Back to main page.
Starting over
Dec. 66. Dad decided that it was silly to rebuild his glider using the original fuselage construction method because of the way the whole thing had simply crumpled when he crashed. So he decided on a triangulated space frame out of steel tubing, reasoning that it would be much simpler to make any future repairs. This, of course, took a few years. While he was at it, he thought a retractable gear might be nice too.
Testing fit in the back yard. Dad just loved his projects!
Here I tried to pull out as much as I could from the pixels to see Dad better. Looks pretty comfy.
He felt that there was place here in back of the wings for a both retractible propeller and a motor.
Dec. 66. Fitting the old tail to the new fuselage. No problem. Piece o' cake.
Gear down. Possible location for oxygen ... this is after all, a high performace sailplane.
Gear up. Note the parachute!
Dad designed a very elegant system of pulleys and cables to activate his various controls.
... beautiful, really ...
May 69. The stick went forward instead of between the knees and down.