Single seat single engined flex wing 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 in tricycle formation. Nosewheel steer¬ing independent from yaw control. Aluminium tube trike unit, without pod. Engine mounted below wing driving pusher propeller.
The main activity for Soarmaster is trike unit manufacture, its product being simply known as the Trike.
The company is proud of the fact that the trike unit has withstood a static load of 1145 lb (519 kg) applied to the seat, though it has to be said that there are other trike units around which could comfortably exceed this figure. What this translates to in terms of load factors does of course depend on the wing used, which can be any suitable Rogallo.
Various engines are available, ranging from Chrysler units to a 15hp Solo single (with or without a tuned exhaust) and a twin cylinder Lloyd producing 23hp. The Lloyd has the unusual feature of being provided with both manual and electric start, and all three use belt reduction drives and Soarmaster’s own propeller, made from 6061T6 aluminium and featuring replaceable blades. Main wheels diameter overall 20 inch, 51 cm.
Price for the Lloyd engined trike unit in October 1982 was $1595.
Engines: Lloyd LS400, 23 hp Solo, 15 hp Chrysler Belt reduction Fuel capacity 1.2 US gal, 1.0 Imp gal, 4.5 litre in main tank Optional res fuel: 1.2 US gal, 1.0 Imp gal, 4.5 litre
One of the 1980 crop of powered hang gliders that were the latest rage among homebuilders was the Soarmaster C5A. Cost for building one was a bit over $1,000. A Chrysler two-stroke engine swings a prop with folding blades. The craft is completely foot-launched, and the pusher prop is driven by an extended drive shaft that places it to the rear of the wing.
The Soarmaster company’s early power packs for hang gliders paved the way for the trike. In 1983 the company still made these power packs for prone flyers (the latest version of the unit was the PP 106).
1982: Soarmaster Inc, PO Box 4207, Scottsdale, Arizona 85261, USA.
The 1921 Snyder-Macready Baby Bomber designed by O H Snyder was a single-place, open cockpit biplane, powered by a chain-driven 18hp Indian engine The Indian motor which had previously been in the builder’s motorcycle. The propeller was driven through a chain and sprocket reduction gear.
The landing speed was 20 mph and the plane usually stopped within 40 feet after touching the ground.
Of all-wood construction, it was popular with home-builders of the time, with plans published in magazines.
Snow Aviation International Inc was founded 1990 to develop twin-turboprop commercial SA-204C STOL passenger/cargo transport and military SA-21 OAT derivative.
Snow Aviation International Inc was founded 1990 to develop twin-turboprop commercial SA-204C STOL passenger/cargo transport and military SA-21 OAT derivative.
By 1955 plans were under way for the S2 model, to be joined by the S2B, a 450 hp version, with the pilot sitting behind the hopper. This first flew in August 1956. The smaller model, the S2A, was fitted with the Continental W670-6A radial engine of 220 hp and 74 of these were built by the Snow Aeronautical Corporation. Only 17 of the larger 450 hp S2B were built and this was followed by the Snow S2C-450, still an open cockpit aircraft with distinctive overturn protection incorporating a larger hopper and a wing span increased to 44 feet, 7 inches. The empty weight was 2940 lbs and loaded, 5700 lbs. Some 215 were built, at least half with the 600 hp P&W R-1340-AN1 which increased the loaded weight to 6000 lbs.
The first Snow S2C appeared in 1960, a follow-on aircraft to the similar Snow S2B of which nineteen were produced. Both were powered by the 450-hp R-985. At that time Snow were also building the S2A which was produced until 1962. A smaller aircraft, the pilot sat in front of the hopper. Some S2C aircraft had the wingtips removed and were fitted with large end plates.
Snow S-2C N1633S
Around 260 Snow S2Cs were built, firstly powered with a 450hp P&W R-985-AN-1, first flying on 12 April 1961, a 600-hp P&W R-1340-AN-1 version first flying on 12 May 1961. From 1962 until production was superseded by the Aero Commander-Snow S2D-600 in 1965. Until this point all aircraft were built with open cockpits.
In 1965 the Snow Corporation was taken over by Aero Commander and a new model, the S2D-600, was flown in 1965. It was the first with the new enclosed cockpit, setting the lines for the later Thrushes and with a larger hopper. Snow also modified the aircraft to incorporate a loader driver seat directly behind the pilot’s and facing rear.
Aero Commander built 105 S2D-600’s. The S2D was fitted with an even larger hopper suitable for rice sowing and fertiliser spreading and this became the Rockwell S2R-600 Thrush in 1968.
Rockwell Thrush Commander
Re-engining became popular. Besides the R-1340 version, Rockwell introduced the S2R Thrush 800 fitted with a Wright R-1300B1 radial of 800 hp. In 1975 two US Ag operators, Marsh in Arizona and Ayres in Georgia, fitted Garrett and Pratt & Whitney turbines to Thrush aircraft. Marsh had previously fitted a Garrett TPE-331 Pre-Century of 575 shaft horse power to an open cockpit 1965 model Snow S2C and it was first flown on 9 July 1973. It is the first known conversion, known as the Marsh S2R-T Turbo-Thrush, of an agricultural aircraft in the United States; N1674S, #600-1250C (the 250th ag¬plane built by Snow), was later sold to Plexico as XB-ETQ. Another conversion by Serv-Aero Engineering was to fit the 1200 hp Wright R-1820-71 piston radial. In 1977, the Ayers Corporation, of Albany, Georgia, purchased the Thrush Commander line and continued to build the S2R, with the same constructors serial sequence, finally ending at 2582R.
A new sequence was started by Ayres with the 750 hp P & W PT6A-34AG with constructors numbers beginning with 6001, and incorporating one major change, the fitting of a 500 US gallon hopper. The 5000 sequence was used for the 100 or so 800 hp Wrights built by Rockwell.
Once Ayres had taken over, one of the new versions was named the Bull Thrush, powered with a 1200 hp Wright R-1820-97 and fitted with a 500 US gallon hopper. One of the new features was a Dual Cockpit variant, being denoted by a DC at the end of the constructor’s number. From this time Ayres were to start a whole new series of constructors numbers, prefixed by S2R, followed by engine model fitted and then a number, in most cases, starting at -001. As example, S2R-1340-… (600 hp), S2R-1820-… (1200 hp), S2R-RS3-… (PZL R83, 595 hp) and S2R-T34-… (750 hp).
Snow began designing his first aerial application aircraft, the S-1, in 1951 when he was 21 years old.
In August, 1953, the S1 flew for the first time, powered by a 190 hp Lycoming. Unusually for a US ag-plane, the pilot sat between the engine and the hopper, and, unlike later Snow models, the aircraft had wing struts.
The aircraft was successful, enough for Snow to take it to Nicaragua for a season the following year.
To give it more power, it was fitted with a Continental radial of 220 hp. The radial engined S-1 lost its wing struts.
Dam¬aged by a thunderstorm in 1958, this aircraft was destroyed in a warehouse fire a few years later.
That airplane remained in production until 1957, after which Snow introduced the S-2A and S-2B models.
