aircraft with weight-shift control. Rogallo wing with keel pocket. Pilot suspended below wing in trike unit, using bar to control pitch and yaw/roll by altering relative positions of trike unit and wing. Wing braced from above by kingpost and cables, from below by cables; fixed cross-tube construction with 30% double-surface not enclosing cross-tube; pre-formed ribs. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation; no suspension on any wheels. Push-right go-left nosewheel steering independent from yaw control. Optional brake on nosewheel. Aluminium-tube trike unit, with optional pod. Engines mounted below wing driving pusher propellers. Trike unit and wing use aluminium tube to British HT30TF specification, bright polished and sleeved at stress points. Wing rigged with plastic-coated stainless-steel wires; wing mate-rial is Bainbridge Dacron.

Although the TR2 Mk I was intended as a two-seater trike unit, it was also offered in single seat form - a simple conversion, as with the TRI Mk.l. Like the TR2 Mk 1 from which it is derived, this variant is now discontinued.
The Skyhook Sailwings TR2 Mk.II/Cutlass CD is a side-by-side two-seat single-engined flex-wing aircraft with weight-shift control. Rogallo wing with keel pocket. Pilot suspended below wing in trike unit, using bar to control pitch and yaw/roll by altering relative positions of trike unit and wing. Wing braced from above by kingpost and cables, from below by cables; fixed cross-tube construction with 30% dou-ble-surface not enclosing cross-tube; pre-formed ribs. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation; no suspension on any wheels. Push-right go-left nosewheel steering independent from yaw control. Brake on nosewheel. Aluminium-tube trike unit without pod. Engine mounted below wing driving pusher propeller. Trike unit and wing use aluminium tube to British HT30TF specifica-tion, bright polished and sleeved at stress points. Wing rigged with plastic-coated stain-less-steel wires; wing material is Bainbridge Dacron.

The TR2 Mk.II was the 1982 two-seat trike unit from Skyhook Sailwings and is identical in all respects to the Mk.I except that the twin-engined power pack is replaced by a Hunting HS525A twin-cylinder engine, with conventional reduction drive and propeller.

TR2 Mk.I/Cutlass CD
Engines: 2 x Solo 210 cc, 12 hp each at 5500 rpm
Two propellers diameter and pitch 50 x 30 inch, 1.28 x 0.76 m
V-belt reduc-tion, ratio 2.7/1
Max static thrust 200 lb, 91 kg
Power per unit area 0.12 hp/sq.ft, 1.3hp/sq.m
Fuel capacity 3.6 US gal, 3.0 Imp gal, 13.6 litre
Length overall 12.7 ft, 3.87 m
Total wing area 198 sq.ft, 18.4 sq.m
Nosewheel diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm
Main wheels diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm
Empty weight 2251b, 102kg
Max take-off weight 640 lb, 290kg
Payload 392 lb, 178kg
Max wing loading 3.23 lb/sq.ft, 15.8 kg/sq.m
Max power loading 26.7 lb/hp, 11.9kg/hp
Load factors; >+3.75 ultimate
Max level speed >60mph, >97kph
Economic cruising speed 40 mph, 64 kph
Stalling speed 32 mph, 51 kph
Max climb rate at sea level 200 ft/min, 1.0m/s
Min sink rate 500ft/min at 32mph, 2.5 m/s at 51 kph
Take-off distance 150 ft, 45 m

TR2 Mk.I (Single Seat Special)/Cutlass CD
Engines: 2 x Solo 210 cc, 12 hp each at 5500 rpm
Two propellers diameter and pitch 50 x 30 inch, 1.28 x 0.76 m
V-belt reduc-tion, ratio 2.7/1
Max static thrust 200 lb, 91 kg
Power per unit area 0.12 hp/sq.ft, 1.3hp/sq.m
Fuel capacity 3.6 US gal, 3.0 Imp gal, 13.6 litre
Length overall 12.7 ft, 3.87 m
Total wing area 198 sq.ft, 18.4 sq.m
Nosewheel diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm
Main wheels diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm
Empty weight 220 lb, 100kg
Max take-off weight 640 lb, 290kg
Payload 392 lb, 178kg
Max wing loading 3.23 lb/sq.ft, 15.8 kg/sq.m
Max power loading 26.7 lb/hp, 11.9kg/hp
Load factors; >+3.75 ultimate

Skyhook Sailwings TR2 Mk.II/Cutlass CD
Engine: Hunting HS525A
Propeller diameter and pitch 54 x 36 inch, 1.37 x 0.91 m
Length overall 12.7 ft, 3.87 m
Total wing area 198 sq.ft, 18.4 sq.m
Nosewheel diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm
Main wheels diameter overall 12 inch, 305 mm