| Dale Weejet 800 | |
|---|---|
| Role | Light Jet |
| National origin | United States of America |
| Manufacturer | Dale-Air Engineering, Carma Mfg. Inc. |
| Designer | Harold Dale, Eleanor Dale |
| First flight | 30 March 1956 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Dale Weejet 800, or Weejet VT-1' was an early light jet intended for high speed personal transport or primary military training.[1]
Design and development[]
Harold Dale, an engineer at North American Aviation had designed several homebuilt aircraft and teamed up with Edward Gagnier, a former North American engineer, to develop the Weejet. The name was registered in February 1952 and the prototype was built in two and a half years.[2]
The Weejet was a two-seat side-by-side mid-winged all aluminum, retractable tricycle gear aircraft with a V-tail arrangement. The aircraft was powered by a 920 lb thrust Continental-Turbomeca Marbore II J-69-T-15 engine. Air was fed to the engine through two triangular inlets mounted on the inboard wing roots. Fuel was carried in the leading edge of the wings, and tip tanks. The aircraft had oxygen tanks and was pressurized to 3 psi differential pressure. The seats were designed to accommodate parachutes. The rudder pedals were adjustable for different pilot sizes.
Operational history[]
The first test flight was conducted by Harold Dale on 30 March 1956. The aircraft completed several spin tests, but on one test, the canopy popped open, and the aircraft went into a inverted spin. The pilot bailed out safely and the prototype crashed after performing an unmanned inverted loop. It was later found that the trim tab was set to full nose down during the test. A scheduled demonstration of the aircraft to the U.S. Navy was canceled. No other Weejets were produced.[3]
Specifications (Dale Weejet 800)[]
Data from Sport Aviation
General characteristics
- Capacity: 2
- Length: 24 ft 6 in (7.47 m)
- Wingspan: 28 ft (8.5 m)
- Height: 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) spread, 150 sq ft (14 m2) swept
- Airfoil: NACA 23012
- Empty weight: 2,481 lb (1,125 kg)
- Gross weight: 3,000 lb (1,361 kg)
- Fuel capacity: 232 U.S. gallons (880 L; 193 imp gal)
- Powerplant: 1 × Continental-Turbomeca Marbore II J-69-T-15 , 920 lbf (4.1 kN) thrust
Performance
- Maximum speed: 301 kn; 557 km/h (346 mph)
- Cruise speed: 268 kn; 496 km/h (308 mph)
- Stall speed: 56 kn; 103 km/h (64 mph)
- Rate of climb: 2,500 ft/min (13 m/s) at sea level
Avionics
- AN/ARC-27 Comm
- AN/ARA-25 ADF
See also[]
- Bede BD-5
References[]
- ↑ "The Elusive Dream". http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/personal_jets.html. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ↑ "WEEJET". http://machdiamonds.com/weejet.html. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
- ↑ "Error: no
|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". May 1959.
The original article can be found at Dale Weejet 800 and the edit history here.