Stits SA-2A Sky Baby

摘要

In 1952 American aircraft designer Ray Stits built an extremely small biplane; the Sky Baby (N5K c 9A60101). Its wingspan was a mere 7 ft 2 in. It flew successfully but required the skills of a very experienced pilot. Bob Starr was the brave aviator who took this amazing aircraft into the air. Although its flight characteristics were good it was not really suitable for the amateur pilot, but many people wanted a kit to be made available. With such tiny wings one would expect it to have a high stalling speed but this proved to be only 55 mph The top speed was nearly 200 mph. The gross weight of the aircraft was 670 lb and the wing area of 36.5 sq. feet gave a loading of 19 lb per sq. foot. For more information and photos of the full-size aircraft check it out on the internet www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0214.shtml Everybody likes a challenge and aeromodellers are no exception to that rule. So with the availability of GWS motors, micro radio and LiPo batteries here was my opportunity to try making a tiny model of the worlds smallest aircraft. I set myself the target of 12" wingspan and began to sketch out the design. It was clearly best to make the fuselage shape from polystyrene and also the wings. I made the templates for the side and top views of the fuselage from hardboard. The body had to be hollow in places to accommodate the motor, radio and batteries so I decided to cut the polystyrene from 2 mm sheets with the former shapes as shown in the plan and then join the two halves later. Use odourless cyano throughout.