Ace Baby Ace
Ace Baby Ace | |
---|---|
Role | Sports aircraft |
National origin | USA |
Manufacturer | Acro Sport |
Designer | Orland Corben |
Number built | 453 (2011)[1] |
The Ace Baby Ace, a single-seat, single-engine,
Design
Original
The Baby Ace is a single-seat
The wing uses a
The
Its
Evolutions
Under the Corben Sport Plane and Supply Co. (Peru, Indiana), two versions were offered, using using the same wings, tails, controls and landing gear: a single-seat. open-cockpit, parasol-wing model (the Baby Ace) and an enclosed, two-seat, high-wing version (Junior Ace).[3]
In 1955
Powerplants
The first example flew with a Heath-Henderson B-4 modified motorcycle engine.[7] However, a detachable motor mount accommodated an easy change of engines.[3]
Later models utilized various engines -- facilitated by the removeable motor mount -- including the 45-hp
Operational history
The original Baby Ace was built in 1929, in Topeka, Kansas. Designer O.G. ("Ace") Corben later established the Corben Sportplane Company (Madison, Wisconsin), where six Baby Aces were built, with kits also sold.[2][9]
The Corben Sport Plane and Supply Co. (Peru, Indiana), began producing the Baby Ace both in kit form and as a complete, flying aircraft. Kits included pre-welded assemblies for the fuselage, controls, tail and landing gear. Two models were offered, using using the same wings, tails, controls and landing gear: a single-seat. open-cockpit, parasol-wing model, and an enclosed, two-seat, high-wing version.[3]
In America, state and federal laws banned homebuilding and flight in the uncertified designs by 1938.[2][9] In 1948, Experimental aircraft were allowed to be built again in America.[2]
In 1952, EAA founder Paul Poberezny bought the rights to the Ace designs for $200, and produced a sub-$800 Baby Ace that was featured in
To avoid compromising its non-profit status, EAA sold the rights to the planes to Cliff DuCharme (West Bend, Wisconsin), who resumed kit production, with a revised Model D (first flight: November 15, 1956).[3][6] and a revised Junior Ace Model E.[6]
Subsequently, plans, parts, and kits for both the Baby Ace and Junior Ace became available from Thurman Baird's Ace Aircraft Manufacturing Company (Asheville, North Carolina). "Progressive" kits (buy sections as you build) also became available.[6][3] and remain so,[11] as of 2015.[12]
In 1974, aviation historians John Underwood and Peter Bowers reported 200 Baby Aces were flying, with only one prewar example still active. They noted that only a very few of the Junior Aces had been built before the 1930s CAA crackdown on amateur-built aircraft, with just two of the 1930s two-seaters still flying.[9] However, in 1979, aviation journalist Don Dwiggins estimated the number of flying Baby Aces in the United States and Canada had dwindled to around 70.[3]
A 1958 Baby Ace is currently the oldest Canadian homebuilt aircraft flying.[13]
Variants
- Baby Ace
- Single-seat
- Super Ace
- Single-seat powered by a Ford Model A automotive engine. Plans updated by EAA founder Paul Poberezny.
- Jr. Ace
- Two-seat tandem variant.
- Pober Jr Ace
- Updated plans of the Jr. Ace model
Specifications (Baby Ace D)
General characteristics
- Crew: One
- Length: 17 ft 8.75 in (5.4039 m)
- Wingspan: 26 ft 5 in (8.05 m)
- Height: 6 ft 7.75 in (2.0257 m)
- Wing area: 112.3 sq ft (10.43 m2)
- Aspect ratio: 6.21
- Airfoil: Clark Y (modified)
- Empty weight: 575 lb (261 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 950 lb (431 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 36.4 L (9.6 US gal; 8.0 imp gal); alternatively reported as: 66 L (17 US gal; 15 imp gal)[11][14]
- Powerplant: 1 × Continental C85/ (Salmson, Szekely, or Anzani equivalents) 4-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engines 65–85 hp (48–63 kW)
- Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller
Performance
- Maximum speed: 110 mph (180 km/h, 96 kn) at sea level (65 hp (48 kW) engine at max. T-O weight
- Cruise speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn) to 105 mph (91 kn; 169 km/h) max.
- Stall speed: 35 mph (56 km/h, 30 kn)
- Range: 350 mi (560 km, 300 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 16,000 ft (4,900 m)
- Rate of climb: 1,200 ft/min (6.1 m/s)
- Take-off run: 200 ft (61 m)
- Landing run: 250 ft (76 m)
See also
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
References
- ^ Vandermeullen, Richard: 2012 Kit Aircraft Buyer's Guide, Kitplanes, Volume 28, Number 12, December 2011, page 37. Belvoir Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
- ^ a b c d e "The Baby Ace". Experimenter. February 1955.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Dwiggins, Don: Chapter 3: "Flying the Corben Baby Ace," Low Horsepower Fun Aircraft You Can Build, 1979, TAB Books, LOC: 79-22942; ISBN 0-8306-9710-1 / ISBN 0-8306-2267-5, as compiled in Modern Aviation Library, Vol. 10, Book No. 210, TAB, Blue Ridge Summit, Penn., USA
- ^ "My Love Affair with a Red Head Named Davis," September 1986, Vintage Airplane, Vol.14., No.9, p.7, retrieved September 26, 2022 (p.
- ^ "EAA Fly-In". Flying Magazine: 37. November 1960.
- ^ ISBN 9780531032787.
- ^ a b c David A Gustafson (October 1991). "Baby Ace". Air Progress.
- ^ a b "~". Air Trails: 14. Winter 1971.
- ^ a b c John W. Underwood (Peter M. Bowers, Consultant): "Corben Baby Ace" (p.13) and "Corben Junior Ace" (p.14), Vintage Veteran Aircraft Guide, 1974, LOC: 68-28978, Colllinwood Press, Glendale, California, USA
- ^ Bryan, Hal: "Baby Ace Comes Back," July 20, 2019, Experimental Aircraft Association, retrieved september 26, 2022
- ^ a b c "Directory of Plans You Can Build," Winter 1971, Air Trails
- ^ "2015 Homebuilt Aircraft Directory," p.29, December 2014, Kitplanes" magazine.
- ^ "Tiger Boy's Airplane Works". Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ "Kit Aircraft Directory 2005," December 2004, Kitplanes
- Our Wisconsin magazine ("Ace High" C Boelk) June/July 2015
External links
- Web site of Ace Aircraft provides info on the kit for building the Corben Baby Ace Model D.
- The History of Ace Aircraft
- article, June–October 1935, Popular Aviation (forerunner of Flying Magazine)
- article, June 1985, The Vintage Airplane
- "Flight Testing of Corben Baby Ace" January 1, 1978, Vintage Airplane