Era

von Hemert Aéroplane No. X

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A glider built by Walton White Evans von Hemert. The machine was built in 1911 in a carpenter workshop in Amersfoort, Netherlands. Von Hemert (born 1894) was then 17 years of age. He made several flights with the glider, one of which was on 5 February 1911, as reported in the Dutch aviation magazine “De Luchtvaart”. The glider was towed by a car via a connecting line and the flight lasted about one minute at a height of around 10 meters. All of a sudden a gust of wind broke the left wing, crashing the machine. The wings were wrecked but the fuselage and the part where the pilot sat was intact. The rudder sported the identification “Aeroplane V. Hemert No. X”.

von Hagan 1911 Aeroplane

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Built by German immigrant Alexander von Hagan in Seattle, Washington, the machine had two sets of silk wings, an aluminium framework, two motors and three propellers. It weighed 600 pounds without the operator. One propeller was in the front, the second three-quarters back, and the third at the rear. One 40 hp motor ran the two front propellers and a smaller one of 35 hp powered the rear. Von Hagan was born in 1859 and served in the German army for 14 years.

von Cosel 1930 monoplane

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In 1930 Carl T von Cosel, of Key West FL. Built a two-place cabin, high-wing monoplane amphibian, registered N879Y and powered by a 180hp LeRhône rotary engine.

The wings were never attached, so the plane was never flown. Some reports claimed that von Cosel, an undertaker by trade, kept his dead wife in it for an unstated period of time.

When he left Key West in 1940, he took the plane with him and both disappeared.

Volvo Aero

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Volvo Aero
Nohab Flygmotorfabriker AB
Svenska Flygmotor AB

Nohab Flygmotorfabriker AB was founded in Trollhättan, Sweden, in 1930 to produce aircraft engines for the Swedish Board of Aviation. As the name of the company indicates it was a subsidiary to NOHAB. In 1937 it became a part of the newly founded SAAB but already in 1941 Volvo acquired a majority of the stock and the name was changed to Svenska Flygmotor AB (SFA), and later on Volvo Flygmotor.

Since the 1950s the company have been the major engine supplier to the Swedish Air Force. The Volvo Aero Group has 3,600 employees and in 2003 had total sales of 0.9 billion euros. Today Volvo Aero is a partner in more than ten commercial engine programmes. Components from Volvo Aero are installed in more than 90% of all large commercial aircraft engines sold.

On 6 July 2012 Volvo Aero was acquired by the British aerospace manufacturer GKN in a SEK 6.9 billion deal.

Volvo Aero was a supplier of single-engine systems for military aircraft. These have largely been in partnership with other engine manufacturers, such as the RM1 (de Havilland Goblin) for the Saab 21R, RM2 (de Havilland Ghost) for the Saab J29, RM5 and RM6 (Rolls-Royce Avon) for the Saab 32 Lansen, the RM6B for the Saab 35 Draken, and the RM8 (Pratt & Whitney JT8D) for the Saab 37 Viggen. The Saab JAS 39 Gripen’s RM12 engine is a derivative of the General Electric F404.

Svenska Flygmotor also designed the B42, horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine, intended for the SAAB Safir. However, SAAB decided on using engines from de Havilland and Lycoming for the Safir. In the end the B42 came to power the Infanterikanonvagn 103 assault gun. A follow-up called B44 powered the Pansarbandvagn 301 armoured personnel carrier.

Volvo Aero delivered engine components, mainly complex engine structures like turbine exhaust casings, turbine mid frames, LPT cases, compressor housings, LPT shafts, vanes, and large rotating parts.

Volvo Aero also had a facility in Trollhättan where they did maintenance on aircraft engines and stationary gas turbines. The aircraft engines are Pratt & Whitney Canada PW100 and TFE-731 engines. The Stationary gas turbines is General Electric LM1600 engine, and the DR990, which Volvo bought the OEM responsibility from Dresser Rand.

Volvo Aero manufactured combustion chambers, nozzles and turbines for commercial launch vehicles.

The company have produced the F-series hydraulic motors under the Volvo Flygmotor and VOAC brands.

Volvo Aero subsidiaries were located in the United States and Norway, in addition to Volvo’s home country, Sweden. The Norwegian plant, in Kongsberg, is the former Norsk Jetmotor, itself formerly a part of Kongsberg Våpenfabrikk.

Volpar-Spencer Drag-n-fly

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This single-seat waterborne biplane glider is designed to be towed in tethered flight behind a conventional motor boat. It was designed at the instigation of Volpar Inc. In February 1977 Volpar engaged Mr Percival H. Spencer, a pioneer pilot and amphibian designer, to design a small but fully manoeuvrable waterbased glider. This was to use modern plastics and foam materials for high strength and low cost, and to have simple controls that could be operated safely by an amateur or non-pilot.

Mr Spencer himself made the first flight of the prototype Drag-N-Fly, on 20 April 1977 (nearly 63 years after his first solo flight) and continued air and water trials have proved very satisfactory. Flight testing during 1978 resulted in the addition of a 1ft extension on each wing tip, to reduce the power requirements of the towing boat.

When in flight the tether can be disconnected by the pilot in an emergency, and will disconnect automatically if the glider tends to overrun the tow boat. The fuselage is hinged so that the Drag-N-Fly can be transported on a light road trailer without exceeding a width of 8ft 0in. The structure makes extensive use of stryrofoam and other lightweight materials; the strut-braced biplane wings are of constant chord and covered in glasscloth laminate, bonded with epoxy resin; there are spoilers on the outer panels of the upper wing. The wings themselves are built up of aerofoil shaped styrofoam blocks, with plywood spar caps bonded to styrofoam shear webs with epoxy resin. There are wooden blocks between the capstrips at each end to provide bolt attachments for joining the panels together. The fuselage and the twin floats which attach directly to the bottom of the lower wing are built up from plywood internal frames and bulkheads and are covered in polyester resin-bonded moulded glassfibre cloth laminate. The cantilever tail unit has a styrofoam core and glassfibre laminate covering; the vertical surfaces have wooden frame edges and the one-piece horizontal tail has plywood spar caps. The latter is hinged at the aft fuselage bulkhead and is statically balanced by means of a bob-weight; trim adjustment is by means of a bungee spring. There is a single open cockpit forward of the wings, an a water rudder is provided for control during towing, as well as the more conventional rudder.

Span: 17 ft 0 in
Length: 15 ft 11 in
Height: 5 ft 9 in
Wing area: 113.0 sqft
Aspect ratio: 2.56
Empty weight: 225 lb
Max weight : 425 lb
Max speed: 75 mph (in smooth air)
Required take-off speed: 40 mph

Volpar

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Volpar Inc formed in 1960, Volpar marketed tricycle landing- gear kit for Beechcraft Model 18. Following merger with Volitan Aviation Inc, kits produced to convert Model 18 to turboprop power, designated Turbo 18. Lengthened-fuselage versions followed, Turboliner and Turboliner II; then came ‘Packaged Power’ units for Beech 18, de Havilland Dove and Beaver, Grumman Goose. Larger premises acquired February 1975 to increase production of Turboliner II.

From 1976 collaborated with Century Aircraft Corporation in producing turboprop conversions for Handley Page Jetstream. Produced programs to upgrade T-33 as T-33V and Falcon 20 as PW300-F20. As Volpar Aircraft Corporation, was acquired by Gaylord Holdings of Switzerland 1990.