Pietenpol Sky Scout
| 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 H. Pietenpol.[1]
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 of the time. The aircraft was redesigned for the heavier, lower power 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.[2]
The aircraft was designed to be built of spruce and plywood. The drawings were published in the 1933 Mechanix Illustrated magazine.
On display
- A Sky Scout is on display at the Pioneer Flight Museum in Kingsbury, Texas.[3] 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 Pitenpol with a Model T engine can be found at the Model T Ford Club of America Model T Museum in Richmond, Indiana.
- Sky Scout N1933A on display at Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum
- Also one on display at Fountain, Minnesota Historical Center which is just 15 miles from B Pietenpol's home town of Cherry Grove. Bernard Pietenpol is also buried in Fountain.
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.[4]
- Pietenpol Air Camper
Specifications (Pietenpol Sky Scout)
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 cylnder piston
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 54 kn; 100 km/h (62 mph)
- Cruise speed: 48 kn; 89 km/h (55 mph)
- Stall speed: 30 kn; 56 km/h (35 mph)
- 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. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Sport Aviation. March 1958. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Pietenpol Air Scout". Retrieved 16 April 2011.
- ↑ Sport Aviation. February 1960. Missing or empty
|title=(help)