COMM 8 vs 2

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Design-Chat
Issue # 8 Volume # 2
Bede Design Information
"Ad" Series
Several years ago (37 years) Bede Aircraft Corp.
ran a series of information/advertisements in
sport aviation and homebuilt magazines. The
series covered quite a few subjects. The series
were presented at the Design Group for the
members to use as guides to Bede On Design
Series Videos.
Bede on Design is a series of video tapes which
covers seven episodes of aircraft design and the
many decisions to be made by the designer.
#1 - Understanding Drag
#2 - Selecting an Airfoil
#3 - Aircraft Wing Design
#4 - High Lift Devices
#5 - Understanding Stability
#6 - Control Surface Design
#7 - Engine Cooling
“They are easy to understand and quite
interesting. They offer simplicity to the concepts
that are described in technical detail in other
publications. These videos are a great first step
and will clearly explain the choices available
along with their benefits and compromises.
These videos should help the Design Group
members by providing the knowledge necessary
to begin thinking of their own design
requirements. But the will fall short for our
experienced aircraft designer or seasoned
engineer as being too basic.”
Mr. Bede & Designs
James R. "Jim" Bede is a controversial aircraft
designer, who is often credited with the creation
of the modern (the word modern fits well here
because other kits right after the Wright Brother
can be found) kitplane market. He has designed
well over a dozen aircraft since the 1960s, but a
sequences of business failures have kept most of
these designs out of widespread use.
Bede started as an aeronautical engineer at
North American Aviation before he left to form his
own company in 1961. The goal of Bede Aircraft
Corporation was to develop low-cost and easy-tofly planes for the homebuilt market. Bede's first
design was the BD-1 completed in 1962 and
followed by the BD-4 in 1969. These early
designs saw moderate success in the aviation
market while the experimental BD-2 also set a
number of impressive range records.
These successes prompted Bede to push the
performance envelope even farther with his next
design. By 1971, he had finished the BD-5 that,
like its earlier cousins, was powered by a piston
engine. Bede also developed a jet derivative of
the same airframe that was called the BD-5J.
This jet version soon captured widespread
attention thanks to its impressive displays at air
shows. The BD-5J has held the Guinness record
as the World's Smallest Jet Aircraft for more than
a quarter century. Versions of it saw use in
various Budweiser commercials (the Bud Light
Jet, which was lost in an in flight fire and crash
unrelated to air show work). The tiny jet also
appeared in two James Bond movies;
Octopussy starring Sir Roger Moore, and later in
a cameo appearance, hanging from the wall of
Q's workshop in Die Another Day starring Pierce
Brosnan as Agent 007.
The BD-1 was the first design of American
aeronautical engineer Jim Bede. The BD-1 was
designed in 1960 as a kit-built aircraft intended
for home assembly by amateur builders. Design
goals included a kit price of $US 2500, including
a rebuilt 100 hp (75 kW) engine and a cruise
speed of 130 knots (240 km/h). The prototype
N624BD first flew in 1962. The BD-1 eventually
became the American Aviation Corporation's AA1.
The BD-1 was a simple and fairly conventional
low-wing two-seat design that used some of the
latest techniques in aircraft construction that
larger companies such as Cessna generally
ignored. The fuselage was built primarily of
aluminum honeycomb adhesively bonded
together instead of riveted. This not only made
the plane light, but also very strong; it was to be
fully aerobatic and stressed to 9g. Performance
would likewise be excellent, estimated at 130
knots (240 km/h) with a 100 hp engine, compared
to a Cessna 150 which reached about 90 knots
(165 km/h) with a similar engine.
164,000 holes drilled into the surface of the wing
to suck air from the boundary layer into the
interior of the wing, thereby reducing skin friction
for better performance, as well as keeping the
boundary layer "attached" over a wider variety of
angle of attacks and thereby increasing lift during
high-angle flight and doubling maximum lift as a
result. Other interesting design features were the
use of two engines driving a common pusher
propeller, aluminum honeycomb panels, and
fiberglass landing gear struts. After 50 hours of
testing the aircraft was donated to the
Experimental Aircraft Association.
In order to make the plane more practical for the
average owner, the wings could be folded and
the aircraft towed behind a car, allowing it to be
stored at home in a garage and towed to the
airport. The kit, including a rebuilt 65 hp engine,
would list for US$ 2,500. Versions with more
powerful engines were also offered, one with a
108 hp Lycoming O-235 listing at $4,200.
The basic layout of the XBD-2 was also used in
the BD-3 pusher design, but this did not progress
beyond paper studies. An "executive version"
was also designed as the BD-7, again without
progressing past the early design stage.
Development dragged on and eventually burned
through a tremendous amount of money without
delivering a final design. The investors finally
gave up and forced Bede to leave the company
in 1966. They re-formed in 1968 as American
Aviation in order to produce the design in
complete form as the AA-1 Yankee. A number of
changes were later introduced into the design to
make it more stable, notably a larger horizontal
tail, and then a more forgiving airfoil on the main
wing. The AA-1 and follow-on designs became
fairly popular, notably the four-seat AA-5
Traveler. The company was later purchased by
Grumman, becoming Grumman American.
Bede also worked on a number of other designs.
One of these was the XBD-2, an experimental
boundary layer control design based on a system
designed by the Aero physics Department of
Mississippi State University. The system used
After being forced from what became American
Aviation, Bede tried his hand at a record breaking
around-the-world flight in a specially modified
Schweizer 2-32 powered glider he called the BD2. He nicknamed the airplane "LOVE", a
contraction of "Low Orbit, Very Efficient". The
aircraft was modified to dramatically increase fuel
tankage to 565 gallons (2,140 l), which included
the addition of two large tanks in the fuselage,
sealing the wings to turn them into tanks, and
adding tankage on the wing-tips as well. It was
completed in April 1966 (although other sources
say 1968), and while he did not attempt its twohop-around-the-world trip, Bede set several
distance and endurance records, including a 70hour endurance record in October 1969. This
flight only ended after an electrical failure, just
under
9,000
miles
(14,500nbsp;km)being
covered by that point.
Bede remained convinced of the validity of the kit
built market, and re-formed his company as Bede
Aircraft. Here he started the design of an even
simpler-to-build aircraft, the Bede BD-4.
The BD-4 used more conventional construction
techniques, based on a simple high-wing design,
and had few curved surfaces. Most of the
fuselage was flat aluminum sheeting, the only
major components with compound curves being
the engine cowling and landing gear spats which
were made of fiberglass. One real innovation was
the "panel-rib" construction which reduced
building time of the wing. Basically the wing was
constructed in sections consisting of a rib whose
upper edge was "extended" horizontally to
become one section of the wing surface as well.
The wing was built up by sliding these sections
together over the circular spar and fastening
them together where they met.
Like the BD-1, the BD-4 offered excellent
performance; using the same 108 hp Lycoming
O-235 as the AA-1 it could reach 130 knots. It
could also be equipped with engines up to 220
hp, which was to top out at 190 knots (350 km/h)
with a 170 kt (315 km/h) low-power cruise. The
aircraft could be completed with either tricycle or
tail-dragger configurations.
The BD-4 first appeared in 1968 and became a
"hit". Thousands of plans were sold, hundreds
were built, and many are still flying today.
Unfortunately the early performance estimates
turned out to be overstated; even with the large
engines speeds were more typically 130-150 kt
(240-280 km/h).
Even while the BD-4 was maturing, Bede turned
to a more ambitious design, the BD-5 Micro.
The Micro was an extremely small one-seat
design that looked more like the jet fighter than
prop plane, with the pilot sitting in a semi-reclined
position under a large fighter-like Plexiglas
canopy. The fuselage was originally meant to be
constructed primarily from fiberglass panels over
an aluminum frame, housing a two-cylinder aircooled 40 hp engine driving a pusher propeller.
The economics of mass production later
convinced the designer to switch to hydro formed
all-metal aluminum components. The aircraft
featured retractable gear, split flaps, spoilers to
slow down for landing, and a V-tail for decreased
drag in cruise. Two versions were planned, the
BD-5A with "short" wings tuned for high speeds,
and the BD-5B with 4 ft (1.2 m) longer wings for
longer range and powered glider use.
Performance of the BD-5A was predicted to be
210 mph (340 km/h) in cruise.
Although Bede had apparently first looked at the
design as early as 1967, work on the BD-4 meant
he was not able put any serious effort into it until
about 1970. Work on a prototype started in
earnest late that year, and they published an
information booklet about it in early 1971.
Magazine articles appeared even at this early
point, most notably a very well-known article in
Popular Science. On 24 February 1971 the first
$200 deposit to reserve a "place in line" to
receive a kit was accepted, with the target
shipping date being 24 May 1972. By the end of
the year, they had over 4,000 such orders,
making it one of the most popular aircraft in
modern history.
The prototype flew briefly on 12 September 1971,
powered by a 36 hp Polaris Industries
snowmobile engine. The stability of the aircraft
with the original V-tail was marginal at best, and
clearly needed a redesign. In early 1972 Bede
hired Burt Rutan to head the flight test
department, and he quickly introduced a number
of improvements. Most notable was a new
"conventional" tail design of somewhat larger
size, and a slightly lengthened fuselage. The
shorter wing also turned out to be a bad idea; the
speed at which it became more efficient was very
close to the aircraft's maximum speed. It was
replaced by the -5B wing which increased the
wingspan to 21 ft (6.4 m). Spoilers and split flaps
also disappeared during this period.
A most serious problem was the continued failure
of the engines. In order to meet weight limitations
the design required an engine weighing in at less
than 100 lb (45 kg). This wouldn't have been too
much of a problem given the original goal of
using a 40 hp engine, but as the design matured
it was realized that much more power would be
needed, around 65 to 70 hp. This made the use
of any "off-the-shelf" aircraft engine basically
impossible. Instead Bede selected a two-stroke
engine which offered much better power-toweight ratios. The plane entered testing with the
440 cc Polaris design, but this was replaced with
a similar one from Keikhaefer Aeromarine. This
engine proved to be extremely unreliable, and
was itself replaced by an engine from Hirth
Motoren available in 40, 65 and 70 hp versions.
By this point the basic aircraft design was already
long considered complete, and Bede offered the
kit with the engine to follow. This was a fairly
attractive option; it meant the builder could "get to
work" and hopefully complete the airframe by the
time the engine arrived. The price for new buyers
had risen to $2,999 with the 70 hp engine, which
was now considered the minimum due to low
performance with the original 40 hp design.
Those who had sent in their deposits earlier
could still pay only $1,799 and receive the
smaller engine, or could pay the difference and
receive the larger version. Additionally, Bede
decided to seek FAA certification of the BD-5D as
a production aircraft and sell it complete, as well
as in kit form, taking $600 deposits for this model.
Rutan left at about this point, although stories
vary as to why. The BD-5D generated even more
interest, apparently receiving 6,900 deposits in
the next few months.
At that point, unexpectedly, Hirth went bankrupt.
Once again the design lacked a suitable engine,
but this time the search for a replacement ended
with a Xenoah design from Japan. Development
of this engine was lengthy, and in the end it
would not be certified for export until 1978,
although this was not expected at the time.
Throughout this period one of the major problems
was cooling in the engine compartment, which
should have been expected due to its location out
of the direct airflow around the aircraft.
While the new engine was being tested, Bede
decided to create an unconventional variant of
the BD-5 with a small jet engine. The result was
the BD-5J, a 300 mph (480 km/h) aircraft that
looked fast while sitting on the ramp. The design
used the Sermel TRS-18-046 turbojet (now
Microturbo, a division of Turbomeca, in itself a
division of Groupe Safran), which produced 225
lb thrust. The original engines were produced
under license by Ames Industrial in the US. Bede
also moved on to design the BD-6, a smaller BD-
4 with the Hirth engine, and the "new" Bede BD7, a two-seat side-by-side version of the BD-5 of
which a prototype was built. There was even an
attempt to sidestep the engine problem with the
BD-5S, a glider (S for Sailplane) version with
lengthened wings and no engine, which
prompted Air Progress magazine sarcastically
note, At last, a BD-5 with no engine problems.
This glider version did not fly very well and the
project was scrapped.
When 1974 came around, the engines were still
not being delivered. The primary reason for this
was the insistence by Xenoah's lawyers that
engines delivered for use in the experimental kit
aircraft (which did not require FAA certification)
had to be tested to the same rigorous standards
as engines destined for the certified BD-5D
model. This created an insurmountable economic
dilemma for the manufacturer, who chose not to
deliver any engines. For Bede it meant that even
though they had found the perfect engine for the
BD-5, Xenoah's failure to deliver struck the
company a death blow.
After more than 5,100 kits had been delivered to
prospective builders, the kits stopped shipping as
well. Although the company was effectively
bankrupt at this point, work on the BD-5D
continued for some time. The bankruptcy became
official in 1979, by which point the BD-5 project
was long dead. During the bankruptcy
proceedings it was learned that the money
ostensibly being used to build kits was instead
being spent on a variety of projects. As a result,
Bede entered a consent decree with the FTC to
no longer accept deposits on aircraft for a period
of ten years.
Many owners abandoned their kits, some of
which were incomplete, but a few hundred
diehard builders finished them with a variety of
third party engine installation designs. Over the
next few years the aircraft garnered what at first
glance appears to be a terrible safety record. In
fact, close analysis of the NTSB reports reveals
that the problem was much more related to the
pilots than to the tiny airplane. No properly
constructed BD-5 has ever suffered a structural
failure, nor was any design feature of the BD-5B
determined to be a primary factor in contributing
to any accident. The -5A models were another
story -- all four examples crashed on their first
flight, with three fatalities, largely a side effect of
a 100 mph (160 km/h) landing speed combined
with the tiny wheelbase (which led to the early
discontinuance
of
the
short
A-wing).
Nevertheless, the current record holder of the FAI
C-1a/0 (300 kg or less takeoff weight) class
speed record over a 3km course at restricted
altitude is a BD-5A (listed as BD-5B but used -5A
wings for the record attempt) with a Rotax 618UL
74 horsepower two-stroke, three-cylinder watercooled engine.[1]
Crashes in the B models were generally due to
the failure of the pilot to fly the aircraft after an
engine failure on takeoff, both due to the mix of
"oddball" engines as well as endemic cooling
problems. The reason this is such an issue with
the BD-5 is twofold -- the high line of thrust
means an engine failure immediately results in a
nose-up attitude, and the pilots who failed to fly
the aircraft first and then attempt to restart the
engine inevitably stalled, with the associated
consequences. This was not the only problem;
the original wing had a very sharp stall with little
warning, related to incorrectly bent wing skins.
Harry Riblett also produced a slight reprofile of
the wing root airfoil of the wing softened the stall
response of the aircraft, but it presented other
unique problems associated with the way the
reprofile was to be performed -- essentially gluing
foam to the aluminum skin and covering with
fiberglass. A rather small center of gravity range
was also improved some by stretching the
fuselage, but that hasn't been determined to be a
cause of accidents except when pilots
deliberately flew the aircraft with a CG well
outside the allowable range. Many other changes
have also been incorporated to improve the
original design. Today the BD-5 is a rewarding, if
demanding aircraft. There are examples of the
aircraft that have amassed more than 800 hours
of trouble-free operation!
Bob Bishop had purchased 20 BD-5J kits as
soon as they had appeared, and many of the
flying examples started life in this batch of twenty.
Many of these were completed over the years,
and a number have been involved in crashes,
usually due to lack of proper maintenance,
insufficient training and knowledge of the
systems and their operation, and in one case an
incapacitating medical condition which led to a
crash where investigators concluded the pilot
must have died quite a few seconds before the
crash.
Versions from the original batch became a
popular airshow fixture, and Bishop has gone on
to log more than 1,500 hours in his jets, which he
now operates for military customers as a cruise
missile surrogate. Throughout the 1980s until
1991, Coors flew two of them as the "Silver
Bullets." Budweiser also had a BD-5J called the
Bud Light Jet, but that contract has long expired,
the aircraft was lost after an incorrectly specified
fuel flow sensor burst in mid-flight, causing a fire
in the engine compartment (the pilot traded
speed for altitude, bailed out and was unharmed;
the aircraft was lost). The aircraft also appeared
in the opening sequence of the James Bond film,
Octopussy.
The last BD-5J that remained on the airshow
circuit, Scott Manning's Stinger Jet, crashed on
June 16, 2006 at Ottawa/Carp Airport, Canada,
while practicing for an air show, killing pilot
Manning. The month of June 2006 was very bad
for BD-5J's -- an Acrojet Special BD-5J property
of Aerial Productions, Inc. impacted trees the
morning June 27 on final approach to the Ocean
City Municipal Airport in Ocean City, Maryland,
killing pilot Chuck Lischer, a highly experienced
professional airshow pilot. The airplane was
involved in radar testing as part of its services to
the military as a certified cruise missile surrogate.
The BD-5J has also held the Guinness record for
the World's Smallest Jet for more than 25 years.
Bob Bishop originally garnered the record with
one of his jets, and in November 2004 the record
changed hands to Juan Jiménez of San Juan,
Puerto Rico, whose BD-5J weighed in at 358.8
lbs (162.8 kg) empty weight, 80 lbs (36 kg) lighter
than Bishop's jet. The primary difference that led
to the decrease in weight is the use of an earlier
Microturbo turbojet, the 022 Cougar, which
weighs 68 lbs (31 kg) soaking wet, is much
simpler than the TRS-18 and does not require a
high pressure fuel system with all of its
associated hardware.
Bede has hinted at a two-seat tandem version of
the aircraft called the "Super BD-5" using a
certified aircraft engine and a number of
modifications and improvements, but to date
nothing other than a |preliminary design drawing
has been made available.
By the late 1970s, Bede had run out of time to
save the BD-5. Many of the people who bought
kits began to sell them at a fraction of initial cost.
Hoping to generate cash, Bede dabbled briefly
with a sailplane version, and his jet-powered BD5 became popular at air shows.
By 1979, Bede was bankrupt and the BD-5
kitplane saga ended. Budd Davisson summed it
up well when he said: "Too much was said early
in the game, promises were made, performance
figures quoted and money taken. So, when things
didn't go like clockwork, the BD buying public got
a little bit ticked off."
After Bede Aviation
collapsed, Bede took on a number of engineering
projects under Bede Design.
One of the first was a project with his cousin to
produce a car. Simply called the Bede Car, the
design used an 80 hp motorcycle engine driving
a ducted fan for propulsion. Built primarily from
fiberglass on aluminum, the car was to have
weighed just under 1,000 lb (500 kg), less than
half that of a normal four seater built of steel. The
advantage to the design was a claimed 120
miles/gallon (2.0 L/100 km) fuel economy,
although in retrospect this seems ridiculously
optimistic. Bede Industries, his cousin's company,
intended to introduce the car starting in 1982, but
the prototype unit proved the concept infeasible.
The engine had very low power at low speeds, so
low that it could not even roll up an inclined
driveway for parking without "gunning" it. There
was some talk of adding electric motors for low
speed operation and reversing, but it is not clear
if these were fitted. The fate of the prototype is
unknown.
Another automobile project followed, this time a
smaller motorcycle-like vehicle. The prototype
was based on a production motorcycle, but
"stretched" and surrounded with a fiberglass shell
that looked somewhat like the BD-5. During its
long gestation period it was known as the
Autocycle or BD-200, and later as the LiteStar
and Pulse. About 360 of these were produced
and sold.
During this time he was also involved with a
damage when the gear collapsed during early
testing. It was then sent to the Reno Air Races in
1994 to drum up sales, and eventually 63
$10,000 deposits were placed (according to
Aviation Week and Space Technology). The
prototype also suffered wrinkling of the skin on
the vertical tail, indicating inadequate strength
and forcing a redesign. In further flight testing the
performance estimates proved to be "optimistic".
Over the design period the weight had ballooned
from 1,600 lb (725 kg) to 2,800 lb (1,270 kg) and
fuel tankage had to be cut, which dramatically
reduced range from the original 2,000 miles
(3,200 km) to a mere 400 to 500 (650 to 800 km).
Speed was equally poor; even at full thrust the
plane was barely able to reach the transonic, at
Mach 0.83.
project to build an inexpensive BD-4-based
aircraft for use in Africa, but this project petered
out. He also worked on new aircraft designs,
including the BD-8, a single-place acrobatic
aircraft. A single example was built and sold to
Mike Huffman, who finished the plane and first
showed it during Oshkosh exhibit of 1980. He
also apparently worked on a powered parachute
during this period.
Within weeks of the FTC Consent Decree
expiring in 1989, Bede announced the design of
a new two-seat high-speed jet, the Bede BD-10.
The original idea appears to have come from a
friend, Mike Van Wagenen. He formed a
company specially for this project, Bede Jet at
the Spirit of St. Louis Airport in Chesterfield, MO
(just outside St. Louis).
Having learned from the BD-5 that using an
untested engine was a bad idea, he selected the
smallest production engine he could find in
quantity, the General Electric J85, and wrapped
an airframe around it. The resulting design bore
some resemblance to the T-38 Talon/F-5
Freedom Fighter, which were powered by two
examples of the same J85 engine. Performance
estimates were fantastic: after brake release on
the runway the 1,580 lb (715 kg) aircraft could
climb to 10,000 feet (3050 m) in under 60
seconds, would cruise for 2,000 miles (3,200 km)
at up to 45,000 ft (13,700 m) altitude in a 9 psi
(465 mm Hg) pressurized cabin, and could reach
supersonic speeds of up to Mach 1.4.
Bede's prototype was completed in 1992 and
started testing, although it suffered minor
Skip Holm, the test pilot, left the program some
time in 1993 and the project essentially ended at
that point. It appears only two kits were
completed. Bede had already entered an
arrangement with Van Wagenen who had formed
Fox 10 to help kit builders complete their planes,
and in December 1993 they took over the project
and reformed as Peregrine Flight International.
They intended to sell completed versions of the
BD-10 as the PJ-2. Military rights were sold to
Monitor Jet of Canada, who intended to equip it
with the Pratt & Whitney Canada JT15D engine
and sell it as a basic trainer as the MJ-7. Monitor
purchased the single so-far completed kit as well.
Peregrine's first prototype was completed later
that year, and entered testing. Although it had
been modified to incorporate the stronger tail of
Bede's design, it broke up mid-air on 30
December when the vertical stabilizers failed due
to an apparent cross flow condition, killing Van
Wagenen. The NTSB later concluded that Bede's
fix was under-designed, and offered nowhere
near the strength that had been calculated.
However, there was no evidence that Peregrine
had performed any real testing to verify the
redesign of the vertical stabilizer spars before
rushing to continue flight testing. Peregrine then
redesigned the horizontal surfaces for a second
prototype which crashed in August 1995 when
one flap failed to deploy (a problem which also
plagued the early F-104 Starfighter). The
resulting accident killed the new company
president, Joseph Henderson, and Peregrine
ceased to exist.
The civilian side of the design later passed to
Vortex of California in 1997 when Bede Jet
declared bankruptcy. Vortex intended to produce
it as the PhoenixJet, but nothing ever came of
this. The original prototype is currently hangared
in Scottsdale, Arizona, and belongs to Fuel Fresh
Inc. Monitor Jet's example eventually ended up in
the Toronto Aerospace Museum along with their
JT-15D engine, and has recently been sold to the
Canadian Flying Machine Museum, operated by
aviation enthusiast David Carlaw. The second
completed kit broke up in mid-air in waters off the
southern coast of California in 2003.
During the BD-10 project, Bede also started the
design of updated BD-5's with two and four seats
as the Bede BD-12 and Bede BD-14 respectively.
They were designed under the reformed Bede
Aircraft, also in Chesterfield.
Once again deposits were accepted and held in
escrow in order to hold a "place in line" for kit
delivery. The introductory price for orders placed
before January 1995 was $18,900 with the
smallest engine. Additionally Bede signed up
dealers (reportedly at $250,000) who would help
customers build their planes. A considerable
amount of work was put into using the latest
construction techniques in order to reduce
construction time; the BD-12 consisted of only a
few hundred parts in total. When built at one of
the sites, it was claimed the plane could be
completed and flown away in two weeks.
Eventually something on the order of 250
deposits were received.
By early 1995 the BD-12 prototype had still not
flown, and work on the BD-14 had not even
started. That summer the almost-complete BD-12
was shipped to Oshkosh, where it generated
some buzz. By this time the prototype ended up
being seriously tail heavy, and in order to move
the center of gravity back to a reasonable
position for a test flight, 170 lb (77 kg) of lead
was added in the nose. The prototype finally flew
in the fall of 1995, but was almost completely
destroyed on its first flight due to marginal
stability. The plane did not appear at the 1996
Oshkosh show, although it was claimed the
program was continuing.
Months later it became clear that Bede's
company was once again in financial trouble.
They were evicted from their hangar in
Chesterfield, and moved to a new space in Alton,
IL. The engineers were owed considerable back
pay, and work basically ended. Although the
deposits were claimed to be in escrow, it appears
Bede secured a line of credit against the escrow
accounts, which were then seized, leaving kit
builders in the lurch again.
Bede has once again re-formed a new design
shop as BedeAmerica Aerosport. In 1998 he
appeared at Oshkosh promoting a BD-16, a sixplace version of the BD-4. However these plans
apparently did not generate a lot of interest, and
he has since moved on to the single-seat BD-17
Nugget and two-seat BD-18, both based on a
layout similar to the original BD-1 but dramatically
updated.
The BD-17 was first announced in 2000 and was
even simpler than the BD-12, consisting of only
110 parts. It entered flight testing in 2003 and
proved to have excellent flight qualities.
Notes
Bede re-used naming on several occasions
which makes things somewhat confusing. The
BD-2 name was used twice, on both the
experimental boundary layer control design
(XBD-2) as well as the later powered glider. BD-7
was also used twice, once for the earlier aircraft
based on the XBD-2, and later for the two-seat
BD-5.
Jim Bede designed numerous aircraft. But, he
seemed to fail at designing a business model
which would hold up to his aircraft designs.
Many would say he was a great salesman but a
very ineffective manager of resources. He also
made many calms on specification and prices
which never materialized.
The BD-4 design kept his company going before
the BD-5 doomed the company.
His BD-1
helped start a new line of aircraft and there are
thousands of American Aviation and Grumman
American airplanes out there flying which got
there start with that design.
The BD-4 was successful at bring sport aviation
into the kit aircraft business as we know it today.
Before Mr. Bede and the BD-4 you could not
build a homebuilt aircraft from a complete kit. A
kit with all the nuts and bolts, premolded glass
parts, material kits, performed metal parts,
landing gear and engine and prop packages was
just not done together. There was also a
company newsletter to help support builders after
the sale. We take all of these things for granted in
a kit today.
I was going to do a simple write up on Mr. Bede
and his designs but come to an end with this long
newsletter. His history of business and designs
is known to many. I hope everyone enjoys this
issue.
What this is and what it is not!
It is important to remember that this newsletter is
merely a conduit for information passed among
members sharing their experiences. Its
established
purpose
is
fellowship
and
encouragement. It is NOT the intent to give
authoritative advice on aircraft construction
or design. All contributing writers disclaim any
liability for accuracy or suitability of information
that is shared. You can assume that all or some
of the information in each issue is not correct for
aircraft design. This is simply a collection of notes
which where taken at the Design Group meeting
and placed with other items into a newsletter
format.
Lots of items will come from the meeting as best
as one can interpret what is stated. Many items
will come from other sources such as books and
internet files (Grabbing from any source to make
it useful) and a lot will come from the internet to
expand what was talked about at the meeting,
like the Reynolds number material in this issue. (I
will take it where I can get it.) Most of this issue
would not have been possible without Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
Speak out if you were wrongly quoted or
something misinterpreted, no harm was implied,
only lack of knowledge in understanding and
interpreting what was said. So with that said.
Welcome to the second year of the newsletter.
If others would like to contribute articles, stories
and materials in the future feel free. The
newsletter should provide a way for us to
communicate with each other. It is a place for
those of us who want to network, connect and
share information to do so. Anyone can write
anything to whomever about any aircraft or
aviation design ideas. With any luck we will learn
something from everyone and hopefully someone
can learn one thing from us.
M
eeetting
ing S
chedule:
Me
Schedule:
2007 Meeting Schedule
10:00 am
FlaBob Airport
Chapter One Hanger
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
23
No Meeting
25
22
27
24
15
Check this site for any schedule updates
and changes.
http://www.eaach1.org/calen.html
Check this site for newsletters
http://www.eaach1.org/design.html
The Author:
- -
James Richard Bede
James Richard Bede graduated from the University of Wichita (Kansas) in 1957 with a Degree in
Aeronautical Engineering. He worked at North American Aviation, Columbus, Ohio for two years
as a performance engineer on the F4 and AJ3 aircraft, before leaving in 1960 to form Bede Aircraft
Corporation.
His first design (July, 1961) was the XBD-2, an experimental pusher-propeller aircraft powered by
two 0-300 Continental engines linked to a common propeller shaft and driving a three-bladed
shrouded propeller. An advanced aerodynamic concept evaluated with this aircraft was a boundarylayer control system which increased wing lift efficiency by over 200%.
Following the XBD-2 came the BD-I, which is now the Grumman-American Aviation "Yankee"
Then came the BD-2, which began as an engineering design exercise for Jim Bede. The BD-2 is
a long-range, high-efficiency, single-engine aircraft that Jim flew to three world endurance records in
November 1969, flying non-stop and without refuelling on a closed course for 8,974 miles in a
time of 70 hours, 15 minutes.
The BD-4 was introduced in August 1968 and is a two-place/four-place, high-wing, fixed-gear design
that incorporated many new and innovative construction features. Designed specifically as a
homebuilt, many hundreds are still under construction both in the United States and overseas, and more
than one hundred are flying.
The BD-5 design was introduced in late 1971 and is available either as a homebuilt or readymanufactured aircraft (production of the BD-5D is scheduled to begin at the end of 1974), and more than
11,000 orders have been placed for this single-engine, single-place sport aircraft.
The BD-53 jet-powered version of the BD-5 is an extension of that pusher-propeller design, and the
300 mph hot-rod of the air has received more than a passing interest from the world of general aviation.
The BD-SJ is available only as a homebuilt at this time, but interest in the little jet is so intense that
the possibility of going into full production of this design is seriously being studied.
Jim,Bede is.oneof this country's leading aeronautical engineers, and 1974 - as well as the years
ahead - will see the,introduction of many more new and exciting designs.
This book is the first in a series of design information and useful engineering data, researched and
written by Jim Bede. It is a collection originally published in both Sport Aviation magazine and
Aviation Mechanics Journal.