1 engine

Tuxhorn Lark / Bahl Airplane Co Lark

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Tuxhorn Lark

This Lark was built in 1921 by the Harding, Zook, & Bahl Airplane Co of Lincoln, Nebraska. The original design having been worked out by E.G. Bahl. It featured a layered wood-strip monocoque fuselage with only four bulkheads.

A Frankensteinian creation (NC5003?) reportedly from pieces of two Curtiss JN-4s, a Thomas-Morse S4C, and other wrecks, won an efficiency trophy at the 1921 Omaha Air Races. Sold in 1922 and moved to Richards Field, Kansas City, where it was badly damaged in a landing accident.

The Lark was purchased in the spring of 1924 by Bert E. Thomas and L.DeweyBonbrake, to what extent is uncertain.

The machine was re-designed and rebuilt by Thomas and Bonbrake, with a Wright 60 hp engine, to improve flight characteristics. B.M, Tuxhorn was chosen to fly the plane at Wichita.

Purchased by Blaine Tuxhorn in 1924, redesigned by L D Bonbrake and rebuilt with 60hp Wright-Gale L-4, and reregistered as Tuxhorn Lark, again in 1929 as Bonbrake Parasol.

It became the Bonbrake Parasol in 1928, said to not have flown very well in its original form, but the basic design evolved into the Inland Sport.

Recent documentation found by John M Jarratt puts this Lark back at square one, and we start over. The airplane appearing as [NC5003] is a far cry from the one pictured in the 1/8/22 Denver Post, and its lengthy article about the Harding, Zook & Bahl operation indicate much of the data above describes another plane (that “wood-strip monocoque fuselage” certainly does not fit the picture), but which one is yet to be solved.

Specs mentioned in the news item: 65hp 2-cylinder Rockwell (Hugh M Rockwell—SEE Rockwell Corp entry); load: 607# v: 90/x/25; $2,500 planned market price. Empty wt: 650#. The article also mentions prior production at Lincoln, and that a "considerable number had been sold in the US, Canada, and Mexico" and they will "turn out 100 Lark monoplanes within a year." (2/28/02)

Trying to sort out this mess, we proceed another step further (or is it backwards?). From research by John M Jarratt and Vincent J Berinati, it seems that prototypical Bahl Lark was parts of the fuselage of surplus Standard J-1 [NC2119] mated with the wing of a Thomas-Morse something. Later on its meandering path it was reregistered as [NC1940], which shows in regs as a Standard J-1 because of its fuselage’s original c/n, but might have been Tuxhorn Lark at the time. (3/14/02)

Abstracts from NASM show that this ship had nothing to do with Bahl, Bonebrake, or Tuxhorn, but was a Nicholas-Beazley Standard J-1 remodeled with a monoplane wing and new tail by Joseph C Freeze, Kansas City KS. (— John M Jarratt 7/18/02)

Lark
Engine: 60hp Wright-Gale L-4 (later 55hp Velie M-5)
Wingspan: 28’0″
Length: 19’0″
Useful load: 430 lb
Max speed: 95 mph
Stall: 32 mpg
Range: approx. 225 mi
Seats: 2

Engine: Wright, 60 hp
Wingspan: 28 ft
Chord: 7 ft
Length: 19 ft
Empty weight: 615 lb
Useful load: 430 lb
High speed: 95 mph
Landing speed: 32 mph
Fuel capacity: 15 USG
Endurance: 2 hr 30 min
ROC: 500 fpm
Ceiling: 17,000 ft

Bahl Lark B

Tuscar H-70 / H-71

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Tuscar H-70 NX20399

Designed by Thomas Hoff the H-70 two-place derivative of the Stearman-Hammond Y was a tailless (except for wingtip rudders), flying-wing with rudders mounted at the trailing edge and trailing-edge flap-type controllers, was originally built by Management & Research under a DoC program contract for lightplane development. Registered NX20399 and powered by a 95hp Menasco B-4 pusher engine, the one built did fly, although difficult to turn, but crashed in testing on 27 January 1938.

Tuscar H-71 NX20399

It was rebuilt by Tuscar as the H-71 and flown at Floyd Bennett Field for about 60 hours before crashing to finality in August 1945.

Tuscar H-71 NX20399

Turner Nicholas-Beazley Pobjoy Special / Repeat Aviation Nicholas-Beazley Pobjoy Special

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N6119G / R1W/7 (cn T-9)

In 1998 former owner, Dick Sampson, commissioned an airworthy replica of the Pobjoy Special to be built by Bill Turner of Repeat Aviation. It is configured with the Wittman modifications, a cowled Pobjoy engine, and wooden wings. The aircraft is on display at the EAA Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Turner TSW-2

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Turner TSW-2 PFA 046-10606 G-BLPB

The Turner Two Seat Wot (TSW-2) is a biplane aircraft designed for amateur construction by Chris Turner in 1976. The aircraft was originally conceived as a two-seat version of the Currie Wot, however few component parts of the original Wot were retained by the time the design had been finalised. The Turner TSW-2 has a reduced wingspan, four ailerons and uses a different aerofoil section for the staggered wings. The aileron bellcrank fittings are made to the Currie Wot drawings.

The Turner Two Seat Wot’s structure is primarily of wood with metal interplane struts, cabane struts, undercarriage and engine mount. Two examples were constructed G-BEBO and G-BLPB. The prototype G-BEBO was fitted with a 125 hp (93 kW) Lycoming O-290-3 engine and G-BLPB a 150 hp (112 kW) Lycoming 0-320-A1A engine.

Chris Turner was awarded the Best New Design Award at the 1987 Popular Flying Association Rally at Cranfield, Bedfordshire.

The prototype Turner TSW-2, G-BEBO, was built by its designer Chris Turner. It was registered with the Civil Aviation Authority on 30 June 1976 and first flown from Sunderland Airport in 1978. The aircraft was destroyed in a hangar fire at Hunday Farm and de-registered in January 2003.

This second example, G-BLPB, was built by James Woolford and Kingsley Thomas in Mullion Cornwall between 1980 and 1986. It first flew from Land’s End Airport on 31 August 1986. This aircraft is still airworthy and in 2017 was based on a farm strip in Wiltshire.

The Turner TSW-2 was the subject of a test flight report in Popular Flying by John Harper, who stated that the aircraft was capable of executing the Aerobatics Association’s Beginners Sequence of aerobatic manoeuvrers.

Turner T-40B

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The Turner T-40B is basically the same as the T-40A, but with tricycle landing gear and other improvements. Development of the prototype began in 1966 and the first flight was made in 1969. Originally an 85-hp engine was used, but it was replaced by a 125-hp Lycoming in order to improve high altitude performance. Other refinements on the basic T-40A frame are: a bubble canopy, hydraulically-operated double-slotted flaps, and a fixed leading-edge droop.

Engine: Lycoming, 150 hp
HP range: 100-150
Height: 6 ft
Length: 20.8 ft
Wing span: 29.6 ft
Wing area: 106 sq.ft
Weight empty: 1050 lbs
Gross: 1640 lbs
Fuel cap: 30 USG
Speed max: 170 mph
Cruise: 155 mph
Range: 525 sm
Stall: 62 mph
ROC: 1200 fpm
Take-off dist: 1100 ft
Landing dist: 900 ft
Service ceiling: 14,500 ft
Seats: 2
Landing gear: nose or tail wheel

Turner T-40A / Super T-40A / T-40C / T-77 Ophelia Bumps

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The T-40 was so successful that it collected 18 awards and convinced Turner that the only thing wrong with it was that nobody could ride along to enjoy the reading on the airspeed indicator; thus he created the T-40A. It is a two-place version of its predecessor. Turner simply divided the entire fuselage of the T-40 down the middle and in¬creased the cabin width from 24 to 40 inches. Flight tests showed that the 85-hp engine would still deliver 163 mph top speed with a fuselage nearly twice as wide as before and with considerably more airframe weight. Both Turners feature folding wings.

A Super T-40A with a 125hp motor appeared in 1972, and 1981 saw the entry of T-40C, or T-77, with a 150hp Lycoming.

T-40A
Engine: Lycoming, 125 hp
HP range: 100-125
Height: 6 ft
Length: 20 ft
Wing span: 25.4 ft
Wing area: 96 sq.ft
Empty weight: 1050 lb
Gross weight: 1600 lb
Fuel capacity: 22 USG
Top speed: 160 mph
Cruise: 147 mph
Stall: 56 mph
Range: 475 nm
Rate of climb: 850 fpm
Takeoff dist: 1250 ft
Landing dist: 1200 ft
Service ceiling: 12,000 ft
Seats: 2
Landing gear: nose or tailwheel

“Super” T-40A
Engine: Lycoming, 125 hp
Height: 6 ft
Length: 20 ft
Wing span: 27.67 ft
Wing area: 96 sq.ft
Weight empty: 1050 lbs
Gross: 1600 lbs
Fuel cap: 22 USG
Speed max: 170 mph
Cruise: 147 mph
Range: 475 sm
Stall: 56 mph
ROC: 850 fpm
Take-off dist: 1250 ft
Landing dist: 1200 ft
Service ceiling: 12,000 ft
Seats: 2
Landing gear: nose or tail wheel

Turner T-40

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The Turner airplane family got started in 1958. First aircraft in the series was the T-40, a sleek, hot little single-seater which won the 1961 Outstanding Design Trophy at the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In. Of all-wood construction and featuring a sliding hood canopy, the T-40 was first powered by a 65-hp engine and did without all the frills associated with an electrical system. First flying on 3 April 1961, in this form it cruised at 128 and blitzed along at 145 with the throttle firewalled. It featured folding wings for storage in a single-car garage. Later, an 85-hp package was added. Both Turners feature folding wings.

Engine: Continental, 85 hp
HP range: 60-125
Height: 5.42 ft
Length: 19.75 ft
Wing span: 22.25 ft
Wing area: 78 sq.ft
Weight empty: 750 lbs
Gross: 1060 lbs
Fuel cap: 19 USG
Speed max: 170 mph
Cruise: 145 mph
Range: 525 sm
Stall: 55 mph
ROC: 1100 fpm
Take-off dist: 600 ft
Landing dist: 400 ft
Service ceiling: 12,500 ft
Seats: 1
Landing gear: nose or tail wheel

Turkish Air Force Baghdad First

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The origins of aircraft construction in Turkey can be traced back to the first maintenance unit of the Turkish Air Force officially established on 1 June 1911, set up at the airport in Yesilköy / Istanbul. During the First World War maintenance facilities were established in Baghdad, Damascus, Izmir and Konya. They were under the umbrella of the 9th Department of Aviation Affairs (9 Hava Isleri Subesi), which was established on 15 Febuary 1915. The main task of this maintenance facilities was the maintenance of the aircraft of the German Air Force but due to the war situation could not always be guaranteed the supply of spare parts. The technicians at the front often no choice but to produce the items urgently needed themselves. In 1917 the Baghdad facility built a “new airplane”, the Baghdad first, which was built from parts of Albatros C III and from captured aircraft parts “redesigned”.

Turkish Aerospace Industries / TAI Hürkuş

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The TAI Hürkuş (Free Bird) is a tandem two-seat, low wing, single engine, turboprop aircraft developed by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) as a new basic trainer and ground attack aircraft for the Turkish Armed Forces.

The aircraft is named after Vecihi Hürkuş, a Turkish aviation pioneer and the first Turkish airplane manufacturer.

The TAI Hürkuş Development Program started with an agreement signed between Turkish Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (Savunma Sanayii Müsteşarlığı (SSM)) and TAI in March 2006. Under the agreement the company was to design, manufacture and complete the civil certification the aircraft to European Aviation Safety Agency CS 23 standards.

HÜRKUŞ
Within the framework of the program; two aircraft configurations were to be developed.

HÜRKUŞ-A: Basic version which is to be certified with EASA according to CS-23 requirements.
HÜRKUŞ-B: Advanced version with integrated avionics (including HUD, MFDs, and Mission Computer).

By June 2012 the Hürkuş program had consumed one million man-hours with the work of 140 engineers. About a quarter of the Turkish engineers who have worked on Hürkuş are female, as well as two of the three project heads.

The Hürkuş was to be equipped for inverted, day and night flying as well as basic pilot training, instrument flying, navigation training, weapons and formation training. The aircraft has good visibility from both cockpits with a 50 degree down-view angle from the rear cockpit, cabin pressurization (nominal 4.16 psid), Martin-Baker Mk T-16 N 0/0 ejection seats, an on-board oxygen generation system (OBOGS), an Environmental Control System (Vapor Cycle Cooling), an anti-G system, high shock absorbing landing gear for training missions, and Hands On Throttle and Stick (HOTAS). Microtecnica of Turin, Italy was been selected to provide the aircraft’s environmental control system. The Hürkuş has been designed for a 35-year service life with a TAI designed wing airfoil.

The Hürkuş development program has been subject to delays. In 2007 it was forecast that the first prototype would fly in late-2009 with first delivery, upon completion of the certification process, forecast for 2011. On 27 June 2012, the Hürkuş was officially rolled out at a ceremony held at TAI’s Kazan premises. The forecast date for the first flight was then delayed until later in 2012 and actually occurred on 29 August 2013 when the aircraft flew from the Ankara Akıncı Air Base on a 33-minute flight. The first flight was performed with landing gear down and to a height of 9500 ft.

Stability and control checks in different flight configurations have been conducted in the following flight tests. Landing gear up-down tests, cockpit pressurized tests and system functions pre-checks have been performed. The aircraft has reached 12.500 ft height and 158 knots speed currently.

At an SSIK’s meeting, held on Sept. 26, 2013, in order to meet the 15 new-generation trainer aircraft requirement of TurAF, contract negotiations regarding the serial production of HÜRKUŞ was started with TAI. The negotiations regarding HÜRKUŞ-B contract was on the signing.

Two prototypes were built. Entering service in 2015, 15 were built.

Gallery

Hürkuş
Engine: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-68T turboprop, 1,200 kW (1,600 shp)
Propellers: 5-bladed Hartzell Propeller HC-B5MA-3
Wingspan: 9.96 m (32 ft 8 in)
Length: 11.17 m (36 ft 8 in)
Height: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)
Maximum speed: 574 km/h (357 mph; 310 kn)
Cruising speed: 463 km/h (288 mph; 250 kn)
Stall speed: 143 km/h (89 mph; 77 kn)
Range: 1,478 km (918 mi; 798 nmi) at 15000 ft (4572 m)
Endurance: 4.25 hours at 15000 ft (4572 m)
Service ceiling: 10,577 m (34,701 ft)
Rate of climb: 22 m/s (4,300 ft/min)
Total Take-Off Distance (@ sea level): 1605 ft (489 m)
Total Landing Distance (@ sea level): 1945 ft (593 m)
g limits: +7/-3.5
Hardpoints: 4
Seats: 2