CAPRONI STIPA DUCTED FAN DESIGN.
Over the years there has been some remarkable designs that had got maligned in aviation history,this is one such machine that just because of its odd looks many people could not take seriously,read the story of how one dedicated man set about conquering ducted flight with an ordinary Gipsy Major engine for the power source is a real one,that foresight has been reproduced as a modern flying replica that actually flies,here is that proof-
A book published by Giorgio Evangelisti prompted a group of Australians to build a replica of a remarkble flying machine from the past,the Stipa was built by the Caproni compani in Italy to test and develop a tubuler fuselage that was made into a ducted fan from a Gipsy Major engine providing the motive power,whilst a strange looking machine this aircraft must go down in history as a development way ahead of its time,Luigi Stipa knew exactly what he wanted and achieved that aim with the barrel like fuselage and the thrust harnessed within the tube.
Whilst many did not want to get involved with a flying replica a very special person got to work and built her,his name was Bryce Wolff,a creater supreme,who in 1977 met the original builder Gianni Caproni and managed to acquire enough material and drawings to build this definate one off machine.
Powered with a Italian Simonini racing engine the project was worked out at a scale of 65% original,remember the original was some some 12 feet tall and had a large wingspan of some 50 feet.
So 69 years after the first flight of the original machine another ducted fan flying barrell took to the air once again,sitting atop that big fuselage test pilot Bryce got to grips with the un-usual layout and mnaged to keep her steady with the wings level,we owe a lot to this design which was very advanced for its time,Caproni will go down in the annals of aviation history for what he achived,the ducted piston powered fan would eventually be fine tuned into the jet engines we know of so well today,a pioneer ? he most certainly was and we salute him here on Scale-Models for his foresight and a spirit of adventure.
