Tom Augustine was truly a master modeler. Lucky for us sailplane enthusiasts he had a passion for sailplanes and gliders. Here he is at work in his shop on a 3.5 scale Bowlus SP1 Paperwing.
Bowlus SP-1 Paper Wing
Specifications (full size ship)
Span 13.40 m./ 44.0 ft
Area 16.63 sq. m. / 179 sq.ft.
Aspect ratio 11
Airfoil 35-A
Empty weight 73 kg. / 160 lb.
Payload 66 kg. / 145 lb.
Gross weight 139 kg. / 305 lb.
Wing loading 8.36 kg. / sq. m. / 1.70 lb. / sq. ft.
Structure wood/ fabric
Performance
L/D max. 20
Other
Country of origin USA
Designer Hawley Bowlus
No. of seats 1
The paper Wing, so called because it used paper webbed ribs, first flew in 1929. Wingspan was later increased to 14.33 m. / 47.0 ft. principally by extending the ailerons. It was first U.S. built sailplane to fly for more than 1 hour. A replica of the Paper Wing belongs to the San Diego (CA) Museum of Flight. AS a footnote, a Bowlus design (or a copy), the Nighthawk, flown by William A. Cocke gained the world endurance record of 21 hr. 34 min in 1931. This glider is in the museum of flying, Santa Monica, CA
Thanks to the Soaring Society of America for history and specifications http://www.ssa.org.
The landing cradle fell away after liftoff and roll control for the Paper Wing was achieved by wingerons with which the entire outer wing section of several feed rotated on the longitudinal axis. Mr. Augustine built the same feature into his scale model built for Joe Holtzman and shown in detail and in flight below.
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