Salvay-Stark Skyhopper

The Salvay-Stark Skyhopper I is a low-wing single-place homebuilt aircraft designed in 1944.[2][3]

Salvay-Stark Skyhopper
Role Homebuilt sport aircraft
National origin United States of America
Manufacturer Salvay-Stark Aircraft Company, Skyhopper Airplanes Inc.[1]
Designer Gene Salvay and George A. Stark
First flight March 1945

Development

The Skyhopper design was started in 1944 by two North American Aviation engineers from Kansas City. They had previously partnered on the Commonwealth Skyranger and worked on the B-25 program. It was engineered to the then current Civil Aeronautics Administration CAR-04 standards criteria of the time. As a light aircraft under construction during wartime, permission needed to be granted for tools and materials by the CAA.

Design

The single-seat low-wing aircraft was intended to be open cockpit, but was redesigned to have a full canopy. The fuselage is welded steel tubing. The wings use spruce wood spars and ribs with fabric covering. The controls are actuated with push/pull tubes. The stabilizers are covered with mahogany plywood.[4] The Skyhopper I is the plans built version of the prototype introduced in 1958.

Operational history

The prototype was test flown from Fairfax Airport in Kansas City in March 1945. In 1946, The effort to produce the aircraft as a production certified aircraft under the company name Aviation Boosters Inc.[5] was dropped, but Gene Salvay retained the rights to the aircraft where it could be built as a homebuilt aircraft.[6]

Variants
  • Skyhopper I - original version of the skyhopper. Continental 50 hp engine.
  • Skyhopper II - designed in 1962 to sit two passengers side by side via a 14 in (36 cm) widening of the Skyhopper 10 fuselage design. It was built by Ralph Thenhaus of Van Nuys, California.[7]
  • A two-seat tandem modification of the Skyhopper was built using a Continental O-200 engine.[8]
  • Trefethen Sport-Aire II - A wider fuselage tricycle gear version based on Stark's Super Skyhopper jigs. Built by Stark, Art Thistle and Al Trefethen. Other changes made were a swept tail, a tapered wing, and a Lycoming O-295 engine.[9][10]

Specifications (Salvay-Stark Skyhopper I)

Data from experimenter

General characteristics

  • Length: 18 ft 7 in (5.66 m)
  • Wingspan: 25 ft (7.6 m)
  • Wing area: 100 sq ft (9.3 m2)
  • Airfoil: 23015 (root) 23012 (tip)
  • Empty weight: 650 lb (295 kg)
  • Gross weight: 950 lb (431 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 1,170 lb (531 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 15 US gallons (57 litres)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Continental A-65[11] , 65 hp (48 kW)

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 110 kn (130 mph, 210 km/h)
  • Cruise speed: 100 kn (120 mph, 190 km/h)
  • Stall speed: 36 kn (42 mph, 68 km/h)
  • Range: 350 nmi (400 mi, 640 km)

References
  1. John W. Underwood, Aero Publishers, inc. World aircraft illustrated, Volume 1.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Model Airplane News. June 1959. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. "American airplanes: sa - si". Aerofiles.com. 2009-07-04. Retrieved 2011-04-06.
  4. experimenter. September 1957. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Flying Magazine: 78. August 1945. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. "EAA Fly-In". Flying Magazine: 36. November 1960.
  7. Sport Aviation. January 1992. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. "N5045K, A highly modified Skyhopper". Retrieved 9 April 2011.
  9. "The Sport-Aire Model 2". Sport Aviation. March 1960.
  10. "Sport Aire Perfection". Sport Aviation: 120. March 2015.
  11. Flight International. 10 July 1975. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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