The Karatoo was designed by Jesse Anglin of Hendersonville, North Carolina and first appeared in 1982. (Jesse Anglin designed several homebuilt aircraft including the J3 Kitten, the J4 Sportster and the low wing retro styled Spacewalker). The Anglin J6A Karatoo was powered by a Rotax 503 or 582. Norman Aviation of Quebec in Canada further developed the aircraft and then the Karatoo was further developed by Australian Max Peters who had developed Subaru engines for aircraft use. It has since been manufactured in kit form by several Australian companies and is currently produced as the J6C by Serenity Aviation. The fuselage structure is a fully welded steel tubular frame, covered with fabric. 4130 “N” steel tubing with the most common sizes being 3/4″ x.035 wall thickness, 5/8′ x .035, and 1/2″ x .035, (a full tubing list can be forwarded should you wish to fully construct your own aircraft). Welding (if it’s a DIY’er) can be Oxy, MIG or TIG. Kits ordered from the factory are fully TIG’ed. The wings design has changed from the original solid spruce spar to an “I” beam spar constructed from 2 spruce cap strips and a plywood web. The rear spar is still a solid spruce spar. The original ribs on a J6A Karatoo were built up from spruce strips, a very tedious form of construction. The ribs currently are routed from 1/4″ marine plywood, much simpler and easier to construct than the original design. A full D cell leading edge is used to enhance strength in the design. Flaps may be incorporated if you need to enhance the aircrafts already impressive take off and landing performance. The wing is still covered with fabric. A wing fold system can be incorporated.
