Doctor Baron William Le Clère of Mareuil in Perogord, France, was passionate about mechanics. He had experimented with model airplanes, but wanted a real one. He entrusted the construction to Bertrand Gonthier, founder of the house Gonthier and Nouhaud. The plane was completed in 1911. It was transported by rail to Ribérac on October 20, 1911 and was reassembled in the grounds near the station, where they had built a hangar near the field where the experiments were to take place. The 500-kg plane had an elongated tapered fuselage with a total length of 10 meters, At the end, a triangular canvas represented the shape of a bird’s tail in full flight. The plane only travelled some 50 metres before standing on its nose. Disappointed, Le Clère gave up his plans, but kept the engine of his airplane until his death, in Arcachon in 1927.
LearAvia decided to increase the gross weight of its yet to be built Lear Fan 2100 turboprop from 6,000 to 7,200 pounds. This change will add only 24 extra pounds of structural material. The extra load carry¬ing capacity will cut range, speed and single engine ceiling slightly.
A successful first flight was made on 1 January 1981 by the first prototype. Powered by two pusher Pratt & Whitney PT6B-35F, two more prototypes were under construction at Reno, plus a static test example. The Lear Fan spent all of 1981 in flight tests after a New Year’s Day first flight. The Lear Fan cabin has been stretched and much design effort has been concentrated on the single pusher propeller; however, Learavia still hoped to have the non-metal airplane certificated by the end of 1982. Ownership passed 1982 to Fan Holdings Inc. of U.S.A., but with production in Northern Ireland. Production moved to U.S.A. 1983 but program halted 1985.
Engines: 2 x 850 hp P&W Seats: 7. Empty Wt: 4100 lbs. Gross wt: 7400 lbs. Useful load: 3300 lb Max Cruise: 400 mph Max range: 1800 sm
The design and production of the ultralight Kestrel was the product of the efforts of Cec Lea, one of the pioneers of ultralight aircraft design and construction in Australia. A single seat, high wing, tractor engine aircraft it first appeared about 1990 and a number of examples were registered in the 95.10 registration series as late as mid-2000.
Lea Kestrel Kermit 10-001 C/N 1
Lea sold both completed aircraft and kits for owner construction. All were powered by the Austrian Rotax 503 engine and many, if not all, were fitted with a Brolga three blade carbon/glass composite propeller. Some 16 Kestrels were built.
The prototype of the Bulgarian LAZ-7 two-seat primary trainer of 1946 was the first post-war design to be built in Bulgaria. The LAZ-7 was matched against the Yugoslavian Aero 2.
Both the LAZ-7 and Aero 2S were powered by the Czech 160 hp Walter Minor 6-III and in the eliminating trials the LAZ-7 was successful. The decision was taken to build the LAZ-7 in series production at the Bulgarian State Aircraft Works, and to replace the Walter engine with a Russian-designed M-11FR radial driving a controllable pitch, two blade Visch V-501 prop.
The LAZ-7M production type fuselage construction is of welded steel tube and wood, and covered with fabric. Both the wing and tailplane are fully cantilever, of mixed wood and metal construction, and fabric covered. No flaps are fitted. Both the main undercarriage and tailwheel are fixed.
LAZ-7 Engine: 160 hp Walter Minor 6-III
LAZ-7M Engine: M-11FR Prop: controllable pitch, two blade Visch V-501 Max speed: 149 mph Cruise: 133 mph AUW: 2039 lb Landing speed: 53 mph Service ceiling: 17,220 ft Range: 525 mi Endurance: 3 hr 56 min Time to 3280 ft: 4 mn 47 sec
Planned in response to a January 1954 requirement for a super-interceptor able to cruise long distances at high altitudes with missiles able to provide a ‘snap-down’ attack capability against targets at lower altitudes, the La-250 was known unofficially as the Anaconda.
Featuring a 57 degree delta wing, slab delta tailplane, and a fuselage of near-constant cross section, the La-250 was powered by two Lyulka AL-7F turbojets each rated at 6500kg which were later to be fitted with afterburners boosting thrust to 9000kg. All control surfaces were fully powered with duplex systems and without manual reversion.
Intended armament was a pair of K-15 missiles that rode the beam of the Uragan (Hurricane) radar, which had a range of 30km. The missiles were cancelled and the radar never made it into an aircraft before the development was cut short.
Although the La-250 was intended as a single-seater in operational form, prototypes were completed as two-seaters to provide accommodation for a test observer, and the first of three flying examples was completed in July 1956.
The first flight was attempted on 16 July, but the test pilot, A G Kochetkov, encountered an unexpectedly rapid roll moment and lost control. Extensive testing of a systems rig followed before acceptable characteristics were attained and flight testing could be resumed. Investigation revealed a severe roll-coupling problem derived from the combination of a long heavy fuselage and small wings. Enormous effort went into the creation of a new electronic flight-control system, and a successful first flight was recorded in spring 1957.
The third La-250 had its nose lowered by six degrees to give better visibility on landing, the poor view forward having been determined as a factor in the second crash.
The second aircraft was lost in a landing accident on 28 November 1957, and the third aircraft also suffered a landing accident on 8 September 1958.
The flight test programme suffered continual delays as a result of poor engine reliability and the full testing had not been completed when the programme was cancelled just before Semyon Lavochkin’s death in 1960.
Max take-off weight: 30000 kg / 66139 lb Empty weight: 15000 kg / 33070 lb Wingspan: 13.90 m / 45 ft 7 in Length: 25.60 m / 83 ft 12 in Wing area: 80.0 sq.m / 861.11 sq ft Max. speed: 2000 km/h / 1243 mph Ceiling: 18000 m / 59050 ft Range: 2000 km / 1243 miles
In January 1948 a requirement was formulated for a two-seat twin-engined all-weather interceptor.
The La-200 was powered by two examples of an engine derived from the RD-45, the 5004-lb (2270-kg) thrust Klimov VK-1. These were located in a tandem arrangement, with the forward engine exhausting from the bottom of the central fuselage via an S-shaped jetpipe and the aft engine trough a nozzle at the tail, and were aspirated via an annular nose inlet round the centre body that accommodated the antenna of the search radar. The flying surfaces were swept at 40 degrees, and the crew of two was accommodated side-by-side under a large canopy.
Two were built, each powered by two 2700kg Klimov VK-1 turbojets mounted in tandem with the exhaust of the foremost engine ducted beneath the fuselage. The side-by-side seating for the two crew members was retained, and the centre and aft fuselage were comparatively unchanged, but the forward fuselage was entirely redesigned. The prototypes differed one from the other primarily in the location of the Torii (Thorium) AI radar, the first prototype having a conical intake centrebody and the second prototype having a radome underslung on the upper intake lip. Armament consisted of three 37mm N-37 cannon, one to port and two to starboard. The wing, sweptback 40 degrees at the leading edge, was largely occupied by integral tankage and two large underwing slipper-type auxiliary tanks could boost maximum range from 1165 to 2000km.
The first of two prototypes was flown on 9 September 1949, and the first and second flight test phases were completed by February and October 1950 respectively, Mach 0.946 being attained in level flight and Mach1.01 in a dive.
The range was 1243 miles (2000 km), but in November 1950 a range of 2175 miles (3500 km) was demanded, together with longer-range radar. The design was recast as the La¬200B with greater fuel capacity and a larger antenna for the more powerful radar. This led to a redesign of the nose. The extreme nose was formed by a large dielectric radome of more than 1.0m diameter. The early single-antenna Torii-A radar was replaced by a large RP-6 Sokol (Falcon) radar with three different scan modes, and twin ventral strakes supplanted the single strake of the second La-200. The additional fuel required to achieve the specified endurance was provided by increasing the capacity of each underwing tank from 1120 l to 2650 l. Two 3100kg Klimov VK-1 turbojets were installed, the forward engine’s air being supplied through a chin intake and that for the aft engine being provided by “elephant ear” type intakes on the sides of the extended nose. Armament remained three 37mm cannon.
The La-200B first flew on 3 July 1952, and while range was improved considerably, overall performance was reduced. A mock-up of the Sokol radar initially being fitted, tests with the radar installed commencing on 10 September. The second prototype joined the flight programme early 1951, the repositioned radar being of the improved Torii-A type, ammunition capacity being increased, a ventral keel being introduced and normal loaded weight rising to 10580kg. With the final NII VVS test phase completed in April 1952, a recommendation was made that series production of the La-200 should be initiated.
An extensive test programme was conducted, but, in the event, the competitive Yak-120 was selected to fulfil the requirement. The La-200B was beaten to a production order by the Yak-25.
La-200 (1st prototype) Max take-off weight: 10375 kg / 22873 lb Empty weight: 7090 kg / 15631 lb Wingspan: 12.92 m / 42 ft 5 in Length: 16.59 m / 54 ft 5 in Wing area: 40.18 sq.m / 432.49 sq ft Max. speed: 1090 km/h / 677 mph Range: 1165 km / 724 miles
La-200B Max take-off weight: 12700 kg / 27999 lb Empty weight: 8810 kg / 19423 lb Wing area: 40.00 sq.m / 430.56 sq ft Max. speed: 1030 km/h / 640 mph Range: 2800 km / 1740 miles
All Aero 