The Libellula III two-seater helicopter followed with Walter M332 engine.
1 engine
Manzolini Libellula II
The Libellula II used a higher powered 105hp Walter Minor 4-III engine and had an enclosed cockpit. This aircraft, I-MANZ, gained an RAI type certificate on October 15, 1962, but no manufacture was undertaken.
Libellula II
Engine: Walter Minor III, 78kW
Main rotor diameter: 9.0m
Fuselage length: 4.75m
Height: 3.30m
Max take-off weight: 650kg
Empty weight: 500kg
Max speed: 109km/h
Hovering ceiling: 1250m
Range: 200km
Manzolini Libellula
The Libellula was the brainchild of Count Ettore Manzolini. With an open framework fuselage and fixed skid undercarriage, Manzolini devised a coaxial rotor system for the Libellula and flew his ‘stripped’ prototype on 7 January 1952.
A mock-up of a proposed final version was prepared.
Engine: Hirth 105 hp
Rotors: 2 x 2-blade co-axial
Rotor diameter: 26 ft
Loaded weight: 1,430 lb
Cruising speed: 65 mph
Seats: 1
Mantelli AM 12 Palas
Although its origins are reminiscent of the Alaparma AM-10, the AM-12 was a glider. It was powered by a 38 hp CANC and finally with a 4-cylinder Praga 75 D HP. Three, with a long wing were built Guidonia (near Rome) by the Italian military center of gliding.
The fourth built with a shorter wing, was first flown as a glider before being changed to receive a Turbomeca Palas turbojet of 160 kgf. This engine had been recovered from the prototype of the jet Caproni F-5.
It is with this engine Mantelli, on February 17, 1962, beat the world record for altitude for jets of less than 500 kg, with 6700 m, and earn the 1962 Bleriot prize.
Later the aircraft was re-engined with a Walter Praga – D 75 piston engine. It is in this that Adriano Mantelli took the world record altitude for aircraft less than 500 kg, with 8763 m on April 16, 1964
Wingspan: 12 m
Length: 5.5 m
Height: 1.4 m
Wing area: 34.48 m²
Empty weight: 210 kg
Maximum weight: 500 kg
Maximum speed: 220 km / h
Minimum speed: 50 km / h
Manta Foxbat / FX-3
The Foxbat/FIedge III was a single seat single engined high wing monoplane with hybrid control. An American ultralight aircraft that was designed by Bill Armour and produced by Manta Products Inc of Oakland, California. The aircraft was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
The Foxbat was designed to comply with the US FAR 103 Ultralight Vehicles rules, including the category’s maximum empty weight of 254 lb (115 kg). The aircraft has a standard empty weight of 200 lb (91 kg). It features a cable-braced high-wing, a single-seat, open cockpit, tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration. Undercarriage has three wheels in tricycle formation; steel spring suspension on nosewheel and glass fibre suspension on main wheels. Push right go left (push right go right optional) nosewheel steering independent from yaw control. Brakes on main wheels. Wing has swept back leading and trailing edges, and tapering chord; no tail. Wing braced from above by kingpost and cables, from below by cables; 90% double surface.
The aircraft is made from bolted-together 6061T6 aluminum tubing, with the wing covered in Dacron sailcloth. Its 32.5 ft (9.9 m) span wing is supported by cables strung from an inverted V style kingpost. The wing is derived from the Manta Fledge hang glider wing. The control system is unconventional and uses a hang glider style control bar for weight shift control of pitch and roll, augmented with wing tip rudders for yaw, activated by hand controls on the control bar. The fuselage is an open frame structure that is attached to the wing via a flexible single point mount, to allow weight shift control. The pilot is accommodated on a sling seat in trike unit, using bar to control pitch and roll by altering relative positions of trike unit and wing. Yaw control by tip rudders operated by control bar sliders. The landing gear is of tricycle configuration, with a steerable nose wheel.
Strictly speaking, this machine is not a trike, since it does not use a Rogallo wing, but in essence it is the same concept: a combination of a hang glider with a power pack/seating/undercarriage unit. In this case, the hang glider is Manta’s own rigid wing hybrid control Fledge III rather than a Rogallo, combined with the purpose designed Foxbat ‘trike unit’. A feature of the Foxbat is its geared down nosewheel steering, which allows the pilot to keep the nosewheel firmly on course during rough field take offs and landings.
Manta Products announced in January 1983 the adoption for the Foxbat of the Kawasaki TA440A 38.5 hp engine. Previously these aircraft had been equipped in standard form with the Cuyuna 430D or on option a 430R or Zenoah G25B (22 hp) engine with a reduction drive of 2.25/1.
The pilot is comfortably installed in a bucket seat and the four semi rigid tie in points of the trike unit to the sail act as a shock absorber. The options include electric start, a three blade variable pitch propeller, a wider body with larger seat, floats and a strobe light. Price complete is $5360 in 1982.
No longer in production.
The Foxbat wing can be folded for ground transport and storage.
Engine: Kawasaki TA440A, 38.5 hp at 6000 rpm.
Toothed belt reduction, ratio 2.0/1.
Power per unit area 0.24hp/sq.ft, 2.6hp/sq.m.
Fuel capacity 5.0 US gal, 4.2 Imp gal, 18.9 litre.
Length overall 10.0 ft, 3.05 m.
Height overall 6.0ft, 1.83m.
Wing span 33.5ft, 10.21m.
Chord at root 5.8ft, 1.75 m.
Chord at tip 4.6 ft, 1.40 m.
Sweepback 16 deg.
Total wing area 157 sq.ft, 14.6sq.m.
Wing aspect ratio 6.7/1.
Wheel track 5.2 ft, 1.57 m.
Wheelbase 6.0ft, 1.83 m.
Main wheels diameter overall 20 inch, 51 cm.
Empty weight 215 lb, 98kg.
Max take off weight 549 lb, 249kg.
Payload 334 lb, 151kg.
Max wing loading 3.50 lb/sq.ft, 17.1 kg/sq.m.
Max power loading 14.3 lb/hp, 6.5 kg/hp.
Max level speed 55 mph, 88 kph.
Never exceed speed 55 mph, 88 kph.
Max cruising speed 45 mph, 72 kph.
Economic cruising speed 35 mph, 56 kph.
Stalling speed 22 mph, 35 kph.
Max climb rate at sea level 425 ft/min, 2.2 m/s.
Min sink rate 300ft/min, 1.5m/s.
Best glide ratio with power off 9/1.
Take off distance 75 ft, 23 m.
Landing distance 50 ft, 15 m.
Range at average cruising speed 130 mile, 209km.
FX-3
Engine: 1 × Cuyuna 430, 30 hp (22 kW)
Propellers: 2-bladed wooden
Length: 8 ft (2.4 m)
Wingspan: 32 ft 6 in (9.91 m)
Wing area: 157 sq ft (14.6 sq.m)
Empty weight: 190 lb (86 kg)
Gross weight: 425 lb (193 kg)
Wing loading: 2.7 lb/sq ft (13 kg/m²)
Fuel capacity: 5 U.S. gallons (19 lt / 4.2 imp gal)
Cruise speed: 35 mph (30 kt / 56 km/h)
Stall speed: 22 mph (19 kt / 35 km/h)
Range: 100 mi (87 nmi / 161 km)
Endurance: 2.75
Maximum glide ratio: 12:1
Rate of climb: 400 ft/min (2.0 m/s)
Crew: one
Mansyu Ki.71
American Intelligence activity and prisoner interrogation often led to identification of types before they were built.
Allied code name ‘Edna’ was assigned in 1944 to a refined version of ‘Sonia’ to be built in Manchuria.
Only three prototypes were completed. And it never saw action.
Mansyu Hayabusa
A six passenger cabin monoplane airliner, powered by Nakajima Kotobuki radial.
Mansyu Ki-79
The Mansyu Ki-79 was an advanced trainer based on the Nakajima Ki-27 fighter. The Nakajima Ki-27 had been the first monoplane fighter to enter service with the JAAF, but by 1942 it was virtually obsolete, and a number had been converted to act as trainers. Mansyu went one step further, designing a dedicated training version of the aircraft, the Ki-79. Initiated in 1942 in China. It came out in four variants and remained in production until the end of the war.
The Ki-79 entered production in two versions. The Ki-79a (Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer Model A) was a single-seat trainer, while the Ki-79b (Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer Model B) was a two-seat trainer with tandem cockpits. The two separate cockpits took up about the same amount of space as the long canopy over the original single cockpit, with the front windscreen in the same place as on the single-seater. Both models shared the same all-metal construction as the Ki-27, were powered by the 510hp Hitachi Ha-13a engine and were armed with one forward firing 7.7mm machine gun.
During 1943 the Ki-79 was used to equip the Sendai and Tachiarai Army Flying Schools and the Tokorozawa Army Aviation Maintenance School. The Ki-79b was also used by the Tokyo, Otsu and Oita Army Boys Flying Schools, where they were used to give high school students a taste of flying. The Army designation was Mansyū Army Type 2 Advanced Trainer.
During 1944 the JAAF founded a number of Flight Training Companies, and although a total of 1,329 Ki-79s were built numbers began to run short. Mansyu responded by designing the Ki-79c and Ki-79d. Theses aircraft used a new airframe, with a steel framework covered by a plywood skin, designed to reduce the amount of duralumin needed in their construction. The Ki-79c matched the Ki-79a, while the Ki-79d matched the Ki-79b. Both types had only just entered production at Mukden when the war ended.
In the post-war period the Ki-79 was used as a trainer by the Chinese Communists. A large number of aircraft were captured intact in Manchuria after the Soviet invasion. The Communists hired Manchurian and Japanese pilots to get the training programme under way, and the Ki-79 became the first standard training aircraft for the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
The Ki-79 was also used by Indonesian forces fighting the Dutch on Java and Sumatra, where a number of aircraft were reconstructed after being found on Japanese scrap-heaps. A Ki-79b became the first aircraft to be flown by the Indonesians.
Ki-79a
entirely built in metal.
Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-I, 510 hp
Wing span: 11.50 m
Wing area: 18.56 m2
Length: 7,85 m
Height: 3.00 m
Empty weight: 1300 kg
Max speed: 340 km/h at 3500 m
Time to 5600m: 10m 24
Service range: 920 km
Armament: 1 x 7,7-mm Type 89 machine gun
Seats: 1
Ki-79b
made of metal
Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-I, 510 hp
Seats: 2
Ki-79c
A single-seat trainer
made of wood and steel
Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-III, 510 hp
Seats: 1
Ki-79d
made of wood and steel
Engine: Hitachi Ha.13a-III, 510 hp
Seats: 1
Mann & Overtone 1910 monoplane
1910 Mann & Overtone monoplane was designed and built by Mann & Overtone Ltd in the UK.
Manning Comet
H. W. Manning had little experience with airplane design, but using the financial resources of his gas mantle business, Manning and his sons built an airplane they called “Comet I”. Son Jack made unimpressive test flights, but he convinced his father to build a larger plane, dubbed “Comet II”. They unsuccessfully displayed the machine in Baker City, Oregon on July 4-5, 1910. During the summer the Mannings attempted flights near Astoria, Oregon, and they also built a “Comet III” before giving up as constructors.
