>>Small aircraft really haven't made much progress over the 1946 Beech Bonanza, >>70 years ago.
David Thurston wrote in Design for Flying, "… it may be safely noted that private aircraft performance has not experienced any great leap forward over the past 40 years. Our speeds are where they were in the 30s. During that period of grass airfields, a four seat, streamlined fixed gear Percival Vega Gull cruised at…" Presumably with a Gypsy major engine. If you have not already done so, have a look at Neville Shute (Norway)'s book Slide Rule where he talks about starting Airspeed Aircraft for a few thousand pounds and running it for the first decade or so until they were employing hundreds of workers and still not making a profit. It's hard to make progress when half the industry is still working in inches, poundals and slugs. D _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list Aus-soaring@lists.base64.com.au http://lists.base64.com.au/listinfo/aus-soaring
