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The
Steen Skybolt
is an American
homebuilt
aerobatic
biplane.
Designed by Lamar Steen as a high
school engineering project, the
prototype first flew in October
1970. The aircraft has a classic structure consisting of a
welded tube fuselage and wooden wings, all fabric
covered. It is a tandem open-cockpit two-seat biplane
and is stressed for normal aerobatics. The cockpits are
frequently constructed as a single tandem cabin with an
enclosing bubble canopy. Some aerobatic competition
aircraft are built with single seats with the front
cockpit closed off.
The Skybolt has become popular as an amateur-built
sporting biplane, with over 400 aircraft having been
completed from construction plans sold in over 29
countries. A Skybolt won the Reserve Grand Champion
Custom Built for 1979 at the Experimental Aircraft
Association airshow in Oshkosh Wisconsin. Sixteen
examples were registered in the United Kingdom in
January 2009.
Variants
Skybolt (S)
The standard Skybolt as
originally released for
home-building
Skybolt (D)
A
revised structure and
capability to have engines
from 180 to 350 hp (134 to
261 kW) fitted.
Skybolt (R)
A
radial engined derivative,
with revised fusellage plus
the improved structure of
the (D), fitted with either
a 360 hp (268 kW) Vedeneyev
M14P or a 400 hp (298 kW)
Vedeneyev M14PF
nine-cylinder radial.
Skybolt 300
A
derivative of the Skybolt
fitted with a 300 hp
(224 kW) engine.
Super Skybolt
A
two seater version created
by John Shipler by
amalgamating a Pitts S-2
with a Skybolt, the
prototype of which is named
Storm Warning.
Source:
Wikipedia
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