HEY Martha will ya lookit little ants down ys really people Usually biggest surprise person gets first flight different things look up much can see down Barring smog low clouds view much better aloft has inspired poets occasional journalist words high praise special feature flying noticed about time first men lifted off hot-air balloon downtown Paris back 1783 first practical use balloons counting just drifting along happy breezes ob servation enemy forces some long-ago European wars days generals knew nothing about hiding armies aerial snoopers USA flamboyant Thaddeus Lowe contributed Union victory Civil War watching Confederate Army coal-gas balloon tethered just behind front sending messages down telegraph line soldiers below World War first months saw Sopwith Nieuport Fokker scout planes used strictly observation until things turned ugly began carrying guns bombs Second World War saw reconnaissance develop fine art special versions P-38 Lightning Mosquito Junkers Ju-86 other standard types disarmed filled cameras record troop movements bombing damage things progressed rapidly speci ally designed high-altitude spy planes like Lockheed U-2 SR-7 1 can shoot pictures terribly expensive cameras well above 60000 feet Now however much work has taken over satellites can photograph scan spot earth using sensors astonishing resolving power Yet sophisticated military obser vation going growing need aerial observing serves purely peaceful purposes Airplanes Piper Super Cubs light twins used patrolling power lines pipe lines Bigger turboprop twins converted small business jets used maritime patrol check ing fishing boats may have violated legal limits searching smugglers Heli copters increasingly popular radio TV traffic reports police use flying machines airborne patrol cars Most aircraft used other purposes modified standard types ranging little Cessnas Beech King Air 200s Learjets 48 Model Aviation Offering fishbowl visibility snail-like cruising speed 60 mph Optica flight top may loosely described fixed wing helicopter have better definition Seen front quarter insect-like head protrudes huge air intake fixed-pitch five-bladed fan mounted front Lycoming 150-hp engine ri IVAZ LL ctqssrsr5 05l0.t 0 F ii GAS-/YAL 40 \yTYPicaIAiIfoiI pO,A PLAN7 0A0 f2O-M YOA/AC 0-320 hR~7NC 4 E-aL0E fb-7r 0TOL 4M -H-I ii 0 EDGLEY OPTICA ugly bulges covering detection devices once awhile someone decides develop special airplane just aerial observation happened back 1937 Abrams Aerial Explorer introduced twinboom affair its pilot far out front glassy nose observer sitting behind him andjust ahead pusher-mounted radial engine Sev eral built did admirable work though type remembered mainly because thousands cast-iron models flooded toy stores now treasured antique novelties Much same kind thinking resulted Abrams has gone latest effort create airplane expressly observation Edgley Optica Designed John Edgley London built small crew Cranfield Airport stem-to-stern improvement old Explorer its intended uses Optica sort fixed-wing helicopter offering low-speed cruising 60 mph superb visibility Unlike heli copter should relatively cheap produce operate no difficult fly other fixed-wing airplane nose Optica fishbowl unlike popular little Bell 47G helicopter pilot two observers sit side-by-side surrounded 5-mm-thick plexiglass Bell heli copter noisy communication between pilot passenger demands shouting others ear Optica noise level should lower ordinary airplanes because shroud around its propeller Aerial Explorer hefty Wright Whirl wind engine produced 365 hp mounted pusher driving adjustable metal two-bladed propeller Optic has 150-hp Lycoming four-cyclinder opposed engine drives five-bladed Dowty Rotol wooden fixed-pitch fan mounted ahead ofthe engine Technically its tractor ducted fan engine duct fan can removed unit maintenance replace ment wings Optica have span 39 4 area 170 sq ft very modem NASA GA W-l airfoil having thickness 17% will have lot its ability cruise efficiently low speeds long periods standard fuel load 48 gallons Construction mainly stressed aluminum skin fiberglass fairings areas such leading edge duct wing-tips joint between vertical horizontal tail sections tricycle landing gear resembles Abrams 40 years ago though carefully streamlined Opticas main landing gear legs have modified Piper Cherokee legs Production Optica still future though has designed construction minimum expensive tools jigs cost building few should out line could go fraction price smallest three-place helicopter left several Abrams Aerial Explorers belongs National Air & Space Museum now Out loan Lansing Mich Community College connec tion restoration project prototype Edgley Optica entering its test period England August 198049 qa A17L AD 2TqAM7V II 012 3mtw PR07N0 YUPPORr mounted tne twin oooms supporr above tne air blast shrouded propeller Study pictures carefully youiI note special aerodynamic featuressuch apparent undercamber aft half airfoilincidentally 17% thick
Edition: Model Aviation - 1980/08
Page Numbers: 48, 49
HEY Martha will ya lookit little ants down ys really people Usually biggest surprise person gets first flight different things look up much can see down Barring smog low clouds view much better aloft has inspired poets occasional journalist words high praise special feature flying noticed about time first men lifted off hot-air balloon downtown Paris back 1783 first practical use balloons counting just drifting along happy breezes ob servation enemy forces some long-ago European wars days generals knew nothing about hiding armies aerial snoopers USA flamboyant Thaddeus Lowe contributed Union victory Civil War watching Confederate Army coal-gas balloon tethered just behind front sending messages down telegraph line soldiers below World War first months saw Sopwith Nieuport Fokker scout planes used strictly observation until things turned ugly began carrying guns bombs Second World War saw reconnaissance develop fine art special versions P-38 Lightning Mosquito Junkers Ju-86 other standard types disarmed filled cameras record troop movements bombing damage things progressed rapidly speci ally designed high-altitude spy planes like Lockheed U-2 SR-7 1 can shoot pictures terribly expensive cameras well above 60000 feet Now however much work has taken over satellites can photograph scan spot earth using sensors astonishing resolving power Yet sophisticated military obser vation going growing need aerial observing serves purely peaceful purposes Airplanes Piper Super Cubs light twins used patrolling power lines pipe lines Bigger turboprop twins converted small business jets used maritime patrol check ing fishing boats may have violated legal limits searching smugglers Heli copters increasingly popular radio TV traffic reports police use flying machines airborne patrol cars Most aircraft used other purposes modified standard types ranging little Cessnas Beech King Air 200s Learjets 48 Model Aviation Offering fishbowl visibility snail-like cruising speed 60 mph Optica flight top may loosely described fixed wing helicopter have better definition Seen front quarter insect-like head protrudes huge air intake fixed-pitch five-bladed fan mounted front Lycoming 150-hp engine ri IVAZ LL ctqssrsr5 05l0.t 0 F ii GAS-/YAL 40 \yTYPicaIAiIfoiI pO,A PLAN7 0A0 f2O-M YOA/AC 0-320 hR~7NC 4 E-aL0E fb-7r 0TOL 4M -H-I ii 0 EDGLEY OPTICA ugly bulges covering detection devices once awhile someone decides develop special airplane just aerial observation happened back 1937 Abrams Aerial Explorer introduced twinboom affair its pilot far out front glassy nose observer sitting behind him andjust ahead pusher-mounted radial engine Sev eral built did admirable work though type remembered mainly because thousands cast-iron models flooded toy stores now treasured antique novelties Much same kind thinking resulted Abrams has gone latest effort create airplane expressly observation Edgley Optica Designed John Edgley London built small crew Cranfield Airport stem-to-stern improvement old Explorer its intended uses Optica sort fixed-wing helicopter offering low-speed cruising 60 mph superb visibility Unlike heli copter should relatively cheap produce operate no difficult fly other fixed-wing airplane nose Optica fishbowl unlike popular little Bell 47G helicopter pilot two observers sit side-by-side surrounded 5-mm-thick plexiglass Bell heli copter noisy communication between pilot passenger demands shouting others ear Optica noise level should lower ordinary airplanes because shroud around its propeller Aerial Explorer hefty Wright Whirl wind engine produced 365 hp mounted pusher driving adjustable metal two-bladed propeller Optic has 150-hp Lycoming four-cyclinder opposed engine drives five-bladed Dowty Rotol wooden fixed-pitch fan mounted ahead ofthe engine Technically its tractor ducted fan engine duct fan can removed unit maintenance replace ment wings Optica have span 39 4 area 170 sq ft very modem NASA GA W-l airfoil having thickness 17% will have lot its ability cruise efficiently low speeds long periods standard fuel load 48 gallons Construction mainly stressed aluminum skin fiberglass fairings areas such leading edge duct wing-tips joint between vertical horizontal tail sections tricycle landing gear resembles Abrams 40 years ago though carefully streamlined Opticas main landing gear legs have modified Piper Cherokee legs Production Optica still future though has designed construction minimum expensive tools jigs cost building few should out line could go fraction price smallest three-place helicopter left several Abrams Aerial Explorers belongs National Air & Space Museum now Out loan Lansing Mich Community College connec tion restoration project prototype Edgley Optica entering its test period England August 198049 qa A17L AD 2TqAM7V II 012 3mtw PR07N0 YUPPORr mounted tne twin oooms supporr above tne air blast shrouded propeller Study pictures carefully youiI note special aerodynamic featuressuch apparent undercamber aft half airfoilincidentally 17% thick