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Subject: Pietenpol-List: streamlined flying wires, McWhyte'sI am friends with Delmar Benjamin's girlfriend (prior to this one) Anne Byers (anda free-lance EAA videographer) and she told me that after some air show seasonson the circuit with his Gee Bee R2 that they had the flying wires x-rayed to seeif it was okay to fly the next season. KermitWeeks now has the airplane at his Fantasy of Flight museum in Florida and after1500 flying hours on those streamlinedstruts I would think he probably would have already invested in a brand new set. (totally an assumption though)Lowell Bayles died in a Gee Bee Z in 1931 trying to break a speed record and thoughit sounds like aileron flutter/spar failure, when those flying wiressetup a nasty harmonic going that fast they can self-destruct pretty quickly too. Yikes !!!!!!!!!!>From Wikipedia: On December 5 1931 , Bayles tried again, diving into the course from 1,000 feet(305 m) and leveling off at 150 feet (46 m) as rules allowed. Travelling over300 miles per hour (483 km/h), 75 feet (23 m) from the ground, the Model Z suddenlypitched up, the right wing folded beyond the flying wire attachment point,most likely due to aileron flutter stressing the wing spar and causing itto fail. The plane crashed alongside of a railroad track in a huge ball of flameand smoke. Lowell Bayles body was thrown 300 feet (91 m) from the disintegratedplane.________________________________________________________________________________Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2009 16:31:16 -0400
Pietenpol-List: streamlined flying wires, McWhyte's
Re: Pietenpol-List: Air Camper and Sky Scout specs?
Original Posted By: Jim