Pietenpol Air Camper and Sky Scout N9040NThe Pietenpol is one of the best-known homebuilt airplanes ever designed. Bernard H. Pietenpol of Cherry Grove, Minn. developed the 2-seat Air Camper and single-seat Air Scout Pietenpols in the late 1920s and early '30s. Considered the father of the homebuilt aircraft, Pietenpol designed the Air Camper to be "everyman’s airplane" and based it on the inexpensive and plentiful Model A Ford engine. In the early 1930s, complete plans were available for $7.50 from Modern Mechanics and Inventions, and Flying and Glider Manual magazines and can be purchased today through several sources.
More than 30 types of engines power Pietenpols, the most popular being the 40-horsepower Ford Model A, Corvair and 65- to 85-horsepower Continental or Lycoming engines. The water-cooled Model A engine was mounted backward, with the propeller bolted to the flywheel flange.
This fabric-covered aircraft, photographed in the Virginia Aviation Museum on 10 September 2006, was built in 1928 almost entirely of spruce and plywood (although some fuselages are built of welded steel tube). The wing, which weighs only 95 pounds, is constructed from two spruce spars and 28 equal size, built-up ribs. Most of the fittings are steel and simple to make. The aircraft has a joystick, rudder pedals and no brakes.
Picture added on 12 January 2008
