Era

Manuel Willow Wren

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Built by W.L. Manuel, the Willow Wren was a development of the Crested Wren.

A single seat sailplane, the cockpit was deeper, placing the pilot within the fuselage, and the elevators and rear fuselage were revised so enclosing the elevator controls within the fuselage.

The brace wing had no airbrakes or flaps.

The prototype. “Yellow Wren”, first flew in December 1932 from Hawkinge. It became BGA.162.

Manual built a second, “Blue Wren”, BGA.201, which was sold in South Africa as ZS-GAW in 1937. It was written off in April 1949.

Several others were built from plans.

Wingspan: 12.2m / 40ft 0in
Length: 6.2m / 20ft 4 in
Wing area: 13.94 sq.m / 150 sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 12
Wing section: Gottingen 549
Empty weight: 95.26 kg / 210 lb
Wing loading: 11.22 kg/sq.m / 2.3 lb/sq.ftt

Manuel Crested Wren

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The single-seat Crested Wren was designed and built by W.L. Manuel in 1931. Of conventional wooden construction, it was designed for slope soaring. Strut braced wing, no flaps of air brakes. The undercarriage was a main skid plus tail skid.

It was first flown at Hawking, UK, in July 1931. BGA.178 “Red Wren”.

W.L. Manuel made his first soaring flights in the Crested Wren in November 1931, flying from hills overlooking Folkestone.

The Crested Wren was eventually bought by E. Thomas in 1938.

Wingspan: 12.2 m / 40 ft 0 in
Length: 6.16 m / 20 ft 3 in
Wing area: 13.94 sq.m / 150 sq.ft
Aspect ration: 12
Wing section: Gottingen 549
Empty weight: 86.18 kg / 190 lb
Flying speed: 48 kph / 30 mph

Manuel 1929 Biplane

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A single-seat Biplane glider was designed and built by W.L. Manuel in 1929. It was of conventional wooden construction.

It was first flown at Hawking, UK, on 18 May 1929. After the first flight, Manuel carried out many flights tethered as a kite. For these flights a twenty foot long tow rope was attached to the tail skid of a Gloster Grebe fighter. The engine of the Grebe was run at full throttle and the glider was flown for about four minutes in the slipstream before the engine of the aircraft overheated. During one of these ‘flights’ a different pilot lost control and it was written off.

Wingspan: 6.70 m / 22 ft 0 in
Length: 4.39 m / 14 ft 5 in
Wing area: 14.86 sq.m / 160 sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 5.5

Manuel VI Primary

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The Manuel VI Primary was a wire-braced monoplane primary glider designed and built by W L. (Bill) Manuel whilst serving in the RAF in 1930.

The Manuel Primary was a wooden aircraft built around an open, vertical, tapered girder with a horizontal upper member and a lower one shaped at the front into a shallow keel. The girder was strengthened with a series of vertical and diagonal cross-pieces. The keel projected forward of the foremost vertical member and carried the pilot’s seat on its upper edge. The thick-profile wing was attached to the upper part of the girder and was straight edged with constant chord apart from the angled tips of the ailerons. Extensions of two of the forward girder cross-pieces formed a triangular structure over the wing which acted as a king post for a pair of landing wires. Flying wires from the keel and the upper member about half way to the rear of the girder carried the lifting loads on the wing. There were also bracing wires from wing to the rear of the aircraft to restrain horizontal bending of the girder. The rectangular tailplane was likewise fixed to the top of the girder and carried elevators with a cut-out in which the all-moving rectangular rudder, which extended to the lower girder, could operate.

The glider flew for the first time on 30 August 1930 at RAF Hawkinge in Kent, where Corporal Manuel was based. He made many more flights in it and other Channel Gliding Club pilots also flew it. It was finally destroyed in a road accident in the way to a meeting near Brighton in October 1930.

It flew successfully but only one was built.

Wingspan: 39 ft 0 in (11.89 m)
Wing area: 192.5 sq ft (17.88 m2)
Aspect ratio: 7.8
Length: 18 ft 11 in (5.77 m)
Crew: 1

Manuel Condor

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One of the pioneer British sailplane designers before the war, Mr W. L Manuel became concerned at the number of fatal accidents in hang gliding, and in the Condor has designed a simple two-seater sailplane intended especially for hill soaring and aimed at meeting the needs of those who would like to fly but who could not afford the price of a modern high performance sailplane, and who do not have the skills or the time to construct one of the homebuilt designs now on offer.

Resembling the primary trainers of the early 1930s in appearance, the Condor has a short boat-shaped fuselage nacelle of metal tube construction with comfortable side-by-side seating for two in an open cockpit; at the rear of the nacelle is a pylon on which the high constant chord wings are mounted, these being braced by V-struts on each side to a keel running under the cockpit. The tail unit is carried on an open girder-type rear fuselage of aluminium tubing, the tail surfaces being of generous area with fabric covered ribs and widechord elevators. The landing gear consists of a bow shaped ash skid under the fuselage nacelle, with rubber rollers as shock absorbers.

The prototype Condor made its first flight in August 1976 and in addition to local soaring has made a number of longer distance flights.

Span: 50 ft 2.5 in / 15.3 m
Length: 21 ft 0 in / 6.4 m
Wing area: 250.0 sq ft / 23.23 sq.m
Aspect ratio: 10.0
Wing section: Gottingen 462
Empty weight: 492 lb / 223 kg
Max weight: 899 lb / 408 kg
Water ballast: None
Max wing loading 17.57 kg/sq.m / 3.6 lb/sq ft
Max speed: 86.5 mph / 75 kt / 139 km/h
Stalling speed: 32 kt / 59 km/h
Best glide ratio: 14:1

Manuel Hawk

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Mr W. L. Manuel, who designed the Willow Wren and other gliders during the 1930s, continued working during retirement by designing (1968) and building (1969 at Fairoaks aerodrome, Surrey) the Hawk single-seater, intended for soaring in weak thermals.

The Hawk has a wing of rather low aspect ratio (11.88) and a fuselage that, although well steamlined, is not as slim as some contemporary types. The cantilever shoulder wing is a three-piece wooden structure with a centre section and two outer panels; the single spar is of spruce with a plywood leading edge torsion box and fabric covering aft of the spar, and there are air brakes in the wing upper surfaces. The semi-monocoque fuselage is of spruce covered by plywood, with a non-retractable monowheel for landing. The T-tail is of wooden construction, with a trim tab in the starboard elevator and a small dorsal fin. Instead of the conventional one-piece cockpit canopy, a three-piece one is fitted in which the front and rear sections are fixed one-piece single-curvature transparencies and the hinged middle section is a framed double curve segment.

The undercarriage is a fixed centre main wheel plus a tail skid.

The prototype BGA.1778 c/n 1 was built at Fairoaks in Surrey during 1968-70 and made its first flight at the College of Aeronautics airfield at Cranfield on 25 November 1972. Initial flight tests revealed the need for some modifications, including revised aileron controls, removing the air brakes from the wing under surfaces and increasing the rudder area; further flight testing followed these changes.

Span: 42 ft 0 in / 12.8 m
Length: 20 ft 6 in / 6.25 m
Wing area: 149 sq.ft / 13.84 sq.m
Aspect ratio: 11.88
Wing section: Wortmann FX-61 -184/210
Empty weight: 406 lb / 184 kg
Max weight: 639 lb / 290 kg
Water ballast: None
Max wing loading: 20.95 kg/sq.m / 4.29 lb/sq ft
Max speed: 90 mph / 78.5 kt / 146 km/h
Stalling speed: 31 kt / 57.5 km/h
Max rough air speed: 64 kt / 118.5 km/h
Min sinking speed: 2.53 ft/sec / 0.77 m/sec at 38 mph / 33 kt / 61 km/h
Best glide ratio: 25:1 at 41.7 mph / 36 kt / 66.5 km/h

Manuel, W. L.

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W.L.Manuel designed and built the first four types of gliders while he was serving in the RAF. He was the Channel Gliding Club instructor in 1932. In 1933 he established a small workshop at the London Gliding Club, Dunstable (which was known as the Wren Works) and built the second Willow Wren there. At that time he advertised for sale complete Wrens at £90 and Primary gliders at £45 each. In January 1935 he joined the Dunstable Sailplane Co and built a developed version of the Willow Wren which was named the Dunstable Kestrel.
In January 1968, W.L.Manuel retired from the position of Chief Planning Engineer with A.C. Cars Ltd, and, having already designed the Hawk, built this at Fairoaks aerodrome, Surrey.

Mantelli-Fossa MF.1

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The Mantelli-Fossa MF-1 was designed by Adriano Mantelli, an experienced aircraft modeller. To fund its construction, Mantelli, his cousin Dino Sirocchi and some other aircraft modellers founded a company named SDAM after their senior partners’ initials. The MF-1 was built by Ennio Fossa in his family workshop. It was a high-wing monoplane, its wing supported centrally on a fuselage pedestal and braced on each side with a faired V strut from beyond mid-span to the lower fuselage. It was mounted without dihedral and was rectangular in plan apart from cropped aileron tips.

The fuselage, rectangular in cross-section though with a rounded decking, was entirely fabric-covered. There was an open cockpit immediately ahead of the pedestal. Aft of the wing the fuselage tapered to the tail, where a triangular tailplane with rectangular elevators was placed on top of it. The fin was small and triangular and carried a straight-edged balanced rudder which extended down to the keel, operating in an elevator cut-out. The MF-1 landed on a conventional wooden skid fitted with rubber shock absorbers, assisted by a very small tail skid.

Mantelli flew the MF-1 for the first time on 14 August 1934. Later that year he competed in it at Cantù in the Littoriali Contests.

Only one was constructed.

Wingspan: 11 m (36 ft 1 in)
Wing area: 16.50 m2 (177.6 sq ft)
Aspect ratio: 7.3
Length: 5.70 m (18 ft 8 in)
Empty weight: 95 kg (209 lb)
Gross weight: 170 kg (375 lb)
Maximum glide ratio: estimated 16:1
Wing loading: 10.30 kg/m2 (2.11 lb/sq ft)
Capacity: One

Mantelli AM 12 Palas

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Although its origins are reminiscent of the Alaparma AM-10, the AM-12 was a glider. It was powered by a 38 hp CANC and finally with a 4-cylinder Praga 75 D HP. Three, with a long wing were built Guidonia (near Rome) by the Italian military center of gliding.

The fourth built with a shorter wing, was first flown as a glider before being changed to receive a Turbomeca Palas turbojet of 160 kgf. This engine had been recovered from the prototype of the jet Caproni F-5.

It is with this engine Mantelli, on February 17, 1962, beat the world record for altitude for jets of less than 500 kg, with 6700 m, and earn the 1962 Bleriot prize.

Later the aircraft was re-engined with a Walter Praga – D 75 piston engine. It is in this that Adriano Mantelli took the world record altitude for aircraft less than 500 kg, with 8763 m on April 16, 1964

Wingspan: 12 m
Length: 5.5 m
Height: 1.4 m
Wing area: 34.48 m²
Empty weight: 210 kg
Maximum weight: 500 kg
Maximum speed: 220 km / h
Minimum speed: 50 km / h

Mantelli, Adriano

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Born 13 February 1913, in 1929 Mantelli competed in flying competitions with aircraft that were self-designed and built. In 1931 he started designing gliders.

In the summer of 1936, Adriano Mantelli was the leading Italian fighter pilot in the Spanish Civil War serving in the Regia Aeronautica. Mantelli shot down a Dewoitine piloted by British pilot Edward Hillman. Flying under the alias “Arrighi”, he would later share the title for highest scoring Ace with Mario Bonzano at fifteen victories.

In 1945 Mantelli designed the AM-6 twin boomed pusher aircraft derived from previous glider designs. Mantelli co-founded the company Alaparma with Livio Agostini to produce the AM-6, and later the AM-8 and AM-10 aircraft.

In 1951 Mantelli designed and built two gliders, the AM-10 and AM-12 “Albatross”, in Buenos Aires, Argentina In 1954, Mantelli set an Italian record for altitude in a glider in a two-seat CVV-6 Canguro glider.

Mantelli received the FAI Louis Blériot Medal in 1962, and 1964. Mantelli reached the rank of General.

He died on 6 May 1995 while waiting for a train at Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station.