Addyman Zephyr: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:42, 5 October 2011

Revision as of 11:27, 3 November 2011

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Erik Addyman designed and built the single seat Zephyr, his first design, in 1933. It was intended as a light wind sailplane,<ref name=Horse/> combining a wing of modest aspect ratio with a nacelle cockpit and a open truss girder fuselage of the kind more common on [[primary glider]]s. It was a wooden structured, largely [[aircraft fabric covering|fabric]] covered aircraft.<ref name=Ellison/>

The two [[spar]] wing had a straight [[leading edge]] and constant [[chord (aircraft)|chord]] out to a little over half span, where the trailing edges of the [[ailerons]], hinged at a slight angle to the spar, curved inwards to the wingtips. It was braced form above with pairs of wires from the spars to a central, inverted V strut pylon and below by wires to the lower nacelle [[longerons]]. There were no [[flap (aircraft)|flaps]] or [[Air brake (aircraft)|airbrakes]]. The central wing rib was continued rearward with the the upper member of the open, flat, converging [[Warren girder]] fuselage, whose lower member joined the keel of the [[plywood]] and fabric covered nacelle just aft of the wing trailing edge. This placed the open single cockpit just forward of the wing leading edge. A central keel skid formed the main [[undercarriage]], with assistance from a tail bumper. A narrow span, triangular [[tailplane]], wire braced above and below, carried longer span [[elevator (aircraft)|elevators]] with rounded tips and a cut-out for the deep, rounded [[rudder]] hinged to small, triangular fin.<ref name=Ellison/>

The Zephyr flew for the first time in 1933.<ref name=Ellison/>