Westland Pteradactyle vii

[wonwinglo]

Interesting high aspect ratio wing shapes there,flying wings lost favour a bit in recent years but making a comeback on the slopes,the ability to mix controls via computer radios has been instrumental in getting rid of those sliding servos on rails we used to put up with,a few degrees of reflex trailing edge and some nice flying machines,if only time was on our side ? there are so many different designs that are there for experimenting with.Very nice Horten model,I recently saw some video footage of a British LMA model turbine powered as well,well beyond my resources.

[Guest]

Concluding coments from the Penrose story

http://www.furthermore.org.uk/static/phoenix/penrose/penrose16.htm

The years rolled on. At 62 Penrose was offered an attractive retirement package, which he accepted. His ventures into boat-building proved fruitless, but he was more successful as an author, which was just as well, for inflation ate into his pension. In all he wrote eleven books, of which his British Aviation (five volumes) became a classic.

And so the wheel turned its circle. Eventually Penrose had to give up one of his boats and one of his two biplanes: they were too just expensive to keep. But it was not quite over yet: for the man who had seen the dawn of aviation, who had taken his baptism of the air dangling from a Cody kite, who had flown an Avro 504, who had test-piloted nearly 400 different civil and military aircraft as diverse as the high-altitude PV3 and the low-altitude Wyvern torpedo bomber, the high-speed Whirlwind and the low-speed Lysander, who had seen the flight of Bleriot aircraft and the Space Shuttle, fate had one more card to turn: now in his seventies, Penrose acquired a tailless microlight aircraft with a seat in the open, a tricycle undercarriage, a Henri-Farman-style horizontal elevator in front, a rear-mounted 17hp engine driving a pusher propeller, and a high-mounted swept wing with vertical fins at the wingtips. He named it the Pterodactyl Ascender, and flew it and his other biplane well into his eighties. He died on 31st August 1996, aged 92. Let the last words be his:

A gallon of petrol, and the skies are mine again.

[wonwinglo]

That is a lovely piece of writing ANFB,about a very special person in aviation who will always be remembered.

[Guest]

just did a search

turned up this.....if m in the Uknow what sorry

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6621264811&category=40 051&fkxs=1

[wonwinglo]

No bids yet ? a lovely piece.

[Guest]

I wanted to see what Penrose looked like........even if I couldnt find out who the Purple Catapillar was.............I saved a pic enlarged it a tad so I could see the mans face......that will do me.

He bought the microlight because he never got to fly the Pteradactyl again before it was packed of to the science meuseum having had its engine cease. Its still there........I'll find the link.

http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/aircraftpage.php?ID=563

http://www.whl.co.uk/history_pterodactyl_4.cfm ##########################

[wonwinglo]

Its not a microlight ANFB but a small biplane called the Currie Wot,he wrote a book around this little aeroplane called 'Airymouse' you must read it because it gives a first class insight into his love of flying in small machines,I would dearly love to have met this man personally,but I think that I have seen him demonstrating some of Westlands products at old airshows.

[Guest]

Hi Wonwing your talking about the plane in the postcard.....

I was refering to this in the previous text.....but I had wonderd WOT it was?????:lame: ..............................:respect4:

QUOTE Penrose acquired a tailless microlight aircraft with a seat in the open, a tricycle undercarriage, a Henri-Farman-style horizontal elevator in front, a rear-mounted 17hp engine driving a pusher propeller, and a high-mounted swept wing with vertical fins at the wingtips. He named it the Pterodactyl Ascender,

[wonwinglo]

Ah,that must have been the Pterodactyl Fledgling design that he re-named,yes that was an American imported microlight,sorry about the confusion,now we both know about these two machines.

[Guest]

Wot ? resurfaced with the Wot 4 models. What is a wot, just a pun as in "what for" ? Currie Wot an animal from India perhaps ? The "Ass-ender" named after pilot Bass Akwards ?

[wonwinglo]

You know what they say Duncan 'When is a Wot not a Wot ? well when it is a Wet Wot ( on floats ) Twin Wot ( twin engined conversion ) Hot Wot ( max power,ie silly sized engine stuck up front ) Pseudo Wot ( many scale lookalikes made into Kittyhawks,even Hurricnes,or even that Biplane Wot that someone made up and flew so well ! the scope is endless.

[Guest]

Hey you forgot the Wot2 (half-size), the Wot6( one and a half times) and the twice size one that should have been a Wot8 but I think they called it a Mega Wot. Great design. Plenty of Wet Wots at splash-ins including a Wot 4 with a 120 four stroke in (on) it. Ballistic. Still dont know origin of the name, is it initials or....nearly said wot there.

[Guest]

:emo2: WOT have I done .............:shutup3: please ........ :closed: .....and don't you dare say WOT topic?

[Guest]

WOT...the f*** are u lot on about?...I was lost on page 2.