1998:
PO Box 67 C/O V.Gradinarski
BU-9000 Varna
Bulgaria
Amphibous trike builder
Era
Dietrich DP.I
1922 light aircraft
Dietrich / Dietrich-Gobiet
Richard Dietrich first built a monoplane at his Hanuske works in 1912, and learned to fly a year later. In 1922 produced the DP.1, one of the first light aircraft in Germany. About that time the name was changed to Dietrich-Gobiet, of Kassel. In 1924 built a cantilever biplane resembling a Fokker D.VII, as well as other designs, but by 1925 (when company reverted to original name) was in serious financial trouble, becoming bankrupt in 1927.
Diepen Difoga-421
The DIFOGA 421 was built in secret during the war, but did not fly until the war was over. Its originator was Frits Diepen, Manager of Diepen’s Ford Garage (hence DIFOGA).
The aircraft was powered by a 98 hp Ford V-8 driving a four-blade wooden propeller.
The aircraft was dismantled in 1957.
Diepen
In 1946 Frits Diepen founded the Frits Diepen Aircraft Co Ltd, which was to deal with the sale, repair and overhaul of aircraft, the transport passengers by air taxis, publicity flightsand the running of Ypenburg Airfield.
On February 16th, 1954 Avio Diepen ¬became a subsidiary of Fokker
Diehl Aero-Nautical XTC
Single seat single engined mid wing monoplane with conventional three axis control. Wing has swept back leading edge, swept forward trailing edge, and tapering chord; two fin tail and canard wing. Pitch control by fully flying canard; yaw control by fin-mounted rudders; roll control by one third span spoilers; control inputs through stick for pitch/roll and pedals for yaw. Cantilever wing; wing profile double surface. Undercarriage has three retractable wheels in tricycle formation; steel spring suspension on all wheels. Push right go right nosewheel steering connected to yaw control. Individual brakes on main wheels. Glass fibre fuselage partially enclosed (total enclosure optional). Engine mounted above wing driving pusher propeller. Composite foam/glass fibre construction with spars in carbon fibre.
The appearance of the world’s first purpose designed amphibious ultralight created quite a stir when it appeared in prototype form at the ’82 Oshkosh and it has continued to attract great interest ever since.
This composite construction machine has floats at its wing tips and the entire fuselage forms a hull. The main wheels of the XTC Hydrolight retract sideways and outwards and the nosewheel retracts forward, nestling in the nose of the fuselage. Foot operated individual main wheels brakes are fitted.
Though originally fitted with a twin cylinder Cuyuna 430RR and later with the Kawasaki TA440 developing 39 hp at 6000 rpm, the XTC Hydrolight is now normally supplied with the KFM 107 engine. The title stands for Cross Terrain Craft and, according to its constructor, is pronounced ‘ecstasy’!
To allow trailer transport, the outer wing sections are removable, rigging time being quoted as 10 min with one person. The aircraft is supplied in kit form, requiring some 100 h for completion, for around $6000 in 1982, the exact price depending on the options selected from a long list including bubble canopy, parachute systems, lights, instruments, skis, Tedlar wing covering and a trailer.
Powered by a Rotax 447 it cruises at around 45-50mph at only 4700rpm and uses around eight litres per hour. You can up the cruise to 60-65mph. The hull is constructed of fibreglass and Kevlar, the wing has a fibreglass D-section leading edge and covered with sail cloth, and a carbon fibre capped spar. Wing attach fittings are titanium, and with extensive use of stainless steel and anodised aluminium in a majority of the rest of the metal fittings this is a very low maintenance airframe even if operated in the sea.
Engine: KFM 107, 25 hp at 6280 rpm.
Propeller diameter and pitch 52×22 inch, 1.32×0.56m.
V belt reduction, ratio 2.1/1.
Max static thrust 170 lb, 77 kg.
Power per unit area 0.16 hp/sq.ft, 1.7 hp/sq.m.
Fuel capacity 5.0 US gal, 4.2 Imp gal, 18.9 litre.
Length overall 15.2 ft, 4.62 m.
Height overall 4.8ft, 1.44m.
Wing span 32.0ft, 9.75m.
Chord at root 5.0ft, 1.52m.
Chord at tip 3.0ft, 0.91m.
Dihedral 3 degs.
Canard span 12.0ft, 3.65m.
Canard chord 2.5 ft, 0.76 m.
Fin height 3.0 ft, 0.91 m.
Total wing area 155 sq.ft, 14.4 sq.m.
Main wing area 128 sq.ft, 11.9sq.m.
Canard area 27.0 sq.ft, 2.5 sq.m.
Total spoiler area 4.0 sq.ft, 0.37 sq.m.
Fin area 10.0ft , 0.93 sq.m.
Rudder area 8.0 sq.ft, 0.74 sq.m.
Main wing aspect ratio 8.0/1.
Wheel track 6.3ft, 1.93m.
Wheelbase 10.2ft, 3.09m.
Nosewheel diameter overall 11 inch, 26 cm.
Main wheels diameter overall 11 inch, 26 cm.
Floats, dimensions 2.4 x 14.0 ft, 0.71 x 4.26 m.
Empty weight 247 lb, 112kg.
Max take off weight 500 lb, 227kg.
Payload 253 lb, 115kg.
Max wing loading 3.22 lb/sq.ft, 15.8 kg/sq.m.
Max power loading 20 lb/hp, 9.1 kg/hp.
Load factors +4.0, 4.0 design; +8.0, 8.0 ultimate.
Max level speed 62 mph, 100 kph.
Never exceed speed 80 mph, 129 kph.
Max cruising speed 60 mph, 97 kph.
Economic cruising speed 50 mph, 80 kph.
Stalling speed 25 mph, 40 kph.
Max climb rate at sea level 600 ft/min, 3.1 m/s.
Min sink rate 250 ft/min at 37 mph, 1.3 m/s at 59 kph.
Best glide ratio with power off 14/1 at 40 mph, 64 kph.
Take off distance 100 ft, 30 m.
Landing distance 200 ft, 60 m.
Range at average cruising speed 120 mile, 193 km.
Engine: KFM 107 ER, 22 hp.
2.1:1 reduction belt drive.
Wingspan 32ft.
Wing area 150 sq.ft.
Aspect ratio 6:1.
Length 14ft.
Empty weight 280 lbs.
Payload 250-lbs. pilot plus fuel.
Wing loading 3.2 lbs/sq.ft.
L/D 16:1.
Cruise speed 50 mph.
Stall speed 26 mph.
Vmax 60 mph.
Climb rate 600 fpm.
Fuel 5 USgal.
Engine: Rotax 447, 43 hp.
Cruise: 30-50 mph.
Stall: 26 mph.
Fuel consumption: 6.5-7 lt/hr.
Top speed: 70 mph.
Endurance: 4.5 hours.
XTC Hydrolight
Engine: 30-40 hp
Wingspan: 31 ft
Canard span: 12 ft
Wing area: 150 sq.ft
Empty weight: 220 lb
MTOW: 450 lb
Wing loading: 3 lb/sq.ft
Load tested: 4G
Max speed: 70 mph
Cruise: 25-50 mph
Stall: 20 mph
Approach speed: 30 mph
Takeoff speed: 25 mph
RPC: 600 fpm
Glide ratio: 14-1
Range 3USG: 100 mi
TO Dist land: 100 ft
Ldg dist land: 200 ft
TO Dist water: 200 ft
Ldg dist water: 100 ft
Seats: 1
Controls: 3 axis
Diehl Aero-Nautical
1982-3: Diehl Aero Nautical, 1855 North Elm, Yenks, Oklahoma 74037, USA.
UL builder
Cloudcraft Glider Co Dickson Primary
Designed by Roger S. Dickson and like other primary gliders of the 1930s, the Dickson Primary was aerodynamically unambitious, with its emphasis on low cost and simplicity. It was a wooden high wing aircraft, carrying the pilot on an open seat with a largely open, flat truss girder fuselage behind.
The wing had a two-spar fabric covered structure and was completely rectangular in plan. Ailerons occupied approximately ⅓ of the outer trailing edge. The wing was mounted on the horizontal upper beam of the three-bay fuselage Warren girder. The lower beam, angled slightly upwards rearwards, carried the pilot’s seat and controls at its forward end. Pairs of landing wires ran from a longitudinally-orientated inverted V-shaped pylon above the centre of the upper wing to the two spars near the inboard edge of the aileron. Similarly arranged flying wires ran from the same wing points to the keel. Bracing wires from the rear spar, at the same point as the flying wires, were anchored to the lower rear corner of the flat fuselage girder to limit sideways flexing.
The seat and exposed control column were located just ahead of the wing leading edge. A simple skid acted as undercarriage. At the rear, a fabric-covered tailplane, with swept leading edges and carrying rectangular elevators, was mounted on the upper fuselage beam over the whole of the aft fuselage bay. The rearmost vertical member of the girder carried a near-rectangular rudder, which projected above the fuselage led by a slender fin. Lateral stability was enhanced by the fabric covering of the rear bay of the fuselage.
The Dickson Primary flew for the first time in 1930. The designer of this glider has carried out extensive flight trials, and the machine behaved beautifully in every way, proving exceptionally stable. The only slight adjustment made was to fit the wires inside the rudder pedals instead of outside, to slightly reduce the gearing.
Only nine Dickson Primarys have established individual identities. However, a Cloudcraft Glider Co., Southampton, advertisement from July 1931 claimed that there were “over one hundred in use at the present time” in the UK, United States, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Some of these may have been built from kits, others from plans published in books and in or by magazines like Flight or bought from Cloudcraft. Certainly one example was built and flying in New Zealand by March 1931. UK gliding clubs (GC) flying Dickson Primarys included the London GC, operating at Dunstable, the Southampton GC and the Stockport GC. The last built their Dickson from plans. Seven years after the first flight, full working drawings were still on offer for 30/- (£1.50) from Flight itself, as they had been in 1931.
Dickson Primary
Wingspan: 34 ft 3 in (10.45 m)
Wing area: 170.0 sq ft (15.79 sq.m)
Airfoil: Clark YH
Aspect ratio: 7.0
Length: 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
Empty weight: 180 lb (82 kg)
Crew: 1
Diaz La Estrella Errante / Wandering Star
In the 1940s, Benigno Diaz put together Cuba’s first homebuilt, assembled from plans in Popular Mechanics, with the help of a childhood friend, Roberto Gude. In 1938, Diaz and Gude used wood from fish crates and poplin from a fabric store to begin constructing the island’s first experimental aircraft. “It took us years,” Gude says. “We had to beg for every nut and bolt and piece of fabric and wood. Everything on that plane was improvised.”
The landing gear was crafted from automobile exhaust pipes. One friend, a pilot, donated a 65-hp Continental engine and the tires off a Piper J-3 Cub. After seven years, the airplane dubbed La Estrella Errante (Wandering Star) was finished. Diaz’s father was there for the 1945 maiden flight. He approached his son, put his arm around him, and said, “Benigno, are you sure you tightened all the bolts on that thing?” Diaz nodded. He climbed into the cockpit, turned the aircraft onto the grass field, and gave it power. Gaining speed, the little airplane bounced and lifted off. “It flew very well,” says Diaz, who still has a small model of his handiwork. “It was the first flight of the first homemade plane on the island.”
In 1999, the fate of that homebuilt airplane was unknown. Some say it was shipped to a military airfield in Cuba. “We heard it was there in mothballs, but we don’t know for sure. Someone else said the plane had been left outside on a tie-down and simply rotted.” Covered with house paint, its primitive construction “would not have stood up very long outside”.
Diamond DART-750
The DART-750 will be a certified all composite aerobatic turboprop trainer in tandem seat configuration, equipped with Garmin G3000 avionics and the 750 shp Pratt & Whitney Canada.PT6A-25C turboprop engine.
The first flight of Diamond Aircraft‘s DART-750 aerobatic trainer took place June 12, 2023, at the company’s headquarters in Wiener Neustadt in Austria.
Piloted by Diamond’s Head of Flight Test Sören Pedersen and Senior Test Pilot Niko Daroussis, the maiden flight lasted 30 minutes and covered all basic maneuvers, including performance and handling checks.
“The aircraft and all tested parameters did meet or exceed all expectations,” company officials said in a press release.
The aircraft was expected to be certified by EASA in 2024, with FAA certification soon after.
