Optionally a powered light sailplane circa 1998, the Graal is of plywood construction with carbonfibre longerons. The Graal conforms to french and FAI ultralight rules.
Engine option: Konig 2 cyl
Endurance: 1 hr
Weight: 100 kg
Wing span: 15 m
Wing area: 10 sq.m
Vne: 180 km
Stall: 55km
Vzmin: 0.5@65 m/sec
Glide Ratio: 40@80 kph
Price (1998) 150000 Fr
Single seat or two seat single engined flexwing aircraft with weight shift control. Rogallo wing. Pilot suspended below wing in trike unit, using bar to control pitch and yaw/roll by altering relative positions of trike unit and wing. Undercarriage has three wheels tricycle formation; glass fibre/carbon fibre suspension on all wheels. Nosewheel steering independent from yaw control. Glass fibre/ Kevlar/carbon fibre trike unit, partially enclosed. Engine mounted below wing driving pusher propeller. Other data dependent on customer’s specification.
Robert Bardou is a craftsman who specialises in the fabrication and building of single seat and two seat trike units suitable for fitting to unmodified hang gliders without modification to them. Called Choucas, these ‘chariots’ are built according to the desires and requirements of the purchaser.
Each model is designed according to the power pack chosen, virtually all engines being suitable, and each Choucas is built of laminated glass fibre and epoxy with reinforcements of uni directional Kevlar and carbon-fibre. The legs of the main landing gear and the nosewheel fork (steerable and fitted with a brake), are also made of uni directional glass fibres, criss crossed with reinforcement of carbon fibre. The engine mountings are formed from Duralumin inserts incorporated at the time of moulding wherever bolts are considered necessary.
Of remarkable lightness around 441b (20kg) for a single seater without power pack, these Choucas trike units attach to the wing with a fork built of two Duralumin struts, forming an inverse V. Each of these tubes is held to the shell of the trike unit by two bolts through the strong points. Derigging the two lower bolts allows these two struts to fold forward onto the trike unit for transport. No two are alike.
The 1913 B.C.D No. 2 monoplane was designed and built by J. Barcala, J.de la Cierva and P. Diaz in Spain.
Span: 32’2″
Wing area: 20 sq.m
Bill Barber conceived, designed and built three members of the Snark family with no outside assistance. The first Barber Snark was a single place Snark HA 1.
Snark HA 2 ZK-FYE (c/n MAANZ 450) was Bill Barber’s first attempt at a two-seat aircraft and it was first registered to him on 30/5/91.
The HA 2 was literally designed on the back of an envelope but is an efficient carbon fibre and Kevlar design with the cockpit/main undercarriage/engine mount structural area being very compact with only a single bulkhead. The cockpit layout gives both the pilot and passenger almost helicopter-like visibility. The HA 2 model was powered by a Rotax 503 engine. It also had a retractable front wheel which Bill found to make no appreciable difference to the performance so his later Snarks have fixed front wheels. It was sold to JM Young of Wanaka on 24/4/98. It crashed on take off from a strip near Wanaka on 3/2/01.
The damaged aircraft was sold to GD McMillan of Invercargill on 26/3/01. He employed Bill Barber to rebuild the aircraft and he re-registered it as ZK-DQL on 16/11/01.
It is photo’d here at Queenstown on 10/9/05 where it can be seen that an addition had been made to the upper fin.
Bill Barber built the Mark II Special NZ Flag Anniversary Version repowered with a 93 HP two stroke engine, offering very smooth acceleration right up to 120MPH using a variable speed prop along with communications gear, Ballistic Shute and F16 cockpit seating arrangement. The extensive wing and low aspect ratio allows for low speed approaches recorded at only 20 MPH under full 4 notches of flaps. The wing leading edge and full composite body with carbon back end tail boom strut offers very high strength and low weight ratios to enable full in flight soaring and thermal lift comparable to a low end glider. The take off angle can be close on 65 degrees with such a low stall speed. The lift off rotation is achieved at 30mph in limited space at 6,700 revs. Full rear brakes and castoring nose wheel, hi-strength aluminum sprung undercarriage are on cast wheels on new rubber tubed tyres
Snark 2 was the prototype and the Snark 3 machine (registered ZK-JEK) is a much more swept up development with a different wing, altered tail and different construction. All three have made extensive use of composite materials, Snark 3 being entirely of composite – mainly carbon and kevlar.
ZK-JEK (c/n 001) originally had the c/n of MAANZ/528, and was first registered to Bill Barber on 20/3/95. This aircraft was the first HA 3 model and was powered by a Suzuki G 13 engine. It had less wing area than ZK-FYE and it had full span flaperons. It was sold to MC Hopper of Otautau on 1/1/03, and he later moved to Whitianga and based the aircraft there. Later he replaced the 1300cc G 13 Suzuki engine with a twin carburettor 1500cc Suzuki engine, and the performance was spectacular. J & C Dale of Papakura purchased the aircraft on 31/10/12, and it was based at Ardmore.
It is photo’d above at Ardmore on 20/7/13. It was destroyed at Ardmore on 4/1/14 when it suffered an engine fire. Fortunately, it made it back to the runway for the occupants to get out before the fire completely destroyed the aircraft. It was cancelled on 28/4/14.
The second HA 3, ZK-PIE (c/n 002) was built by David Laing of Dunedin from moulds supplied by Bill Barber. It was registered to the Duncan Laing Trust of Dunedin on 28/2/96.
ZK-PIE also was powered by a Suzuki G 13 engine, but it had slotted flaps and ailerons instead of flaperons – as all subsequent Snarks have had. ZK-PIE suffered an engine failure on take-off on a test flight from Taieri on 25/1/98 and went through a fence.
It was repaired as seen in a hangar at Timaru on 6/10/99. It was sold to JR Lissington of Otorohanga on 1/11/99.
Above at the 2009 Black Sands flyin at Raglan on 7/11/09. Finally, it was sold to J & C Dale of Papakura on 23/3/14 to replace their departed ZK-JEK.
ZK-JIU (c/n 003) is a HA 3B model and was first registered to Bill Blair on 12/11/97. It had a Suzuki G 13-GTI engine. It was sold to P Dunn of Mildura in Australia and its registration was cancelled on 19/2/99 and transferred to the Australian microlight register as 19-3116. It was sold to B Cooper of Melbourne in 2005, and still registered in Australia.
Snark HA 3C model ZK-JPS (c/n 004) was registered to Bill Barber on 10/7/03. It is powered by a Rotax 912 engine which is 30 kg lighter than the Suzuki. Bill has based his aircraft at Cromwell and flown it locally. It is shown at the 2014 Wings Over Wanaka airshow, on 18/4/14.
The Snark was flown and reviewed by experienced UK general aviation and microlight pilot Tim Cripps for Today’s Pilot Magazine where he stated “This is the most enjoyable of the many aircraft I have flown – and that includes the Hunter”. There were plans for UK production but those have not come to fruition.
Snark HA/2
Engine: Suzuki 1300 water cooled, EFI & ignition.
Prop: ground adjustable.
Seats: 2.
Construction: all composite.
Snark HA/2B
Engine: Rotax 503.
Cruise: 80 mph.
Stall: 20 mph.
Snark HA 3
Engine: Rotax 912
Wingspan: 9.3 m / 30 ft 6 in
Length: 6.24 m / 20 ft 4 in
Height: 2.43 m / 7 ft 9 in
Empty weight: 263 kg / 580 lb
MAUW: 450 kg / 992 lb
Cruise: 104 kt
Stall: 32 kt
Snark HA/3
Wingspan: 30 ft.
MTOW: 900lb.
Stall: 40 mph.
Cruise: 110 mph.
Seats: 2.
Snark HA/3B
Engine: 4 stroke.
Cruise: 120 mph.
Stall: 40 mph.
Range: 600 miles.
Seats: 2.
Snark HA/3C
Bill Barber of Dacre in Southland, New Zealand, started off with the Snark HA 1 which was a single seater.
Barber Snark HA 1 ZK-FOU (c/n MAANZ 409) was first registered to Bill Barber on 11/8/87. It was built of Kevlar foam sandwich construction with carbon fibre spars and full flaperons. It had a Rotax 503 engine driving a 3 bladed propellor through an 8 foot long driveshaft.
Barber flew the Snark HA 1 twice, for two short hops, and on reflection thinks it was a good aircraft. However, development problems caused him to go on to design and build his two seater Snarks.
This view shows the unusual tail configuration. ZK-FOU was withdrawn and cancelled on 26/7/95. It is currently stored on a trailer at Mandeville.
Lester J. Bannick developed the Bannick Model T Copter (N9989Z) in 1964. An open-frame gyrocopter, similar to the Bensen Gyrocopter with a wooden rotor and a pusher 65hp Lycoming engine, it was marketed in the form of plans ($25) for home construction, at about $600.
The only welding is in the motor mount, only machining is in the rotor head, the remainder of construction is with hand tools.
Bannick then completed the prototype of the Bannick Model C Copter which flew in 1967. It used the rotor system of the Model T with a streamlined glass-fibre fuselage incorporating a large tail fin and a 135hp Lycoming engine. It is believed that the Model C was eventually abandoned.
Bannick Model T Copter
Engine: Lycoming, 135 hp
Rotor dia: 25 ft
Length: 7 ft 4 in
Empty weight: 350 lb
MTOW: 800 lb
Top speed: 129km/h
Cruise: 80 mph
Take-off speed: 26 mph
Range: 100 mi
A pusher biplane designed and built by Felix Balzer in Gommern, Germany, in 1910. The engine was a 25 hp Anzani, which didn’t give enough power to make it leave the ground. Another lighter “Apparat” was projected, but nothing more is known.
The Balsan monoplane was designed and built by Balsan in France circa 1911.
The DN-1 was the US Navy’s first airship. Captain Mark L. Bristol, the second Director of Naval Aviation, supported the development of the dirigible in the anti-submarine role. Victor Herbster, Holden Richardson and LCDR Frank McCrary drew up the specifications for the DN-1. The contract was awarded on 1 June 1915 to the Connecticut Aircraft Company of New Haven, CT. The U.S. Navy had no experience with airships and it seems neither had any of the principles of Connecticut Aircraft Company. They were a lawyer who was the financial backer, a amusement park owner who acted as manager; the technical staff was an Austrian, Hans Otto Stagel, who claimed to be a dirigible pilot and a German engineer and mechanic, who claimed to be Zeppelin experts. Jerome Clarke Hunsaker of MIT and his assistant Donald Wills Douglas, later founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company, aided the Connecticut Aircraft Company in the design of DN-1. The Chief Engineer was James F. Boyle and the Production Manager was J.J. DeLunay. The civilian inspector and designer was Thomas Scott Baldwin and the resident Navy inspector was Frank M. McCrary.
The DN-1 envelope was made of two layers of cloth, with rubber between them. The outer layer of fabric was yellow to prevent deterioration caused by light. The gondola control car, built by George Lawley & Son of Dorchester, Massachusetts, was a large rectangular box with two four-bladed propellers on outriggers. There were originally two engines, built by the B. F. Sturtevant Company of Hyde Park, MA, were mounted in the open gondola, and the propellers could be swiveled to provide thrust in either the horizontal or vertical planes. A 1-1/2 hp Indian engine was provided to maintain air pressure in the two ballonets when the engine was not running. The gondola was water-tight as the Navy intended to operate the DN-1 off water. The specification for the DN-1 provided for being capable of being moored to a mooring mast which had first been used with HMA No. 1 in 1911. The DN-1 was photographed beside a mooring mast but there appears to be no evidence it was ever moored to it.
The DN-1 was announced in the press before its flight program. The DN-1 was shipped to Pensacola, Florida, in late 1916 and assembled in a floating hangar constructed for it. The day of the planned first flight, the DN-1 was removed from its hangar, only to lose lift and sink. Crew member Petty Officer James F. Shade, up to his chin in the water, invited spectators to come aboard for “the first submerged flight of the DN-1.” The DN-1 was returned to its hangar and lightened. One step take to lighten the DN-1 was the removal of one engine.
When the test program began on 20 April 1917 the DN-1 was a disappointment. DN-1 lacked lift, barely met the speed requirement of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) and the transmission overheated, melting the bearings. The DN-1 was piloted for its first flight by LCDR Frank M. McCrary USN, LT Stanley V. Parker assisted by PO Jimmy Shade. It was 27 April before the airship flew again. Two days later the handling party which was attempting to tow the airship across the water damaged the DN-1.The Navy decided that the airship was not worth repairing and the DN-1 was scrapped. The “The Rigid Airship Manual (GPO, 1928) commented upon the DN-1 “was so overweight that it could barely lift itself off the ground. It’s envelope leaked and the power plant functioned badly. It did, it did, however, actually fly and since the firm had built the ship in good faith and at a cost greatly in excess of the contract price[$45,636], it was formally accepted.”
The DN-1 forced the Navy to take a more effective approach to following airship development depending upon more reliable contractors and closer involvement of the Navy in design and management. The subsequent B, C, and D-Class airships were quite successful.
After its demise the DN-1 came to be considered the A class. Such designation was never officially used by the Navy, nor was it used during DN-1’s short life.
Engine: 1 × Sturtevant Model 5, 140 hp (104 kW)
Length: 175 ft 0 in (53.51 m)
Diameter: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
Volume: 115,000 ft3 (3256.4 m3)
Maximum speed: 35 mph (56 km/h)
When Thomas S. Baldwin returned from the 1910 Pacific tour, he began testing a new airplane at Mineola, New York. The new aircraft was similar to the basic Curtiss Pusher design but was constructed of steel tubing instead of wood with cloth wings. The aircraft was constructed by C. and A. Wittemann of Staten Island, New York, and was powered by a 60 horsepower (45 kW), Hall-Scott V-8. It was capable of 60 mph (97 km/h). Baldwin named his new aircraft the “Red Devil III”, and thereafter each of his designs would be called a “Baldwin Red Devil”. Tony Jannus flew actress Julia Bruns in a Red Devil on October 12, 1913, in a New York Times Derby.
About half-a-dozen steel biplanes have been produced in 1911 by Captain Baldwin, and he and other aviators, Badger, Hammond, Miss Scott Mass, etc., have flown these at various exhibitions and meets.
Three or four were built; one built for James C “Bud” Mars for his exhibition 1910-11 tours of the USA, Hawaii, and the Orient. Subsequent versions, built by Wittemann, had 60hp Hall-Scott or 75hp Rausie, wingspan of 31’3″ and 32’0″ length.
Baldwin Red Devil
Engine: Hall-Scott, 50-60 hp
Propeller: Requa-Gibson
Prop diameter: 7 ft / 2.13 m
Prop pitch: 6 feet / 1.82 m
Span: 28 ft 8 in / 8.75 m
Length: 28 ft 3 in / 8.60 m
Speed: 60 mph / 97 kph
