Frenchman first across the Channel in an Electric powered Cri Cri

[Phil Perry]

Frenchman Hugues Duval flies an electric Cri Cri across the channel, but causes a blue because he has it towed halfway across by a fuel engined aircraft ! ! !

 

Amongst other things. . . My friend Mike Whittaker's MW10 "Flying Plank" design flies in model form, . . I think they may be a bit out with the scale though,. . .looks a bit smaller than 1/4 scale to me. .

 

and our club chairman Bob Arnold leaves his parachute behind after landing an MW6 on a local model field. . .( ! )

 

All in the July 2015 BMAA Microlight Flying magazine, ( Enews )

 

microlightflying.org.uk

 

Phil

 

 

[Phil Perry]

Someone please tell me if the above would be better posted in a different forum ?

 

 

[microman]

Someone please tell me if the above would be better posted in a different forum ?

All good stuff Phil - I enjoy reading the BMAA magazine when I can manage to get my hands on a copy. Can it be accessed via their website? I assume you need a password etc.

Mike Whittaker's designs seem to have stood the test of time - I didn't realise he was up to MK10!

 

Cheers

 

Graeme

 

 

[Phil Perry]

All good stuff Phil - I enjoy reading the BMAA magazine when I can manage to get my hands on a copy. Can it be accessed via their website? I assume you need a password etc.Mike Whittaker's designs seem to have stood the test of time - I didn't realise he was up to MK10!

Cheers

 

Graeme

Hiya Graeme,. . . .

 

I think you'd have to subscribe to get the MF magazine, but the Enews is updated every nonth, if you've stuffed that link into your browser, you'll see that the Enews goes back quite a way, and there's lots of interesting stuff on it. . . . you just don't get the mag articles. . .apart from the monthly photo competition.

 

Sorry my links sometimes work and sometimes don't, I'm bleeding useless where internet / url s and that sort of stuff is concerned, yet both my Daughters are experts at it ! ! ! ( But they live hundreds of miles away and only see me on birthdays. . .!

 

I didn't know Mike W had got up to Mk 10 either, I saw his Mk 9, which never got built, this lookled almost identical to the X'Air Hawk,. . . .( MMMM ? ) and the MW8 was a tandem seated "Pusher" but the engine had to be centrally mounted to suit his design, and that meant an extended propshaft, and cooling became an issue,. . .apart from that , the thing just DIDN'T fly very well ! ! ! ! it was phugoidally unstable. . . .the bugger REFUSED to let me try it out just because it frightened the christ out of Eddie Clapham, the test pilot ! ! ! but all the others are still flying,. . .ie, the MW4, 5 single seat,. . ., 6 - tandem and side by side, 7 single seater, and now the 10. . . .

 

The MW club is now based at our airfield ( Otherton ) in Staffordshire, so we get to talk to him quite a lot,. . .and he's STILL playing the banjo as well . . .! when we get him molly munk enough that is . . . . . the MW6 tandem shown on the BMAA video was built by a chap named Kim WIlcox, ex-RAF Tornado pilot, and Brother of Toya Wilcox the 80's pop star. . . .( She's a dirty bugger after she's had a drink too,. . .but only in the humour department regrettably. . .) flies really well. . .

 

Keep the faith . . .and strike the ground lightly. . .

 

Phil

 

 

[old man emu]

Sorry my links sometimes work and sometimes don't, I'm bleeding useless where internet / url s and that sort of stuff is concerned, yet both my Daughters are experts at it ! ! ! ( But they live hundreds of miles away and only see me on birthdays. . .!Phil

In other words, you've seen your daughters hundreds of times .....

 

OME

 

 

[farri]

The MW club is now based at our airfield ( Otherton ) in Staffordshire, Phil

G`day Phil, I wanted to see Otherton Airfield and thought someone else might like to see it also! Very nice field.

 

 

 

Frank.

 

 

[PA.]

It's nice when X does mark the spot.

 

 

[pylon500]

Can't find any photos of the Cri-Cri being towed aloft.

 

Bit disappointed to learn that, but as I've noted in other posts, all the Hoo-Har is a bit moot when Maccready did it without batteries back in 1981!

 

Stumbled upon the MW-8 the other day by accident, and was intrigued.

 

It's now hanging up in a museum somewhere, and looked good till I found some close-ups (glasswork is a bit ratty).

 

Don't know about the power/drivetrain problems?, just looked like a Rotax 503 to me.

 

It also only looked like a single seater, not a lot different to our Sapphire.

 

 

MW-8, and a bit of story; http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/soaring/16667-practicality-ultralight-glider-6.html

 

 

Winton Sapphire.

 

There's even a bit of resemblance to the Sapphire follow-on, the Ultrabat.

 

 

The MW-8 may have been a bit more stable with a higher, or T tail.

 

OK, back to thread...

 

 

[microman]

Hiya Graeme,. . . .I think you'd have to subscribe to get the MF magazine, but the Enews is updated every nonth, if you've stuffed that link into your browser, you'll see that the Enews goes back quite a way, and there's lots of interesting stuff on it. . . . you just don't get the mag articles. . .apart from the monthly photo competition.

 

Sorry my links sometimes work and sometimes don't, I'm bleeding useless where internet / url s and that sort of stuff is concerned, yet both my Daughters are experts at it ! ! ! ( But they live hundreds of miles away and only see me on birthdays. . .!

 

I didn't know Mike W had got up to Mk 10 either, I saw his Mk 9, which never got built, this lookled almost identical to the X'Air Hawk,. . . .( MMMM ? ) and the MW8 was a tandem seated "Pusher" but the engine had to be centrally mounted to suit his design, and that meant an extended propshaft, and cooling became an issue,. . .apart from that , the thing just DIDN'T fly very well ! ! ! ! it was phugoidally unstable. . . .the bugger REFUSED to let me try it out just because it frightened the christ out of Eddie Clapham, the test pilot ! ! ! but all the others are still flying,. . .ie, the MW4, 5 single seat,. . ., 6 - tandem and side by side, 7 single seater, and now the 10. . . .

 

The MW club is now based at our airfield ( Otherton ) in Staffordshire, so we get to talk to him quite a lot,. . .and he's STILL playing the banjo as well . . .! when we get him molly munk enough that is . . . . . the MW6 tandem shown on the BMAA video was built by a chap named Kim WIlcox, ex-RAF Tornado pilot, and Brother of Toya Wilcox the 80's pop star. . . .( She's a dirty bugger after she's had a drink too,. . .but only in the humour department regrettably. . .) flies really well. . .

 

Keep the faith . . .and strike the ground lightly. . .

 

Phil

I also googled Otherton airfield (see Post #6) as I will be in the UK next May and hope to visit some microlight/homebuilt airfields - Otherton looks ideal. Also, the MW8 noted in Post 8 looks very Sapphire-like to me - as I own an early Sapphire which I am presently restoring, it looks to me like an improved version with the engine on top of the rear of the fuselage rather than further back under a cowl, which severely restricts the type of engine you can fit, not to mention making the aircraft somewhat tail-heavy! Incidentally you describe the MW8 as a tandem-seated pusher, but it looks very much to me like a single-seater? The engine is described in the blog as a Rotax 508 (4-stroke). Seems to me such an engine (if I knew where to obtain one) would also be ideal for the Sapphire.

 

Are there any microlight events programmed for your neck of the woods next May?

 

Graeme

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Would have loved to see both their faces when whoever it was pointed out that Solar Challenger flew across the Channel back in '82.

 

Shame they broke the round the world solar aircraft just saw on the news they are talking about April before they go again.

 

I remember Markey complaining that the Ultrabat's roll rate was too slow so he took to each wing with a ripsaw and cut a couple feet off each side. Took off and came around overhead and gave it his usual aggression and instantly did uncountable rolls at some ridicules rate heading for the Razorback, eventually came back and landed with really bloodshot eyes. Seems he did not clean all the bits of foam out from inside the wing and a bit got jammed up with the aileron bellcrank. LMAO

 

Scotts personal Sapphire had a 2 cyl Rolls Royce engine.

 

 

[planedriver]

Scotts personal Sapphire had a 2 cyl Rolls Royce engine.

That's interesting Ozzie!

Chatted to Scott many times, but he never mentioned that it had a 2cyl Roller in it.

 

Presumeably like a cut-down which they do with the V Dub's?

 

 

[Phil Perry]

G`day Phil, I wanted to see Otherton Airfield and thought someone else might like to see it also! Very nice field.Frank.

It's useable, albeit a tad smaller than we'd like Frank ! In the past, I have landed a Warrior 151 there, and also an assortment of Cessnas. . .but in nil wind, it's a bit " Interesting" getting out with much safety margin. Our airfield manager Pete Davis, has a Vans RV4, which requires precision approaches, but he is a high hours ex airline jockey and aerobatics instructor, with a low level display examiner ticket. . . . the field is a lot safer, since we removed all of the surrounding barbed wire fences after I hit the top wire once in an Arrow Hawk and dragged 100 metres of rusty wire back to the clubhouse. . .

 

Circuits are a bit tight on the West side, as we have to avoid overflight of the M6 ( below 1000 feet ) Penkridge town and the farms to the Northside. We also try to stay well inside the m6 on all the Right hand runways ( those with thresholds at the M6 Motorway end ) don't want to startle a motorist and cause a pile up.

 

That pic is quite old, as all of the flexi polytunnel hangars at the North West corner have now gone and are being steadily replaced with three axis "Tee" hangars, as fixed wing machines are becoming the majority.

 

Graeme,

 

We have a Fly in on the May Bank holiday weekend ( beginning of May ) and You'd be very welcome to drop in Sir. We have already had a visit by David AKA DGL Fox, who arrived a couple of Saturdays ago, after visiting the RAF Cosford air museum. Unfortunately, as bad luck would have it, I couldn't organize a flight around the patch for him, most of the lads were on a flyout and didn't return until a half hour after he'd gone back to placate Mrs. Fox !

 

You'd have a much better chance of a flight if you're here at the beginning of May.

 

Pylon,

 

Thanks for the reminder re Mike's MW8. The Aussie ones look very nice, I wasn't familiar with either. Shifting the horizzontal stabilizer up or down can create some interesting effects where a pusher configuration is involved, with undistrubed, strong rotating propwash to consider.

 

The Arrowflight Hawk, ( sorry no pic on this computer ) one of which we have rotting away in a hangar at Otherton, was designed by Chuck Sluzarzyk in the States, he had tried several different positions for the HS, finally deciding on mounting it down close to the fuse tube. there are ( or were ) hundreds of these aircraft flying in the US whilst my Importer friend was trying to get the design approved by the then PFA, and Mike Whittaker had a lot to do with the devlopment of the British version of that as well, ( I helped him to assemble one version of the altered kit in his back garden )

 

I am hoping to restore the Hawk if I can find a couple more like minded idiots to form a rebuild group ( cheaper that way ! )

 

Phil

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

That's interesting Ozzie!Chatted to Scott many times, but he never mentioned that it had a 2cyl Roller in it.

Presumeably like a cut-down which they do with the V Dub's?

I did a bit of researching and it was more likely to have been the two cylinder R R Continental from a Generator APU. We where flying at Rylstone and have a distinct memory of him doing an OUTSIDE loop around the Thruster 83 (prototype) leaving a trail of vented fuel. He was complaining that he would have to fit a heavier windscreen as the one he had on it was flexing in. He possibly replaced it with the early Rotax twin (447?) due to the weight of the Cont.

 

I remember him standing around on a freezing cold morning in his lumber jacket and bare feet.

 

 

[planedriver]

Funny you should say that. He was bare-footed on most of the occasions that I chatted to him. Maybe he had a bit of hippie in him, but I'm sure we are all grateful for the huge contributions that he made to ultra-light flying, which so many have learned and benefited from.