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Flying has always been
in the Dixon family genes. My father was a pilot at one time, and he
and my Uncle Bill started building a Ford-powered Corben Super Ace
back in the 1930s. It was never finished, but their other brother, my
Uncle Jack (shown here), did become a pilot in the Marine Corps,
flying Corsairs in the pacific during WWII.
That's Dad in the
pilot seat of this Waco. Uncle Bill took the picture because he
probably thought he'd never see him again. This was Dad's first solo
flight in 1936!
Here are Dad (in the knit cap) and Uncle Bill in
a pose familiar to any of us who have built their own experimental
aircraft (Called a SPORT aircraft in 1935). Can't wait to get in and
imagine it is finished and flying through the clouds! Much easier to
imagine clouds with all that snow around!
The plane was the Corben Superace...the plans for the real, full sized one were serialized in Popular Aviation in the early 1930s. It was powered by a Ford Model A motor. Click here for my plans of a model of this aircraft.
People may think that
Burt Rutan was first with that strange canard design of the Long Ez
and the other planes he designed, but even he admits he was just
updating the Wilbur and Orville Wright designs. I recently found that
the Japanese were also experimenting with that same idea at the end
of WWII with the Kyushi J7W1 Shinden, shown here in profile.
On a trip to the left
coast in 1982, my son, Darren, and I stopped by to visit with the
Rutans at their home base in Mojave California to see what the story
was about these "canard-pusher" type aircraft... That's
Darren standing by the left winglet of N79RA.
Dick Rutan let me sit
in N79RA's cockpit and took this picture of me...that experience, and
Dick's later demonstration flight was all it took, I was hooked.
Darren and I had
driven out to California from our home here near Rochester, New York.
On the return trip, the car was filled with souvenirs of our visit to
RAF. Landing gear was in the trunk, a full set of Long Ez plans were
in the back seat (to accompany the cooler filled with cold soda pop
and sandwiches), and a canopy that Dick sold us at a discount, when
he decided he wasn't going to use it, was duct taped to the roof!
I ordered everything
else I needed from Wick's Aircraft Supply, and for convenience, had
it delivered to the company I worked for at the time. This trip, with
a borrowed trailer full of Long Ez materials and parts, was one of
the last jobs that the Buick did before I replaced it with a new
Mazda RX7.
Soon after we got
started (I had two partners, Bob was a fellow employee at Pennwalt,
and Mike was a friend and neighbor who also happened to be a scout
leader at the time) Mike brought his cub scouts around for a look at
what we were doing. That's me, 18 years younger, lecturing to a bunch
of very interested scouts in the basement shop where we started the
project.
Although it isn't
mine, this is the way a Long Ez should look when finished. This was
taken at a recent CSA fly-in of canard aircraft at the Niagara Falls
airport (notice the others in the flight line in the background).
This parked position with the nose wheel retracted is affectionately
known in canard circles as the "grazing" position.
The ultimate Long
Ez...the multi-million dollar Beechcraft Starship. A twin turboprop
business craft, also designed by Burt Rutan.
© Copyright Harley M. Dixon 1981-.
Readers must seek permission to re-publish whether in written, printed, electronic or any other form.