On further consideration....do you think a parachute would have helped any of these pilots? I stopped looking after finding the first 10 accidents… C/N 3 PH-MED Spun-in during low level aeros, 28/12/64. C/N 5 D-EMIF Crashed during airshow, 14/06/64. Fatal. C/N 12 D-EBUD Crashed during low level ‘dem...

I have not seen the book, hard to come by and quite expensive.

As you say, flight path is the criteria, not attitude….so as much as your suggestion is interesting I think the complexity of the system is going to muddy the waters. If it were so important I am sure that manufactures of extreme aerobatic aircraft would have embraced this concept. I don’t know of a...

This is the first time I have seen this article, and thought that I had read the Gusty had longer ailerons. With a greater symmetrical deflection I would think the roll rate may be better, but increased span ailerons may be a good thing for future development. The Nipper is so small that judging it ...

Good input and discussion…thanks to contributors. For the same weight a carbon leading edge is going to be much stronger. Foam leading and trailing ribs made of light weight foam would provide plenty of support, but I would be pleased of any suggestions on what other techniques are available. As per...

Thank you for posting that Paul, I have tried and tried to find more information on the Gusty, so that is really interesting. Currently I am away from home so I will save those files later. Getting rid of the nose wheel is an excellent way of loosing drag and weight, however I am sure that many Nipp...

Sorry for any confusion, I refer to the complete wing regards to weight. Even so a carbon spar would be substantially lighter and potentially stronger. I would think that a carbon sheet leading edge would be much lighter and stronger, bonded to the top and bottom of the spar would certainly create m...

For my last restoration I made carbon fibre cowlings. The result of vacuum bagging created superb light weight cowlings which I was extremely pleased with. My thoughts turn towards the constant quest for improvements to the a/c which cost weight. The wing spar is almost solid wood at its root and he...

The short rear pipe provides enough support.

Yes, it would, but you only need one hot air supply. A flat heat deflector on the other side will help stop unwanted heat being transferred to the oil flowing back down the push rod tubes into the engine. The installation you are proposing is potentially quite heavy....The problem is that there is j...

I hadn’t realised so many Nippers had crashed. However, “lies, dam lies & statistics”….I think the common denominator is low level aerobatics, in this case in a Nipper…but the records & countryside is littered with the remains of many other aircraft that have met the same fate. Don’t condemn...

That photo doesn’t show the heat deflector in between the ex pipe and the pushrod tubes.

I haven’t heard of any Nippers having done that, but plenty of others. Altitude or airspeed, preferably both.

If you watch Top Gun credits to the end you will see that the film was dedicated to him.

Not at all. The Nipper has an exceptional safety record. The only fatalities have been due to bird strike and botched dead stick landings to my knowledge. All I am saying is that it is better to operate the a/c away from the rear limit. Barry Smith used to deliberately flat spin his Nipper during di...

That is correct, it’s on the rearward limit.
Enough said?