Electric Concorde

[Pat Marsden]

Sunday 15th Nov 09 saw the successful test flight of Ivan Goodchilds latest electric creation, Concorde !

The model is perfect scale with the correct shaped wing/fuselage, full scale undercarraige, drooping nose etc and is powered by two electric ducted fans. I am sure Ivan can give the full electric spec to those who understand it

Although still in primer grey, or low viz RAF markings as I like to look upon it, the model flew extremely well on its first flight even with the gyros turned off. The test pilot for this special flight was John Greenfield.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E712jyXV-Mg

Pat

[IVAN GOODCHILD]

In 2008 the late Dick Whittington suggested I design the Concorde for electric power the same size as the Turbine version. There was very little data published on the full size, and the design of the turbine version was not true scale including the wing. There were also interesting reports on the flying characteristics with an AUW of arround 24kg. So this looked like an interesting project. Our main concern was would the scale wing work and where to set the c of g as the delta wing design profile does not work for the Concorde wing which is anhidredal at the trailing edge with 6 changes of airfoil towards the leading edge. The model is 5M long with 2.5M wing span and AUW of 32lbs. Powered by 2 DS94 ducted fans, each fed by 6100mA 10S lipo packs. Radio is Weatronics dual receiver with 24 servos, Tx is Futaba 12FX. 24lbs of thrust.
After 12 high speed runs down the runway each time adjusting the c of g it lifted off. Viewing the video you will note that down elevator was applied after lift off to maintain airspeed as we did not know the speed/drag curve at that stage. Similarly the approach was made at high angle to maintain decent speed until we knew what power was required with the high nose up drag configuration. The second flight made use of the gyro for aileron control which proved to be rock steady. We will now embark upon a series of fight tests to find out the various flight modes etc. but todate there are no significant issues.
The model will be finished in G-BOAF colours the last Concorde ever to land at Filton.
As with all such projects this was a team effort and my thanks go to Dick, Pat Marsden, Ron Harris, Steve Mitchell and to John Greenfield (for trusting me) for all their help in making it successful. With a bit of luck you should see it in the flesh somewhere during 2010.

[IVAN GOODCHILD]

This weekend we managed to complete most of the flight tests despite a couple of downpours. John was having fun at the controls and Steve Mitchell was taking some superb pics. I appreciate the Concorde is not the standard type of LMA model but for those who are interested here are the pics.

[Rob Buckley]

Blimey, it's just like the view from my office window!

[Steve Mitchell]

A couple more pictures from this w/end.







Some excellent flights taken, well done to all involved.

Video to follow.

Steve

[Andy Boylett]

Absolutelt brilliant, well done guys. It looks superb and shows yet agian what can be done with modern electric kit.
Can't wait to see it, let me know where or which shows you will be flying it.

I am about to fit a 120mm EDF into my sons Eurofighter so would appreaciate a chat with you sometime before we try and fly it.

Well done again.
Andy

[Pat Marsden]

Andy

I doubt you will see Concorde at any shows in the near future as Ivan created it mainly for his own enjoyment and as a technical challenge and it is still undergoing upgrades and more testing.
It does need a concrete/tarmac runway which rules out a lot of sites and as the committee have scrapped Duxford from the calendar our nearest available show site with a concrete runway has been lost.

Pat