Radial engine run up
Runup of Russian M14P radial engine with newly installed custom tubular headers. Note the whine of the centrifugal supercharger...
Bye Bye Biplane, a Rap on Multi-wing Aircraft
By:Â Â Â Â Â Â Norm Goyer
The number of new biplanes manufactured each year can be counted on your fingers. In years past, a trip to any airport would reveal a number of stately biplanes . One of the acknowledged most beautiful aircraft of all time is the Beechcraft D-17 Staggerwing. I personally would add the 1946 WACO cabin bipe to this list. That’s the one with the Pratt & Whitney 450-hp radial engine up front, a truly beautiful airplane. There are reasons why biplanes were so popular for so many years and there are reasons why they are not now.
I can think of only one certified biplane that is still popular and that is the Pitts S2C two-place aerobatic trainer built by Aviat that has been around for 60 years, starting with Betty Skelton’s “Lil Stinker” homebuilt. You can still custom order a newly manufactured WACO open cockpit biplane, if you have a lot of time and money, or you can build a biplane Experimental, if you love multi-wings and the wind in your face. At one time, the mighty bipe dominated the competition aerobatic scene. Then the influx of European and American low to mid-wing monoplanes demonstrated that excess drag of two wings greatly diminished vertical climb performance. The Pitts and Eagles (almost identical aircraft, Pitts is certified and the Eagle is Experimental) were clearly outclassed for competition, but were in high demand for air shows. Some of the most popular air show performers still prefer to fly the Pitts such as Sean Tucker. There is also a much larger version of the Pitts with a Russian radial engine that makes an ideal air show vehicle; The Monster Pitts/ Pitts 12 is a homebuilt however. Stearman PT-17s, which have been fitted with a Pratt & Whitney 450-hp radial engines, twice as powerful as the standard Continental engine, are the choice of many air show performers and air show teams such as the now disbanded Red Baron Team.
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