My first M/L
Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2006 2:44 pm
Can anyone out there remember the Ron Wheeler Scout? I bought one as my first M/L in 1985 in Dbn for R150 
without an engine. I then proceeded to fit a Cuyuna 43hp motor on it. On a beautiful Saturday morning I tried to fly it at Cato Ridge. After the longest take-off in the history of microlighting, the aerie flew 2 inches off the ground 
for a total distance of about 2 feet. So back to the drawing board it went. Fitted a smaller motor (much smaller) and added rudders for wing-warping longitudinal control and it was back to Cato Ridge for the hairiest circuit I have ever flown. I would have packed-up my M/L career there and then but as good fortune would have it a used MAC-CDL come up for sale. I have flown the type ever since.
Yesterday, while browsing the net,I came across a photo of the old Wheeler Scout which brought back memories. I would like to hear from anyone out there who actually flew this aerie without getting creamed. PICS Below. A short description follows:
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Ron Wheeler, a hang glider manufacturer of Sydney, Australia, fitted an 8 hp engine to his Tweetie tapered wing, tail plane equipped hang glider and undertook the first flights of his Scout in June 1975, starting series production of this aircraft soon after. The Scout was the world's first commercially available powered 'minimum' aircraft – rigid wing rather than a Rogallo – and started a new Australian industry. It was a factory-built minimum aircraft that initially utilised yacht fittings from his local marine shop. The early Scout was an extremely basic machine, a publication describing it as "the ultimate in simple tube and Dacron design." It utilised a cambered single surface wing (rather than a full aerofoil wing), a yacht mast spar and had only rudder and elevator controls; and was easily transportable. The original Scout was underpowered but nevertheless, on a good day, it usually flew.
During the early 1960s, an Australian – John Dickenson – designed the triangular trapeze (an 'A' control frame of aluminium tubing that is still in use today) as a means of shifting the pilot's weight under a single surface wing to control the aircraft'.Note the 'A' frame and lack of ailerons, only rudder and elevator control in this 1977 Scout.
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without an engine. I then proceeded to fit a Cuyuna 43hp motor on it. On a beautiful Saturday morning I tried to fly it at Cato Ridge. After the longest take-off in the history of microlighting, the aerie flew 2 inches off the ground for a total distance of about 2 feet. So back to the drawing board it went. Fitted a smaller motor (much smaller) and added rudders for wing-warping longitudinal control and it was back to Cato Ridge for the hairiest circuit I have ever flown. I would have packed-up my M/L career there and then but as good fortune would have it a used MAC-CDL come up for sale. I have flown the type ever since.Yesterday, while browsing the net,I came across a photo of the old Wheeler Scout which brought back memories. I would like to hear from anyone out there who actually flew this aerie without getting creamed. PICS Below. A short description follows:
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Ron Wheeler, a hang glider manufacturer of Sydney, Australia, fitted an 8 hp engine to his Tweetie tapered wing, tail plane equipped hang glider and undertook the first flights of his Scout in June 1975, starting series production of this aircraft soon after. The Scout was the world's first commercially available powered 'minimum' aircraft – rigid wing rather than a Rogallo – and started a new Australian industry. It was a factory-built minimum aircraft that initially utilised yacht fittings from his local marine shop. The early Scout was an extremely basic machine, a publication describing it as "the ultimate in simple tube and Dacron design." It utilised a cambered single surface wing (rather than a full aerofoil wing), a yacht mast spar and had only rudder and elevator controls; and was easily transportable. The original Scout was underpowered but nevertheless, on a good day, it usually flew.
During the early 1960s, an Australian – John Dickenson – designed the triangular trapeze (an 'A' control frame of aluminium tubing that is still in use today) as a means of shifting the pilot's weight under a single surface wing to control the aircraft'.Note the 'A' frame and lack of ailerons, only rudder and elevator control in this 1977 Scout.
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