A HOG that flies

[old man emu]

During the inter-war years homebuilders used a wide variety of automotive engines to power their aircraft. Ford Model A engines were popular. The Heath Parasol was powered by an Henderson motorcycle engine. Here's an example of a homebuilt prize winner powered by a 1927 Harley-Davidson engine.

 

 

[ClintonB]

Scary the lack of aircraft knowledge, when wanting to fly it. Mag was turned on and he played with prop, I know there was no fresh fuel at that point, but still not safe practice.

still I really appreciate the aircraft for its history and that it has not been destroyed by time. Just don’t think it would be airworthy after all those years. It could still kill you from a dozen feet or so.

[onetrack]

Let me guess - his next move was, "Hold my beer and watch, as I fly this thing!"  

 

Just watching the centre Port side engine mount support, flex with the firewall (15:23 and 15:48), would be enough to make me run away screaming!  

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by onetrack

[pmccarthy]

I don’t think they ever intended to fly it.

[old man emu]

Don't forget that the airplane was designed in 1927 and took the designer three years to build it at home. How much was known by homebuilders in 1927 -30? 

 

In 1927, a young man by the name of Wilson Miller, from Oneida, NY designed this unique experimental mid-wing aircraft to the surprise of Aviator and engineers alike. Miller, who had studied airplanes since his was a young child, developed the machine as part of a "Modern Mechanics" LightPlane Contest while attending Oneide High School as a student. Given 1st prize in the international contest, Miller competed against aviators and designers from the United States and Canada, and was awarded a grand prize of $100 for both the completeness and originality of his designs.

 

Featuring a twenty-foot wingspan, a fuselage length of 14 feet, and a 50" wing cord, the machine is powered by a 1928 Harley-Davidson twin-cylinder engine, with which Miller replaced the original 1922 engine two years after its creation. Producing 18-20 horsepower, the engine has the ability to propel the machine to top speeds in excess of 75 mph, with cruising speeds in the area of 65 mph.

 

Millers design and expertise not only captured the attention of "Modern Mechanics", but of the entire airplane industry in the North-east United States. Literally dozens of newspaper and magazine articles also document the creation of the Miller Light Plane, and before the machine’s first flight, Miller even invited Col. Charles E. Lindbergh to pass judgement on its merits.

 

The machine took over three years for Miller to create, and was built from start to finish in the family garage. Featuring detachable wings, the machine was easily transportable to airfield in the Oneida area. Miller took the light plane for its initial flight during the summer of its completion, in 1927.

 

Wilson Miller went on to have a successful career in aviation, using his expertise in flying to acquire positions such as Assistant Manager of the Oneida Airfield, Oneida County Air Distributor,

 

Modern Mechanics was one of a large number of magazines published in the United States even up to the present. 

http://www.philsp.com/mags/modern_mechanics.html

[old man emu]

2 minutes ago, pmccarthy said:

I don’t think they ever intended to fly it.

Yep. It was flown.

[onetrack]

Sounds like this Wilson Miller was another Selby Ford. The difference is - Selby Ford never drew up any plans, nor did he carry out any engineering or load calculations for the construction of his homebuilt "Silver Centenary" aeroplane.

Selby Ford and his friend Tom Shackles, the local butcher, merely drew up sketches and outlines on the floor of the Beverley (W.A.) powerhouse that Selby managed. All the components for the airframe were built by hand.

An ADC Cirrus 4 cyl engine was acquired for the Silver Centenary from another wrecked aircraft that crashed at a site not far from Beverley.

 

The record is that neither Selby, nor Tom, had any aeronautical experience, and only possessed limited knowledge of aircraft design and construction.

I don't think that's entirely true, I believe Selby had read a number of books on aircraft design and construction, and was more "clued up" on aircraft construction than he is given credit for.

 

Regardless, despite producing an excellent working aircraft that performed well on the few flights it did - Selby could never acquire a CoA for his great aircraft, because he could never provide any blueprints or engineering calculations for the airframe.

It was also unfortunate that Selby finished his project just as CoA's were introduced in Australia. A couple of years earlier, and he might have received official authority to fly it full-time.

 

As it was, the Silver Centenary never flew again for over 76 years, after it carried out its initial test flights in July 1930, under the control of one Capt Charles H. F. Nesbit. It only flew officially for a little over 9 hours in total.

The Silver Centenary was hung from the roof of the Beverley powerhouse, and after Ford's death in July 1963, it was moved in 1967, to hang in a dedicated aviation museum in the centre of Beverley.

Then, in 2007, Ford's grandson, Rod Edwards took possession of the aircraft, totally dismantled it, and fully rebuilt it with official oversight, and gained a VH-amateur-built CoA for it. It flies today on special occasions.

 

There are several somewhat amazing events associated with the Silver Centenary aircraft. One - Selby Ford appears to have never gained his pilots licence - and he certainly never flew the aeroplane he built.

 

Two - Selby Ford was killed on 15th July 1963, aged in his early 60's - but not in an aircraft crash - he rolled his Ford utility into a ditch, and died as a result of his injuries!

 

And Three - Captain C. H. F. Nesbit, Managing Director of Wings Ltd (Western Air Services), and a skilled flying instructor with around 4000 hrs in his logbook - died instantly on October 13th 1930, when his professionally engineered and built  de Havilland DH.80 Puss Moth, suffered a wing main spar failure at its root, resulting in total detachment of the starboard wing, and the resultant unrecoverable nose-first crash into a swamp in a forest, about 70kms E of Perth.

Two pupils died with him in the Puss Moth - and a total of 18 Puss Moths built, suffered identical wing main spar failures! - a dismal wing failure record for a professionally engineered airframe!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Centenary

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-11-26/the-silver-centenary-flies-again/969420

 

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/153451

 

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/79474317

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by onetrack

[facthunter]

Aircraft wasn't even a year old so can't blame the glue. Casein glue was a problem later causing many planes to be grounded Post war.. Nev

[onetrack]

The wing spar failure problem with the Puss Moth was eventually tracked down to wing flutter - a problem that was relatively unknown and poorly understood in 1930.

 

Bert Hinkler was another victim of a Puss Moth wing spar failure, he crashed in the Italian Alps when the wing fell off his Puss Moth.

 

The video below by Ted Fletcher is a good dissection of the Puss Moth problems. Basically, they had weak wing spars, but many were flown carefully, and never had any wing spar problems.