The 24 Bis (that’s what they call the example you see in the images) is a tribute to Alberto Santos Dumont.
The Winchester Skonkwerks Ultralight Research and Development Facility —shortened to Skonkwerks — represents a team from Larsen, Wisconsin. Skonkwerks honored Alberto by first building a 23 Bis and later the 24 Bis. The group describes itself as a “loosely knit organization of friends, flyers, and fanatics… tinkerers, builders, and bullsh###rs. We are engineers, designers, and dreamers hanging out in a little hangar screwing stuff together and making it fly.”
Lee Fischer was the founder of this group of tinkerers that formed after he first showed a highly modified Robertson B1-RD. So much interest was shown in the Demoiselle style of aircraft that he decided to build a 23 Bis. At AirVenture 2015, his friend Mark Solper hinted that it would be “great project to build a pair of ‘evolved’ Demoiselles for a subsequent AirVenture.” This suggestion led to the 24 Bis.
Mark, Lee, and the whole merry band machined and welded the airframe and sewed Dacron wings, all the while learning both new skills and an appreciation for what Santos Dumont and his associates had done more than a hundred years earlier.
The aircraft was flown into Oshkosh.
Weight — 240 pounds
Wing Span — 32 feet
Wing Area — 192 square feet
Never Exceed Speed — 45-50 mph
Stall Speed — 14-16
Engine — Rotax 447
Build Time — December 21, 2014 through June 21, 2015
