Lithuania
V. Kensgaila designed nine top-class self-made aircrafts in the skies rose by more than a dozen of its smaller planes constructed.
First flew in 1989 the VK-8 Ausra two-seat agricultural aircraft.
Aircraft
Kenny Jodel D 150X Governor
Charlie Kenny of Clydevale near Balclutha, New Zealand, a Jodel enthusiast built a Jodel D 9 ZK-AKR but believed he could build a better Jodel so he designed and built his D 150X Governor ZK-CCD (c/n AACA 360/2).
He incorporated what he reckoned were the best bits of all the many Jodel models. Charlie’s D 150X has the rudder from the D 150, the all-flying tailplane from the D 18 (but bigger), the luggage locker from a D 140 and the wing airfoil is that of a D 18 but again applied to a bigger wing. The wing has split flaps that drop down from the trailing edge.
Charlie has also made the fuselage wider than the D 150 at 44 inches while he has moved the seat back 3 inches and sloped the seat to 30 degrees which gives a very roomy cockpit. The windscreen is from a Fletcher FU 24 and it has gull wing doors.
The Jodel is powered by a 1.9 litre Peugeot turbo diesel engine (from a Peugeot 405) that produces around 100 HP. It has a belt reduction drive designed by Wayne Affleck of Invercargill that gives 2400 rpm at the propellor for 3300 rpm engine revs. The engine is water cooled and the radiator in located in the starboard wing root with the battery located in the port wing root. Charlie developed the engine himself but later found out that Jean Delemontez (the del in Jodel) and Jacques Vion had developed their Delvion diesel engine along very similar lines. The diesel engine is very economical using only around 10 litres per hour at cruise.
The dimensions of Charlie’s D 150X Governor are similar to the D 150 Mascaret which has a length of 6.30 metres (20 feet 8 inches), a wingspan of 8.15 metres (26 feet 9 inches) and a wing area of 141 square feet.
It was first registered on 7 November 2011. The first flight was on 2 July 2015. Charlie says his aircraft flies really well and he had flown about 65 hours in, although it hasn’t flown in the last year or so.
Charlie Kenny has designed and built his D 150X entirely by himself in his shed, as well as sorting the entirely clean sheet engine conversion and all its systems.
Kenny, Charlie
Charlie Kenny of Clydevale near Balclutha, New Zealand, a Jodel enthusiast built a Jodel D 9 ZK-AKR.
Kenny believed he could build a better Jodel so he designed and built his D 150X Governor ZK-CCD (c/n AACA 360/2), first flying on 2 July 2015.
Kennedy Giant
The Kennedy Giant was a British biplane heavy bomber designed by Kennedy Aeroplanes Ltd. during the First World War. The design was an imitation of works by Igor Sikorsky, with whom the owner of Kennedy Aeroplanes Ltd., Chessborough J. H. Mackenzie-Kennedy, had ostensibly worked prior to setting up the company.
The four-bay, unstaggered wings spanned 142 feet; ailerons were fitted to the upper wings only, their control rods extending along the top of the leading edge, and the wing overhang being braced by pairs of outraked struts. The four engines, mounted in tandem pairs in nacelles on the lower wings, were very early British-built examples of the Canton-Unne/Salmson Z9 nine-cylinder water-cooled radials, each of which was provided with a pair of large vertical radiators on the sides of the nacelles.
The fuselage was of rectangular section over its entire length and tapered towards the tail only in plan. It provided fully-enclosed accommodation for the crew, the pilot being situated in the extreme nose, with individual compartmented cabins aft. The tail surfaces were of inadequate area, the tiny rudder (later enlarged) being unbalanced and without a fixed fin. The undercarriage was a complicated structure of multiple V-struts and skids.
The aeroplane was a notorious failure; its size meant that construction had to take place in an open field at the Fairey factory at Heston as none of the hangars near Hayes, Middlesex, where the prototype was assembled, were large enough to house it.
Supply of the Sunbeam engines, manufactured under licence by the Dudbridge Iron Works Ltd of Stroud, were afforded very low priority (and were not subject of official trials until May 1919). Early examples were rated at only 200hp and, with these, the Giant was made ready for flight at Hendon late in 1917.
Movement needed two trucks and seventy men, but these efforts broke the tail of the aircraft. It was repaired, but the fuselage shortened by 10 feet (3,048 m).
This power proved insufficient to gain true flight, and despite being taxied at full throttle downhill, the pilot, Lieut Frank T Courtney, only managed to lift the mainwheels off the ground for a short hop with the tailskid still dragging along the ground. The prototype was left derelict at Northolt Aerodrome for a number of years.
Engines: Canton-Unne Salmson Z9, 200hp / 150 kW
Propellers: two tractor and two pusher two-blade
Wingspan: 142 ft 0 in / 43.28 m
Length: 80 ft 0 in / 24.38 m
Height: 23 ft 6 in / 7.16 m
Empty weight: 19017 lb / 8626 kg
Crew: 3
Kennedy Aeroplane Ltd
Founded early in First World War by Chessborough J. H. Mackenzie-Kennedy, with offices in South Kensington, London, following establishment of the Kennedy Aeronautic Company in Russia in 1909. In 1911 the founder met Igor Sikorsky and shared enthusiasm for large aircraft. Was associated in the English company with T. W. K. Clarke, well known in British aeronautics. With War Office permission, construction started on the Kennedy Giant by the Gramophone Company Ltd. Late in 1916 components were sent to Northolt Aerodrome for erection in the open. In 1917 attempts to fly the underpowered machine resulted in a “hop”. Building of a bomber was started at Newcastle- on-Tyne, but financial failure came in 1920.
Ken Brock Avion
Offered as a completely finished, unassembled kit. A high-wing monoplane with conventional tail group and three-axis stick-and-rudder controls. Steerable nosewheel. Strut-braced, built-up rigid wings, Dacron cover-ing. Fuel tank built into pilot seat. POWERPLANT: Yamaha 15 hp, 2:1 reduction drive, 48-inch prop. LANDING GEAR: Spring tube.
Prototype
Wingspan 28’6”.
Wing area 114 sq ft.
Length 14’.
Height 78”
Empty weight 190 lbs.
Empty wt: 240 lbs.
Wing span: 29’.
Wing area: 145 sq.ft.
Height: 6’10”.
Length: 15’6”.
Fuel cap; 5 USG.
Construction: Aluminium, Dacron.
Engine: Rotax 277 (268 cc) 28 hp.
Max wt: 455 lbs.
Stall: 25 mph.
Max speed: 60 mph.
Vne: 80 mph.
Climb rate: 700 fpm @ 45 mph.
Design limit: +6, -4g.
Glide ratio: 7-1.
Wing loading: 3.14 lbs/sq.ft.
Power loading: 16.25 lbs/hp.
Production
Engine: Rotax 277.
Prop: 48 in.
Wingspan: 28 ft 6 in.
Wing area: 145 sq.ft.
Empty wt: 240 lbs.
Max wt: 500 lbs.
Cruise: 45-50 mph.
Stall: 24 mph.
Vmax: 63 mph.
T/O run: 100 ft.
Ldg roll: 20-50 ft.
Kelly & Ghan KG Special
The second, and last, plane constructed by the Cabool R-4 school students was a Cabin Biplane named the KG Special. The plane was designed by Dr. Harry B. Kelly, DDS and Bill Ghan. During the class, students drew the plans and constructed the plane. This project continued on into a second school year as both drawing and building the plane took more time. The completed plane was taken to the West Plains airport, assembled and flown. Bill Ghan was the first to fly this plane
Kellner-Bechereau E.60
The E-60 is one of many attempts to create a cheap and efficient training aircraft that combines high flight performance, small size and modern appearance. After conducting a series of studies, French designer Louis Bechereau began construction of such a machine in 1939. Its design was distinguished by a very small size – length 4.9 m, wingspan – 5.4 m with an area of only 3 sq.m. To ensure flights at ultra-low speeds, an absolutely new aileron system was installed on the E-60. All the originality of the plane was due to this ” wing in drawer ” design. The first works on the drawer wing had started in 1936, and found their first application on the Kellner-Béchereau E.1. This system consisted of a wing in two parts, the movable rear part of which could move backwards by lowering for landing, like the Fowler flaps. The mobile part of this wing could also partially retract, the two extreme positions corresponding to the “low speed” configuration (fully free wing) and “high speed” configuration (mobile wing partially retracted).
Tests carried out on September 22, 1939 at the Eiffel Laboratory allowed to establish the polar (curve characterizing the profile). This resulted in a profile with low drag (therefore allowing high speeds) and high lift, allowing a large speed difference. However, the high angles of attack were hardly usable, due to the lack of visibility when the aircraft was taking a very nose-up attitude.
The airplane was a monoplane with a mid-wing and a streamlined fixed landing gear. The construction was carried out in spruce and plywood. The fuselage had only three frames: the sheet metal firewall, the pilot’s backrest and the sternpost support. The engine was a Walter Micron of 62 hp, driving a two- bladed propeller. The engine rested on a frame of steel tubes. The simplified landing gear consisted of a single axle.
The completion of the construction of the E-60 just coincided with the competition announced by the fleet on a training aircraft. The plane left the factory in the early days of March 1940 and was brought by road to Buc (Yvelines) and reassembled for his first flight. This took place on 7 March 1940. The test pilot was François Bruneteau. He took off from the 900m grass runway, which was in poor condition that day, plowed by the landings of British heavy aircraft the day before. Takeoff was bumpy. As soon as it took off, the plane took a strong 45- degree right tilt, due to the improper adjustment of the slots. The pilot’s skill allowed him to reduce the incline to 30 degrees and bring the plane back onto the runway, the left wheel touching first. The following tests focused on longitudinal and transverse stability, and revealed acute problems.
A presentation flight was carried out on April 25, 1940 by François Bruneteau before the Naval Air Commission, which was very interested. This flight, which lasted 40 minutes, highlighted the qualities of the aircraft. Due to its small size, it became practically invisible at 1,500 meters. The Navy planned to use it as a reconnaissance aircraft. The aircraft was able to be fitted with light bombs.
The last two flights took place on June 1 and June 3, 1940. The first included engine temperature tests, and the second included level speed tests at different altitudes, recorded with the barograph. This last flight, lasting 1 hour 45 minutes, almost ended badly for François Bruneteau. A leak of ethylene fuel took place, the vapors spreading in the cockpit.
Before the advance of the Germans, who were already at the gates of Paris, the prototype was evacuated to the South on June 5, 1940. Mounted on a truck, it left Paris by the Porte de Saint-Cloud, when the Germans had arrived at Le Bourget. The destination was the fall-back factory in Alençon, but the Germans were already there. The truck took the direction of Castelnaudary. François Bruneteau left the convoy at Clermont-Ferrand to reach Marseille where he embarked on a boat bound for North Africa. From there, he joined the Free French Air Force in London. The truck continued to Air Base 745 Aulnat, where the plane was hidden throughout the war.
After the war a scrap dealer, “aviation fan”, found the prototype among the wreckage of planes which he found in Aulnat and sold it to his test pilot, François Bruneteau, or rather to his wife, who offers it to her husband as a Christmas present. François Bruneteau completely restores the aircraft (except the original paint and without engine) on his property in Èze-sur-mer (Alpes-Maritimes). In 1975, following the publication of the article in the Fanatique de l’Aviation (number 72), the Air and Space Museum contacted the Bruneteaux. The aircraft was donated to the museum.
Engine: Walter Mi-2, 62 hp
Wing span: 5.40 m
Wing area: 3.20 sq,m
Length: 4.90 m
Height: 1.80 m
Empty weight: 410 kg
MTOW: 580 kg
Maximum speed: 215 km / h
Cruising speed: 168 km / h
Range: 400 km
Ceiling: 4000 m
Crew: 1
Kellner-Bechereau ED.5
The Kellner-Béchereau EC.4 and Kellner-Béchereau ED.5 were a pair of French training aircraft with side-by-side seating and a novel “double wing” patented by their designer, Louis Béchereau. The principal difference was that the EC.4 had an all-wood structure whereas the ED.5 was all-metal. Both were single-engine, mid-wing cantilever monoplanes.
In 1936–37 Avions Kellner-Béchereau built a short series of small monoplanes exploiting one of Béchereau’s patents, a full span lateral division of the wing into two sections forming a “double wing”, a little like that used by Junkers but with a more equal division of area. The wing was first tested on the single-seat Kellner-Béchereau E.1 on 1936, which was followed by two larger and more powerful two-seaters, the EC.4 and ED.5. Both of these were designed to meet the French Air Ministry’s requirement for a pre-military trainer aircraft to be used by the clubs set up in the “Aviation Populaire” programme.
The ED.5 was similar to the EC.4 except that it was a metal aircraft. The forward part of the wing and the whole fuselage were constructed in a process also patented by Béchereau. It involved the use of wooden formers, shaped to the required skin profile but with cut-outs for strengthening members such as ribs. These were placed into the mould before the duralumin skin was fitted over the former and held down with leather belts. Once secured, the internal pieces and skin could be joined, still in the mould, by screws or rivets. The rear wing surfaces were also metal, though more conventionally built.
The dimensions of the EC.4 and ED.5 were the same, as were seating, engine and undercarriage. The loaded weight of the metal aircraft was 25 kg (55 lb) lower. Performance was similar, with identical maximum speeds; the lighter ED.5 had a 5 km/h (3 mph) lower stalling speed but a 55 km (35 mi) shorter range.
The ED.5 first flew in 1937.
The Kellner-Béchereau designs were not ordered for the Aviation Populaire programme, the Air Ministry preferring the Caudron C.270 and the Salmson Cri-Cri which were both bought in large numbers. Instead, Kellner-Béchereau, along with other manufacturers, built the Cri-Cri under licence.
ED.5
Engine: 1 × Train 6T, 45 kW (60 hp)
Propeller: 2-bladed
Wingspan: 8.80 m (28 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 8.2 sq.m (88 sq ft)
Length: 5.30 m (17 ft 5 in)
Height: 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Gross weight: 500 kg (1,102 lb)
Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
Stall speed: 60 km/h (37 mph, 32 kn)
Range: 790 km (490 mi)
Rate of climb: 2.0 m/s (390 ft/min)
Seats: 2
Kellner-Bechereau EC.4
The Kellner-Béchereau EC.4 and Kellner-Béchereau ED.5 were a pair of French training aircraft with side-by-side seating and a novel “double wing” patented by their designer, Louis Béchereau. The principal difference was that the EC.4 had an all-wood structure whereas the ED.5 was all-metal. Both were single-engine, mid-wing cantilever monoplanes.
In 1936–37 Avions Kellner-Béchereau built a short series of small monoplanes exploiting one of Béchereau’s patents, a full span lateral division of the wing into two sections forming a “double wing”, a little like that used by Junkers but with a more equal division of area. The wing was first tested on the single-seat Kellner-Béchereau E.1 on 1936, which was followed by two larger and more powerful two-seaters, the EC.4 and ED.5. Both of these were designed to meet the French Air Ministry’s requirement for a pre-military trainer aircraft to be used by the clubs set up in the “Aviation Populaire” programme.
Like the E.1, the EC.4 was a wooden aircraft with spruce frames and plywood covering. It was a mid-wing cantilever monoplane with straight, thick section, constant chord wings of quite high aspect ratio (9.45). The lateral division was at about 65% chord, with the rear part joined to the front with conspicuous V-shaped faired underwing hinges. In normal flight the two parts were close together and the rear sections acted both as lifting surface and, differentially, ailerons but they could also be lowered together as slotted flaps, moving rearwards as well as down to produce a slot between fore and aft parts.
The fuselage was rectangular in cross section, with an open cockpit seating two side-by-side at the wing trailing edge and an inverted in-line 40 kW (60 hp) Train T6 in the nose. A straight edged tailplane was mounted on the upper fuselage longerons and carried elevators with a small cut-out for rudder movement. The latter, mounted on a very narrow fin, was rectangular and extended to the bottom of the fuselage. The rear control surfaces were fabric covered. The EC.4 had a conventional undercarriage with cantilever main legs hinged on the lower longerons, rubber sprung inside the fuselage.
The EC.4 first flew in 1937.
Thee dimensions of the EC.4 and ED.5 were the same, as were seating, engine and undercarriage. The loaded weight of the metal aircraft was 25 kg (55 lb) lower. Performance was similar, with identical maximum speeds; the lighter ED.5 had a 5 km/h (3 mph) lower stalling speed but a 55 km (35 mi) shorter range.
The Kellner-Béchereau designs were not ordered for the Aviation Populaire programme, the Air Ministry preferring the Caudron C.270 and the Salmson Cri-Cri which were both bought in large numbers. Instead, Kellner-Béchereau, along with other manufacturers, built the Cri-Cri under licence.
EC.4
Engine: 1 × Train 6T, 45 kW (60 hp)
Propeller: 2-bladed
Wingspan: 8.80 m (28 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 8.2 sq.m (88 sq ft)
Length: 5.30 m (17 ft 5 in)
Height: 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Gross weight: 525 kg (1,157 lb)
Maximum speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
Stall speed: 65 km/h (40 mph, 35 kn)
Range: 845 km (525 mi, 456 nmi)
Rate of climb: 2.0 m/s (390 ft/min)
Seats: 2
