https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Whippet
The Austin Whippet was a British single-seat light aircraft designed and built
by the Austin Motor Company just after the First World War. It was a small
single-seat biplane, intended to be an inexpensive aircraft for the amateur
private pilot, and a small number were built before Austin abandoned aircraft
production.
In 1919, John Kenworthy, chief designer of the motor manufacturer Austin Motor
Company, (who had built large numbers of aircraft under license during the First
World War) designed a small single-seater light aircraft in order to cash in on
an expected boom in private flying. The resulting aircraft, named the Austin
Whippet, was a small single-seat biplane of mixed construction, with a fabric
covered steel tube fuselage, and single-bay, folding wooden wings. The wings
avoided the need for rigging wires by use of streamlined steel lift struts.
The first prototype, powered by a two-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, flew
in 1919, receiving its Airworthiness Certificate in December that year.
Production aircraft were powered by a six-cylinder Anzani air-cooled radial, and
four more aircraft followed before Austin abandoned aircraft production in 1920,
when it realised that the postwar depression was severely limiting aircraft
sales.
Role
Private light aircraft
National origin
Britain
Manufacturer
Austin Motor Company
First flight
1919
Number built
5
Of the five aircraft built, two were sold to New Zealand, while another was sent
by its purchaser to Argentina. One of the New Zealand aircraft remained in
existence in the 1940s.
An accurate replica of Whippet K-158 is currently on display at the Aeroventure
South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum in Doncaster, UK.
Specifications
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 16 ft 3 in (4.94 m)
Wingspan: 21 ft 6 in (6.55 m)
Height: 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m)
Empty weight: 580 lb (264 kg)
Loaded weight: 810 lb (368 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 95 mph (83 knots, 153 km/h)
Cruise speed: 80 mph (70 knots, 129 mph)
Endurance: 2 hours
Climb to 5,000 ft (1,520 m): 9 min
*
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