| Air Scout | |
|---|---|
| Role | amateur-built airplane |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Pietenpol |
| Designer | Bernard Pietenpol |
| First flight | 1933 |
| Developed from | Pietenpol Air Camper |
The Pietenpol Sky Scout is a parasol wing homebuilt aircraft designed by Bernard Pietenpol.
Development
The Sky Scout was a lower-cost follow-on to the Pietenpol's first homebuilt design, the Pietenpol Air Camper, using a lower-cost Ford Model T engine, rather than the more current Ford Model A engine. The aircraft was redesigned for the heavier engine by reducing it to a single-person aircraft. The new pilot location required a section called a "flop" to be installed, essentially a section of the wing that was hinged up to allow the pilot to stand up when getting into and out of the aircraft. The aircraft was designed to be built of spruce and plywood. The drawings were published in the 1933 Mechanix Illustrated magazine.
Survivors
- A Sky Scout is on display at the Pioneer Flight Museum in Kingsbury, Texas. This Scout is powered by a Model A engine. It is intended to be a flyable aircraft but for the present is only occasionally run up.
- The number one Pietenpol with a 1921 Model T engine is on display at the Model T Museum in Richmond, Indiana.
- Sky Scout N1933A is on display at the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon.
- One is on display at the Minnesota Historical Center, Fountain, Minnesota, just 15 miles from Pietenpol's home town of Cherry Grove. Bernard Pietenpol is also buried in Fountain.
- Sky Scout CF-BAA was tracked down and found in a trailer in Saskatchewan, Canada, where it had been stored for a quarter of a century. Some parts are missing, including the engine, propeller, two elevators and a rudder.
Variants
Claude Sessions developed a finned head modification on his Sky Scout for lighter-weight air-cooling. The engine was featured in Modern Mechanics magazine in 1931 and formed the basis for the American Flea Corporation Universal 50-60 engine.
Specifications
Data from Sport Aviation
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
- Wingspan: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
- Height: 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m)
- Powerplant: 1 × Ford Model T engine Inline four cylinder piston
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 54 kn (62 mph, 100 km/h)
- Cruise speed: 48 kn (55 mph, 89 km/h)
- Stall speed: 30 kn (35 mph, 56 km/h)
- Rate of climb: 200 ft/min (1.0 m/s)
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
- Fisher FP-505 Skeeter
- Heath Parasol
- Loehle Sport Parasol
- Pop's Props Cloudster
- Pop's Props Zing
- RagWing RW1 Ultra-Piet
- Smith Termite
Related lists
References
- ^ Mechanix Illustrated Magazine. 1933.
{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Sport Aviation. March 1958.
{{cite magazine}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "Pietenpol Air Scout". Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ^ Mitchell, Kevin (November 18, 2023). "This airplane is a missing link. It's a lost holy grail. Everybody thought it was gone — long gone. And it turns out, it's there". National Post.
- ^ Sport Aviation. February 1960.
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