Bill:
I have owned an Eagle, an S1s, an S2a, and a B.
Now I have an S1S again.
As mentioned the best comparison is an S2A vs the Eagle, as that is the airplane Frank designed the Eagle to beat, once he could not buy the factory, ( which he subsequently did anyway)
The airfoil is essentially the same, same basic wings between the S2A and the Eagle. and essentially the eagle is the same in construction as the A. Where they differ most is in the cockpit, gear, cowling, well the entire fuselage.
The Eagle has the very large side opening double canopy, allowing excellent access to the cockpit, as well as better visibility, and potentially egress, ( never tried!)
The Eagle has spring gear as opposed to the A`s bungee setup, and the Eagle sits much flatter in 3 point. The result is the eagle will almost always touch tailwheel first if you try and three point it, the A will 3 point, but both are easy enough to wheel anyway.
The eagle has the Angle valve IO360 - 200HP lycoming, the early A`s the parallel valve 180 HP, later versions the 200HP. I did hear somewhere the stock Eagle exhaust system robbed some power, but it is easy to add a 4-1 system.In terms of flight, the Eagle has a much lighter tail, with dual servo tabs and a slightly more aft CG, it can be very light, and with two heavy people it is borderline limits. They roll the same, and the Eagle is noticeably faster, due the more streamlined items, such as cowl, gear, wheelpants.
The Eagle is a great airplane, and for a two place machine it is better for rides, people seemed to enjoy the spacious cockpit, as opposed to the almost dungeon like front seat of an A. You only have the one instrument panel in the Eagle, so with a large pax you are flying to an extent by feel, but again it is no issue with the airplane, as it is very very easy to fly.
I like the overall look of the Eagle better, with the cleaned up cowl, better wheelpants, spring gear, different shaped tail, and Franks great paint scheme it is a more "modern" looking airplane.
The kits were fantastic, although I bought my Eagle done, but later dismantled and rebuilt it. I found a number of wear points, and such, but nothing major, and it had held up well, it now has well over 2000 hours on it, and still going strong as far as I know.
Cheers!
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