Project 2014 - Boxkite first flight

[Elliott Marsh - GAR]

My new article up on Global Aviation Resource, covering the first flight of the RAAF Museum's Bristol Boxkite replica at RAAF Point Cook. A wonderful achievement, it looks beautiful and is a great tribute to the pioneers of Australian military aviation.

http://globalaviationresource.com/v2/2013/10/04/feature-project-2014-commemorating-the-centenary-of-australian-military-flying/?fb_source=pubv1

With thanks to James Kightly for his invaluable assistance, and his excellent photos, which tell a lovely story.

I did try to run a search of previous posts to see if there's a thread already up and running, but the search system threw a wobbly and wouldn't bring back any results!

[K5DH]

Wow... amazing! Tremendous achievement, to be sure. Such a frail looking machine. The early pilots were brave men!

BTW, when you talk with James Kightly again, please ask him to come back to WIX. A lot of us miss him here.

[Dave Hadfield]

OK, I'll ask a dumb question -- what's with those ailerons? Do they only work/pull in the downward direction, and free-float otherwise?

Dave

[Baldeagle]

Dave, that's correct, and was pretty common on the pre-WW1 boxkite types. Cole Palen used to tell about when he was test hopping his replica Short S-29, with the ailerons hanging the cables to the stick droop, and he inadvertantly climbed in with the cables under his legs. As he reached flying speed the ailerons came up, pulled the cables tight, and pulled his feet off the rudder bar. A few moments of excitement while he chopped the throttle and got back on the ground-



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