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red750
Joined: 22 Mar 2009
Posts: 349
Location: Melbourne Australia
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Doug Robertson
Joined: 01 Nov 2005
Posts: 1751
Location: Southern California
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Doug Robertson
Joined: 01 Nov 2005
Posts: 1751
Location: Southern California
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Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2016 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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With over 500 views and no right answers, here are the answers.
1. Joe Mason.
2a. Mason D.H.2 replica., 2b. The designer Geoffrey de Havilland D.H.2 produced as Airco DH.2 biplane in World War 1., 2c. 8/10ths reduction scale.
3a. One LeBlond 5F radial pusher engine., 3b. 90 hp.
4.1 March 1974.
5. Bonus: The aircraft was registered as N32DH.
6. Approximately $4.500.
Joe Mason of Woodland Hills, California became enamored of the WW1 vintage Airco DH.2 single-seat biplane and assembled as many 3-view drawings and photographs of it that he could find. Having the original dimensions, he scaled it down to 8/10th of normal size so it could be built within his garage from his own drawn reduced scale plans. He built the biplane of welded steel tube-dacron covered. A center fuel tank with airfoil shape occupied the upper wing center.
The original Airco DH.2 airplane was a pusher design with small short open cockpit fuselage for one pilot with pusher engine so that a forward-facing gun could be fuselage mounted on it; (The British were not privy yet to synchronized machine gun firing technology through a propeller arc). And this was a time in the Western Front war when better aiming accuracy was achieved by a fuselage mounted machine gun rather than pilot or gunner-held gun, aiming the whole aircraft at the enemy aircraft. The open cockpit single seat Airco DH.2 aircraft had a short fuselage with a pusher engine-primarily a Gnome Monosoupape 100 Hp 9 cylinder rotary engine with later models using a 110 Hp Le Rhone 9J rotary engine. The tail structure was braced from two welded and braced open structures emanating from about the biplane's upper and lower wings centers rearward vee-shaped to the low, long vertical stabilizer and larger elevators and large rudder, and with a tail skid. (Joe Mason used a swivel tail-wheel here). Fixed dual landing gear were mounted under the fuselage and lower wing of the Airco DH.2.
I have no indication that Joe Mason ever sold plans for his 8/10ths successful and handsome authentic-looking home-built early biplane design. Apparently it was a one-off build. Interested folks can see the airworthy Mason DH.2 80% replica in the Combat Air Museum at 7016 SE Forbes Avenue, Forbes Field, Topeka, Kansas 66619. Telephone (785) 862-3303
I thank all who pondered this quiz.
_________________ PP ASEL
Link to my photos- http://airport-data.com/photographers/Doug+Robertson:84/ |
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SunvisorFlyer
Joined: 06 Oct 2014
Posts: 101
Location: U.S.A.
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2016 10:16 am Post subject: |
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I don't think I would have ever figured this out.
I found a snippet about this replica via the Google Books project from Popular Mechanics- March 1977. [/img]
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