EXPERIMENTAL AVIATION

The Mini-Mac was designed by Charlie McCarley of Hueytown, Alabama.  McCarley and a group of friends, which included George Harrison, finished two airplanes.   Only two Mini-Macs were ever flown and this is the only surviving example.

The Bede BD-4 is the first real kit plane in the world.   It first  appeared in 1968 and became a hit.  Thousands of plans were sold,  hundreds were built,  and many are still flying today.  The aircraft could be completed with either tricycle or tail-dragger   configurations.

Jim Bede first flew the BD-5 prototype on September 12, 1971.  Public interest in the tiny speedster soared and by December,  the company had received 4,000 kit orders.  A $2,100 kit consisted of materials that the builder formed, cut, drilled, bonded, or riveted into a finished BD-5.  

RotorWay Aircraft, which premiered its first kit helicopter model at the 1967 Oshkosh Fly-In, was one of the forefathers of a new industry.  This company was founded on the principle of providing the joy of helicopter flight to the common man.

The autogyro is essentially a helicopter-airplane hybrid, offering many of the benefits of both and several of its own. Many   consider it among the safest aircraft you can fly.

The Glasair was the first kit aircraft that used molded surfaces. The original Glasair 1 required a very long time to construct, but the newer kits were comparable with other complex kit aircraft.  Fast build options were available. 

The Bushby Mustang II is an all-metal kit requiring a minimum of special metalworking tools to complete. It took approximately 1,800 hourse to build the plane.  Designed to be a high-speed cross-country aircraft, the Mustang II can also be built to aerobatic standards if the weight is reduced.

The Pazmany PL-4A is a senior among the homebuilt designs. This single place low wing aircraft features a fully enclosed cockpit, all aluminum construction with folding wings. A very rugged time-tested design, the PL-4A won "Outstanding New Design" at  EAA  Oshkosh in 1972.

The Piel Emeraude is a French two-seater, light monoplane produced in assembled and kit forms and first flown in 1952.  The Piel Emeraude is a low-wing cantilever monoplane of wooden and fabric construction.

The Pitts Special S1-C is a light aerobatics biplane designed by Curtis Pitts,  which has accumulated more competition wins than any other aircraft since its first flight in 1944.  The Pitts Special dominated world aerobatic competition in the 1960s and 1970s and even today,  remains a potent competition aircraft

The KR-1 offers the performance of a sports car on a VW budget.  Quick and responsive, agile, graceful, all describe the KR-1 sport plane.  The KR-1 is an enduring design from Rand  Robinson Engineering.

The Ross Seabird is a modified Seahawk amphibian kit plane.  The original Seahawk had a long, sad history.   The problems with the Seahawk began with the very first original design.  It had a number of aerodynamic problems and seemed to be severely under-designed in several areas.  

The VariViggen was made of plywood and was easy to build    using normal techniques. Spruce was used for spars and longerons, and aircraft plywood for the formers, ribs, and skin. The plywood skin was covered with lightweight Ceconite and finished with dope followed by polyurethane.

The Monerai P is a high performance, home-built, powered sailplane.  It is smaller and lighter than most factory-built sailplanes but is very capable, nonetheless.  The Monerai is a 80's era kit built aircraft of aluminum fiberglass that assembles in about 600 hours. It has bonded wing skins and incorporates 90 degree flaps for glide path control.

The B-10 is a product that wears many hats. It can be enjoyed as a foot-launched hang glider, an Ultra-Light, or an Ultra-Light Motor Glider. In the B-10, the pilot is positioned inside an open-frame cockpit below the wing and controls the flight of the wing through the use of a "joystick",  just like a regular sailplane.