Sukhoi Su-26M
THE STAR of the 1986 World Aerobatics Championships, held August 1-17 at South Cerney, England, was not a pilot but an airplane: the Sukhoi Su-26M from the Soviet Union. Here, for the first time in the long and colorful history of competition aerobatics, was an airplane which was not only capable of the most difficult maneuvers but which may actually have offered too much performance! As was immediately obvious at the championships, the speed, vertical penetration, and roll rate of the Su-26M are spectacular-and significantly superior to all its rivals. To achieve this astonishing performance, however, the sponsor has spent an unprecedented sum of money, and the designer has required the pilots to pull record numbers of Gs. Pilots must be exceptionally sharp in order to stop maneuvers at the necessary points-sort of like the tail wagging the dog-and this has proven to be quite a problem.
Custom Unlimited Racers
SITTING ALONE in the clear early morning light on the ramp at the 1986 Reno National Air Races, it looked like the latest in the growing, magnificent collection of modified P-51 Mustangs. Alone, it looked normal enough: Sleek, clean, its bubble canopy replaced by a tiny curve of blown Plexiglas faired neatly into the leading edge of its vertical fin. Like its predecessors the Stiletto, Strega, and Dago Red, it represented Unlimited Class pylon racing design carried to an extreme. Yet there was something different about this one. Next to any of the other Mustangs, it seemed smaller and slimmer. Clipping wings and tails are common enough in 1980's racing, but here was a brand-new expression of that idea. This racer resembled a P-51 without ever actually having been one.
Coupe Deutsch
WHAT A GREAT IDEA! An "aerial Grand Prix Race" to rival the excitement of the slam-bang road races in which Alfa Romeos and Bugattis and Mercedes Benz were thrilling Europe in the mid-Thirties. It was called the Coupe Deutsch (pronounced Coop Doych, or Derch) and it was to produce a series of racing planes every bit as technically advanced as those cars-and equally glamorous and memorable. Some of the aircraft it spawned became prototypes of beauties capturing FAI records today; but, unfortunately, after a meteoric period of glory the Coupe Deutsch race itself was to be eclipsed by World War II-and has never been revived since.
Waco D
IF ROLLS ROYCE could build armored scout cars, why couldn't Waco build fighter-bombers? Both firms had established unchallenged reputations for creating classy, if somewhat expensive, motorized conveyances for those with sophisticated tastes. While plush upholstery and regal lines aren't supposed to interest those of military mind, any general should be able to see the value in solid vehicles of proven performance and dependability. Waco is known to all who love old airplanes as the manufacturer of a wide variety of very glamorous civilian biplanes. The best-known of these is the UPF-7, which was a mainstay of the Civilian Pilot Training Program in the confused days just before the Second World War. More UPF-7s are flying today than all other Wacos combined, though there are still representatives of several dozen other varieties to be
Quickie
Burt Rutan seems determined to make all the other designers of light airplanes feel like they've spent their careers restyling the Roman chariot. By bursting upon the aviation world with a string of wild ideas that really work, Rutan is embarassing a lot of people who thought all they had to do was change the tail stripes on last year's airplane to give the impression that it was something new. No doubt about it, the designers and builders of America's lightplanes-the "Big Four" of Piper, Cessna, Beech and Grumman-American-haven't come up with anything especially exciting for a long, long time. Year after year they re-design and refine and make a big fuss over little changes. Their best known models have been in production for eons: the Beech Bonanza since 1946, the Cessna 172 since 1955, the Piper Cherokee since 1961.
