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Building the Pitts Wings
Pitts
Builder Page * Pitts
Action Pictures * Yellow
Airplane Museum Index
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Photo by C. Jeff Dyrek
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This is a different construction project from the rest in this exhibit.The Pitts here is being constructed in Chicago's west suburbs. This is a square wing pitts as opposed to the round wing Pitts featured in this article. This gentleman is a mechanical engineer and is building this Pitts in the basement of his house which he has recently built himself, also. There are a number of changes to this wing that he has made from the original plan. Notice the extra parallel stiffeners he as added to the leading edge. With exception of frontal impact strength, I don't believe that this adds any strength to the wing. These strips combined with their large corner blocks attached to each rib add more weight to the wing and may actually, under a high "G" load, add to the stress of the wing.He has made this a square wing meaning that the tips of the wing
are squared off instead of the original rounded tip. The wings
on Sean Tuckers wings are very similar. I believe Sean is the current
U.S. Champion so this means a lot. The square wing may actually add
more wing area without adding any span to the wing. Another asset
of a square wing is that the aileron extends to the end of the wing allowing
for a larger aileron and more torque being added to the roll rate of the
aircraft. I didn't see it in this wing, but Roger Smith has just completed a modification to a Skybolt wing adding the square wing tips to a previously rounded tip wing. One addition that he added was a torque brace from the outboard aileron hinge which extends from the rear spar at the hinge mount to the front spar. The reason was that the extra pressure of the longer aileron was breaking the rear spar at the hinge attach point. Another good feature on this wing, you will see it in later pictures, is he is using a 30% offset aileron hinge. This moves the hinge point of the aileron back 30% from the leading edge of the aileron. This reduces the amount of control pressure for full aileron deflection and may actually increase the roll rate by the way the air flows over the wing and around the aileron. You can also see that he is adding an additional tank to the top of the wing. This is great for the extended range for traveling to and from the different contest. I don't remember his name but he is doing a beautiful job on his plane just like he has done on his house. |
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