Pietenpol Sky Scout

The Pietenpol Sky Scout is a parasol wing homebuilt aircraft designed by Bernard H. Pietenpol.[1]

Air Scout
Role amateur-built airplane
National origin United States
Manufacturer Pietenpol
Designer Bernard Pietenpol
First flight 1933
Developed from Pietenpol Air Camper

Development

The Sky Scout was a lower cost follow-on to the Pietenpol's first homebuilt design, the Pietenpol Air Camper. Using a lower cost Ford Model T engine, rather than the more current Ford Model A engine of the time. The aircraft was redesigned for the heavier, lower power engine by reducing it to a single person aircraft. The new pilot location required a section called a "flop" to be installed, essentially a section of the wing that was hinged up to allow the pilot to stand up when getting into and out of the aircraft.[2]

The aircraft was designed to be built of spruce and plywood. The drawings were published in the 1933 Mechanix Illustrated magazine.

On display
  • A Sky Scout is on display at the Pioneer Flight Museum in Kingsbury, Texas.[3] This Scout is powered by a Model A engine. It is intended to be a flyable aircraft but for the present is only occasionally run up. The number one Pitenpol with a Model T engine can be found at the Model T Ford Club of America Model T Museum in Richmond, Indiana.
  • Sky Scout N1933A on display at Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum
  • Also one on display at Fountain, Minnesota Historical Center which is just 15 miles from B Pietenpol's home town of Cherry Grove. Bernard Pietenpol is also buried in Fountain.

Variants
  • Claude Sessions developed a finned head modification on his Sky Scout for lighter weight air-cooling. The engine was featured in Modern Mechanics magazine in 1931 and formed the basis for the American Flea Corporation Universal 50-60 engine.[4]
  • Pietenpol Air Camper

Specifications (Pietenpol Sky Scout)

Data from Sport Aviation

General characteristics

  • Crew: one
  • Length: 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m)
  • Wingspan: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
  • Height: 8 ft 5 in (2.57 m)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Ford Model T engine Inline four cylinder piston
  • Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 54 kn (62 mph, 100 km/h)
  • Cruise speed: 48 kn (55 mph, 89 km/h)
  • Stall speed: 30 kn (35 mph, 56 km/h)
  • Rate of climb: 200 ft/min (1.0 m/s)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Related lists

References
  1. Mechanix Illustrated magazine. 1933. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Sport Aviation. March 1958. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "Pietenpol Air Scout". Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  4. Sport Aviation. February 1960. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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