One nearly completed BD-5 aircraft kit on ebay

Took one look at this thing and that James Bond song started playing in my head.

 

looks like an accident waiting to happen,does it come with a great life ins policy?

 

80% done, and only 80% to go!

What sort of engine can you put in those?

 

Many... Subaru to Jet (BD-5J)...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bede_BD-5

 

LOL


[me too........]

 

I had the opportunity to sit in one of the original BD-5J jets back around 1975 or so, when it visited MacArthur Airport on Long Island. It was on display at Ames Industrial, which had supposedly acquired a license to build the engine in the U.S., but it appears that very little ever came of that venture.

Corkey Fornoff was there, and this was one of the aircraft that was used in his airshow act for a number of years, and may have been the aircraft used in the James Bond sequence.

It was definitely a tight fit, and truly an airplane that you "put on" rather than "get in"! I'm 5'9", and even without a helmet, there was virtually no head clearance to the canopy. The side-stick controller was a must, because there was absolutely no room to operate a conventional stick. A very interesting experience!

 

scarry plane,most that flew crashed killing the pilots

 

They have one on display in the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space museum.
It is a very small plane when you stand next to it.
The museum plan is powered by a propeller in the back.
.
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The original design was for the pusher prop. The jet idea came along later.

dmaxx3500, do you have any stats to back that claim up? It wouldn't surprise me, but I've never seen any real information either way. I know there were a few jet fatals, but I assume (maybe wrongly) that most of the BD-5s that flew were piston powered.

 

The vast majority were prop jobs.
The jets got all the press.


There was a saying we used to use; "All it lacks is finishing up".
Which translates into "start over".

 

I was acquainted with Bob Bishop - who had the BD5J "Silver Bullet" that the Coors Beer company contracted for promo work at air shows and TV ads. (his wife and my ex-wife were both State Farm Insurance agents in Oklahoma City at the time)

What I remember about it was that:

1) I could not get in it - I am 6' and Bob was only maybe about 5'7" or less.

2) He said it flew very well and could go about 300 mph.

3) He told me it had VERY limited range - I seem to remember the endurance at aerobatic weight was said to be only around 30 minutes or a little more.

4) He said that the jet engine was actually a modified small APU turbine which was made in France.

5) The jets were actually the first BD-5s to fly - apparantly there was a great deal of trouble with the prop shafts and the gearing (belts, IIRC) in the prop design.

 

google it,i saw info on wiki,read the history,its scarry,they sold 1500-2000 kits for 1-3k

 

You mean 'Scary'?

It is not true that "most that flew crashed" (unless you're only talking about the first 25 or so planes).

There are roughly 500 completed planes out there, a number professionally built. I've seen both a 'D' and a 'J' fly.

But it is still "a handful". I wouldn't fly one.

 

One thing that always puzzled me was why Bede was so obsessed with that tubular wing spar - seems like everything he designed had one, and it does not seem to me (intuitively) to be the best shape to carry a wing loading.

 

When I worked at Renton field there was one hangared there that flew quite often and seemed like he was always at the Arlington show and around the Puget Sound area. Can't remember his name, may still be there for all I know.

 

Actually it's a very efficient structurally and, perhaps more importantly, cost effective way to put a light plane together. What he typically did was bend the spar a bit in the middle to get some dihedral, and then made all of the ribs in a press with the same size flanged hole so they would slide onto the spar. He commonly used the spar as a fuel tank, by sealing the ends and setting it up with a divider to be a left and right side tank.

Bede was very innovative and did some very clever engineering. If you look closely at the Grumman American planes, there are a number of features that you look and and recognize how clever the guy was. The GA series of airplanes were designed to be light, as well as low cost, and they managed to do both, as well as provide some pretty darn good performance while they were at it. They aren't everybodys cup of tea, but they fly very nicely, with light control forces and are fun little airplanes. Not what you want as a hard core IFR platform, but to just fly around they are great.

 

Yes, I have a lot of time in the Yankee and the Tiger. They were pretty fast and fun to fly compared to the competition - but generally were considered not to be a good plane to learn to fly in.

 

i believe this is bob bishops old bd-5j, took this about a month ago while working at Flying Bulls in Salzburg. the crew were working on some compressor issues
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